Why You Should Love Going To The Movies: Part 2

On with the list!

(9): As it was recently pointed out to me by a friend, anyone who owns a laptop wastes a ridiculous amount of time on it browsing Youtube, watching DVD’s, etc. Maybe we’re missing out on one of the reasons film took off at the beginning of the 20th century- the communal experience, getting to sit down with 100 complete strangers for two hours and for that brief time, have the threads of our respective lives intertwine.

It’s beautiful really, when you think about it.

We sit there in darkness, surrounded by others- all of whom have their own thoughts, doubts and fears that are put together in a box with our own, and locked away tightly for as long as the projector keeps running. Escapism is too cheap a word for the opportunity to allow some of the most creatively skilled men and women in America to bring 100 ego-centric strangers together for a finite period of time, a period in which we kick back our shoes and let them do what they do best, the timeless act of storytelling.

If a film particularly effects you, or anyone there, you will have shared a significant moment in that person’s life, and they in yours, without ever realizing it.

Not only are we brought together by our shared love, boredom, or whatever makes us purchase a ticket, but we are reminded that no matter what is happening in the world, or the amount of work we feel we have to do- it is always important to take two hours out here and there, hours in which we sit in darkness among unfamiliar faces and accept that we don’t possess all the answers, but maybe, just maybe, in art, stories, love, happiness and a never ending stretching towards transcendence such answers exist, or at least the inspiration for a fleeting thought that will carry us through the bad times.

(10): Because if you don’t, where is Tom Cruise’s next $20 million payday going to come from?

(11): I suppose I should write about the cinema being a standard place to go on a date, but I think cinema dates are fairly redundant, and don’t make sense unless you’re a long-term couple who are so comfortable in each others company that you can sit for a full two hours with nary a word said between you except “hush”.

Still, I will say this. Consider point 9 above, and imagine sharing that same experience with the love of your life. Powerful, huh? So yeah, go for the romance, especially if you’re lucky enough to have someone to go with whose very nearness is more than you’ll ever want or need, with words being superfluous and unnecessary.

(12): Because films present everything as a heightened, idealised sense of reality.

I touched on transcendence above, but I cannot stress enough how important it is, today more than ever, to strive for something, anything. To make a difference. To live so that your being here benefited the world and left it better than if you’d never been born. Some do this by effecting the lives of their loved ones, others try to change the world, but nowhere are we made to believe that such brilliance is achievable more than when we are shown what the world could be like if we spoke more eloquently, loved more fairly and worried more reasonably. This is what cinema does, and this is what we, as human beings, need. To be freed from existential terror and the plague of cynicism that appeared in its wake, infecting the vacuous, substantively-challenged and the follower- who’ll blindly follow the agreed upon popular path, even if he/she does not understand it enough to truly agree with it, or feel it.

(13): Unlucky for some.

I guess I’ll go with sneaking in snacks and drinks to avoid the extortionate prices for this one. Such a venture can take on the air of a covert military operation as punters make their way stealthily past the guys who sell the tickets, praying they won’t see a bulge where a chocolate bar is barely contained. Fun.

(14): The Twist Ending.

There is a crucial art towards hearing plot news of a twist before you’ve seen a film. Hearing it too late means there is a chance you won’t be bothered going to see the movie, while hearing it too much reveals the full details, and renders your attendance largely meaningless. So pray if there’s a movie with a good twist coming out, that you’ll learn of a twist, without seeking to know of its nature.

(15): Experimentation, breaking the rules, and movies that succeed when they plainly shouldn’t.

Occasionally, very occasionally, something completely out of the box comes along. I don’t mean in an artsy European cinema kind of way, but a unique narrative, like “Memento”, or the use of unfashionable mainstream techniques, like “Cloverfield” (which had a huge budget completely because, I am convinced, it had Odette Yustman). These are sometimes worth going to see, as as with anything, we can become numb to the routine of movies, the three act structure etc, and thus allow their power over us to diminish a little.

(16): Kristen Stewart.

Just because, that’s why!

Okay, because she actually seems to be the only young working actor who has a legitimate personality, and hopes and fears and dreams that have substance off screen. I think she said once she’d like to be a writer even, can’t argue with that. Marry me Kristen!

Hope you enjoyed a list of a somewhat different nature. Add your own to the comments page, always good to hear new ideas.