Why You Love Movies

[redhawk23]

First off, if you aren't familiar with FilmCritHulk, seek out his work immediately. He is one of the most intelligent commenters on any subject, particuarly on movies and games, that you are ever likely to come across, even if you disagree with him.

Recently FilmCritHulk has been regularly writing articles for Badass Digest.

More recently another writer on the site posted a long list and rant of everything he hates about movies. Every pet peeve you could possibly imagine.

To combat this superbly negative view of movies and everything that they do, FilmCritHulk offers a counter arguement, Why You (and he) Love Movies.

It's a very good list of reasons, and well worth reading (which you can do here http://badassdigest.com/2012/02/05/why-you-love-movies/), but I must ask, why do you love movies? Is it just a general effect, or are there, as with some of the reasons Hulk offers, specific moments that sum up what movies can do for you and why you love them?

For me personally this scene absolutely sum up what I love about movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc&feature=player_detailpage#t=91s

Skip to the 1:31 mark.
[YT]qtbOmpTnyOc&feature=player_detailpage#t=91s[/YT]


This clip from one of my favorite movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey portrays, a moment from the distant past, essentially at the very invention of warfare. The ape-man hurls his newly minted weapon towards the sky and the film cuts to an outerspace view of what can be known from the AC Clarke novel of the story to be an orbital weapons platform. One quick cut, jumping from out most distant ancestral history to what was then the not so distant future, and the film sums up human history up until now, or at least a certain interpretation of it.

Now I can't be certain that our ape ancestors would have even been plentiful enough to need to fight for resources, and our use of space in 2001 failed to meet the expectations of the 1960, but that ultimately doesn't matter. The film didn't have to actually have to reflect the past or the future to posit a reality like no other medium can, and use it to comment on its present, it's cultural context and humanity, once again as no other medium really can.

That got a bit long winded, but for me, once again, that single shot is dense with meaning, for others it may mean something else, or nothing at all. That's art in general, but the way movies lets us potentially actually experience or observe a moment in time I think opens up this potential even more.

That is why I love movies.

How about you?

 

[kedrell]

Well I would never say that I love movies. I don't hate them either. I usually just ignore them(this is all applicable to TV, comics, books and modern music as well). I'd never call myself a film fan. What I am a fan of is the art of storytelling. Now every once in a while a film(or song, book, comic, TV show, etc.) comes along that clicks with my own inherent interests on a story level and when that does happen I will check it out. And my radar for such things has been honed through years of trail and error with sampling stuff that I ultimately didn't like so that now I rarely end up seeing a movie that I dislike. Such films usually don't make it past my scrutiny process so I don't even bother wasting time on them. I know what I like and what I don't and I'm secure in that knowledge.

I looked over Hulk's list on there and I'd have to say that 99.9% of those reasons wouldn't apply to me at all. I don't agree with the post he was responding too either. I don't hate movies. I just think that the overwhelming majority of films(from any era, not just today) fail to garner my interest at all. The life story of Charles Foster Kane couldn't possibly hold my interest, nor could junk floating in space for 2 hrs(2001). I consider it a good year for movies if they manage to make 5 new films that I'd actually want to see, let alone pay to see them. Now the few that I do see sometimes I do become a fan of them. But to me saying "I love movies" is too general and ultimately meaningless a statement. It's like saying "I love food" or "I love music". I happen to love certain kinds of music, food and yes, movies. But I wouldn't consider myself a food or music buff any more than I consider myself a film buff(which is not at all).

Now as a fan of storytelling(in all it's mediums), one thing sure to interest me the most is world/universe building. That's something that can only exist in stories and can literally make you forget reality for a period of time. The bigger, more expansive, more intricate, well thought out and immersing the creator(s)/storyteller(s) of a particular story world are with what they're doing then the more likely I am to be interested and willing to go along with their story. It's probably why I'm a big fan of Tolkien's legendarium and the Marvel Universe(DC universe, not so much because it seemed hashed together as an after thought without a more solid foundation).

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Too many reasons to explain why I love movies. They are an ultimate form of escapism that's for sure. Whether it's the stories, characters, cinematography, score or a number of other things, movies are just so generally rewarding to watch and be involved with. The fact that movies can make you connect with characters that you wouldn't even know, nor possibly wouldn't even exist, is a testament to how brilliant movies are.

Ah, I'm gonna start rambling soon I'll stop now. Plain and simply, movies are awesome, and my life would suck without them.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I can't recall where I read this, but I remember someone saying that people love watching movies because they love to watch themselves, and i think this is true.
So, I guess what that means is... we sit and watch folk on screen play out all the drama of life, and we either see ourselves in some of the characters, having been there already, or we put ourselves in their shoes and wonder about ourselves and how we would react in such situations.

 

[darkseid26]

Not only the ultimate form of escapism but the ultimate art form, imo. Film can be painting, music, and literature all rolled up in one or the complete opposite. i can capture brutal reality or crazy dreams.

I'm not doing my own love of movies justice with that explanation, but I hope it helps. lol