My Relationship With Movies
I'm not entirely sure what this post is going to end up like, but we'll see.
Basically, I want to talk about movies. Yes, those wonderful little things that you sit down and force your eyeballs to stare at for two hours, processing the lives of other human beings at a much faster rate than if you read a book.
Now, I am not saying that movies are better than books, because they both have their pros and cons, but this post isn't about books, it's about movies, so I don't really know why I brought up books in the first place.
I don't know when exactly I started loving movies as much as I do. Last year, I wasn't a fan. I had too much going on in my head and I couldn't sit still or keep my concentration on the screen for long enough to finish watching a movie. I could watch series, as the episodes are generally under an hour, but movies were a no-go.
This year, however, movies have wormed their way into my heart. Somehow, an entire story has been condensed into two hours of screen time, and put in front of me with music that will go unnoticed, special affects that make perfect sense and actors who can make characters come to life in front of you. One thing I love is that a movie has certain things that are absolutely necessary to be good, but sometimes they are given no notice at all. The music, for one. No one really listens to the music of a film (except from during the credits, but those are generally skipped or turned off). Take the music away, and the film is flat and it is much harder to create emotional build up (in my opinion). It doesn't matter how ignored something is, because without it, the movie wouldn't be as good. (Do you get my metaphor here? No? It's about people in a community. Get it? Good.)
Two Hour Time Slots
I am no Dawson Leery, I don't know every director, or what goes into making a movie and I am not patient enough to sit through all the credits of a movie to give credit to everyone involved in making it, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate movies.
Sitting down to watch a movie is giving yourself a two hour time slot to forget about your life and who you are, and immerse yourself in someone else's life. Depending on what genre you choose, the problems will either sort themselves out of grow infinitely worse, ending in death and gore, but you don't have to deal with the issues, or your own, for that two hour time slot. (Yes, I'm aware some movies are longer or shorter than two hours, but a majority of them are around that time mark).
The Movie List
I have a notepad that holds my Movie List. I have yet to decide whether this is genius or really lame.
My Movie List is a list of movies (surprise, surprise), which I add to every time I watch something new. If I like it, it goes onto the list. I write down the title, the age rating, and the genre. The genres are colour coded, with a key at the front. The whole plan is that if I ever don't know what to watch, I can open the Movie List notepad and pick one, depending on what genre I want. Also, it's really easy to pick out the genres because of the colour coding.
The more I talk about the Movie List, the more lame it sounds. I promise I'm cool! I just like pretty colours and being organised!
Actor Phases
The whole reason I created the Movie List in the first place was because I have a really tough time deciding what to watch. Sometimes I will flick through Netflix for hours, trying to decide what to watch, by which time I have used up my two hour time slot and don't have time to watch a movie anymore. My list on Netflix is filled with things I might watch, at some stage, but don't feel like watching right now. This is why I go through Actor Phases – my most recents were Tom Holland, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Jake Gyllenhaal (in that order).
An Actor Phase generally starts because I watch a movie with said actor in. If I liked said movie, I will look for more movies with that actor in, and so on and so forth. Sometimes, I will burn through an Actor Phase and run out of movies with that actor in that I have access to. I will then find something random to watch, which I will hopefully like, and do so until I stumble into a new Actor Phase.
Let us be clear – just because I'm in an Actor Phase doesn't mean that I will only watch movies with that actor in. It just means that if I'm looking for a movie to watch, I will search for movies with that actor in first.
I am just now realising that I have used the word 'actor' many times, and not once have I used the word 'actress' in this post. An Actor Phase can include actresses, but I have only had one Actress Phase as of date, and many Actor Phases, so they stuck out to me more.
The more I write, about the Movie List and Actor Phases, the more silly I sound. I agree, I am a strange human being, who makes titles out of things that are not necessarily in need of a title, and colour codes the stupidly organised lists she makes. I DON'T CARE!
This is the wonderful thing about every type of storytelling, everyone can have their own opinion, their own way of seeing or understanding the story, their own way of consuming that story and every single one of these is absolutely fine! It doesn't matter if the only time you have to read is just before bed, or you only watch ten minutes of a movie at a time during your daily morning commute. It doesn't matter whether you sit down with a group of friends to turn the TV on, or curl up by yourself.
Stories are universal, they are not meant to be consumed in one particular way.
And that is why I love them so much.
I went on a little bit of a rant at the end there, but I got really into this post and was writing it for a solid 40 minutes, so I think a rant at the end was necessary.
Also, I have Netflix (that much is clear if you read the post), and I love action/thrillers. I'm not opposed to horrors, nor will I turn away anything with a bit of crime. Give me suggestions! I am always looking for movie suggestions! Books, not so much, because my to read pile is slowing my eReader down, but throw movies my way!
Okay, I'm done.
Bye!
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