A
stick of white tape, serving as a spine label, spans the length of one side of
my favorite VHS tape. Judging by the label, my father has limited knowledge of
the film, but excellent penmanship. He has, for the past week, been obsessively labelling every single cassette that we own, organizing them in alphabetical
order, I think; My six-year-old brain tends to be quite unreliable.
I
had watched the movie more times than I could count - I suppose this does not
convey the sentiment entirely, in light of my mathematical ineptness. So every
afternoon I was splayed out on the floor, face inclined and unmoving, staring raptly
at the flickering television screen. Sometimes standing while I watched,
allowing myself to imitate the various fight scenes. I could recount every
dialogue and describe every scene with unimaginable precision. But that is not
the point. What really matters here is that I contemplated it daily.
I
have not thought about a film so seriously ever since. I have, indeed, sat in
front of my computer screen for hours, watching the sophisticated and dry films
of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, probably two of the most praised directors,
recommended ad nauseam, by every self-proclaimed film critic. My intention
here, is not to scorn those who like movies of this sort (as I, myself, am one
of them) but simply to convey the limited scope of popular films that we talk
about seriously.
What
really bothers me, is the mindless activity, that watching commercial films has
become. Local theatres, where people congregate, to quietly but collectively
engage themselves in a story, is where the hard work is actually required. One
may roll their eyes at this, contemptuous of those who watch, or - even worse -
enjoy popular commercial films. But that is where the problem lies.
Over-the-top special effects, jaded and unoriginal dialogue, and a general lack
of intellectual value, keeps us from discussing them. This is why no one really
has a sound, intelligent reason for disliking or liking popular movies; Very
few people are willing to do the work, and sift through the visually muddled,
cliche films.
To
stop the very medium from declining, and been seen as only a quick source of
pleasure, we must transfigure the way we watch movies, and employ the same
effort that goes into reading serious literature, or looking at a piece of art
for a long period of time. We must revert to the Power Ranger days.
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| A movie poster to specifically remind you of the movie that truly matters |
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