Do you ever think about how powerful movies are?

[Complexion]

They are straight up empathy generating machines that give you the feels for 90 minutes a time by suspending reality in order to have you buy in to someone elses fabricated existence and events. Best of all it takes no effort on your part.

That is an insane power if you think about it but, like most everyday miracles, not many do consider it as its ubiquitous. Imagine if we plucked a caveman from the timestream, tied him to a chair with a big screen and surround sound booming and he watched this:

​

Before we sent him back to his peoples. See how unimportant words are in the grand scheme of things when its all about the motion picture ish, aha haha haa!

 

[Kasgoinjail]

Yes
My uncle told me a decade ago to stop going to the Cinema to watch films especially scary movies because how deep into the psyche they are able to embed

He made a valid point

 

[Neuromancer]

The coli told me entertainment doesn't influence people.

 

[Complexion]

A lot of people don't click this. Maybe because they don't want to or they just class it is as entertrainment. See what I did?

There is something to be said about the cinema experience as well due to the powers of resonance, the overwhelm provided by the screen, overly loud sounds and forced focus as well.

Either way once that influence is inside your subconscious, which happens just by watching, then how do you know its effects or the you that could've been without its presence? Music is also powerful in that respect but thats another topic...

 

[010101]

world keeps turning & life goes on..........*

 

[SunZoo]

Hollywood = Holly Wood = Magic wand.

The name isn't accidental.

 

[QU Hectic]

Oldboy (2003) is a very dangerous film.

 

[WIA20XX]

They are straight up empathy generating machines that give you the feels for 90 minutes a time by suspending reality in order to have you buy in to someone elses fabricated existence and events. Best of all it takes no effort on your part.

That is an insane power if you think about it but, like most everyday miracles, not many do consider it as its ubiquitous. Imagine if we plucked a caveman from the timestream, tied him to a chair with a big screen and surround sound booming and he watched this:

​

Before we sent him back to his peoples. See how unimportant words are in the grand scheme of things when its all about the motion picture ish, aha haha haa!

The guy that did "Line Goes Up", I got into him because he did a take down of Suicide Squad.



I started watching more "technical" film criticism videos as a result.
And that actually made me understand regular movie critics way better.

I used to think of movies as a cool story.

Now it's a digital product that throws images in front of my eyes to manipulate my brain chemistry.

How successful a movie is often tied to how much we, the audience, shares the same illusions and impressions.

When you have directors/screen writers point out things in the movie that they specifically do to create tension, to create sympathy, to provide catharsis - watching a movie becomes a very different exercise.

I sort of feel like I had a handle on that, but when you start talking about lighting, cinematography, blocking, how audio is cut, etc - you see new things. You see how "constructed" something is.

It's not just the story, not just the dialogue, and certainly not the effects.

I was just watching Jack Ryan, and one of the real common film tropes about Mexico, is that it's often shot with a yellow filter (because Mexico is "dusty"). Sure enough, Michael Pena's character is in a yellow filtered Mexico for some reason.

 

[Complexion]

Yeah, there is a lot of very clever subconscious manipulation thrown in. Case in point, when I spoke of reality being a game in the 90s people initially thought it was quite a schizophrenic way to think. Those who actually pondered it for a minute found things of interest but after 99 when The Matrix dropped people instantly knew and also quickly dismissed the same concept as entertainment.

I found that quite fascinating and do believe there is way more to this than most people suspect purely because its all so ubiquitous. At its most basic level humans are made for stories, its how we make sense. We also think in images (a thousand words etc) and attach feelings to them which acts like a string to form a narrative. Put that together and you have movies within, except they are now external. Mass produced and general as a opposed to personal and specific.

Quite an implication there for those who #reeleyez.

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

Stories and an appreciation of a shared narrative are huge motivators for people.

Birth of a nation was America's first blockbuster and was screened in the white house. What does that tell you about America at the time? It subsequently led to the Klan being revitalized and growing its membership significantly.

In the 80s seemingly every other week an action movie would drop about a military trained white man fighting thinly veiled representations of what the government considered communists. It's not a coincidence that Ivan drago was an opp so dangerous he literally killed the black man that rocky built his career off, also a subliminal message to black people "put your hopes in the AMERICAN white man. You can't represent America on your own. The real America is a cac" they're willing to subvert the internal logic of the film to prove a point(creed was a battle tested champion with far more years of experience than rocky)

 

[The axe murderer]

Birth of a nation.

 

[Dave24]

Oldboy (2003) is a very dangerous film.

Why is that? I have never watched it before.

 

[TheGreatMTB]

Storytelling as a whole is something humanity has done for as long as we've recorded history. The best guess is because we look for life answers in a medium that is simpler to digest than reality. Others say we're simply empathetic creatures, and are drawn to following others struggles.

 

[GoldenGlove]

The guy that did "Line Goes Up", I got into him because he did a take down of Suicide Squad.



I started watching more "technical" film criticism videos as a result.
And that actually made me understand regular movie critics way better.

I used to think of movies as a cool story.

Now it's a digital product that throws images in front of my eyes to manipulate my brain chemistry.

How successful a movie is often tied to how much we, the audience, shares the same illusions and impressions.

When you have directors/screen writers point out things in the movie that they specifically do to create tension, to create sympathy, to provide catharsis - watching a movie becomes a very different exercise.

I sort of feel like I had a handle on that, but when you start talking about lighting, cinematography, blocking, how audio is cut, etc - you see new things. You see how "constructed" something is.

It's not just the story, not just the dialogue, and certainly not the effects.

I was just watching Jack Ryan, and one of the real common film tropes about Mexico, is that it's often shot with a yellow filter (because Mexico is "dusty"). Sure enough, Michael Pena's character is in a yellow filtered Mexico for some reason.

Word. I dock points for films/TV shows that have a shytty color grade.

 

[O.Red]

Most of my posts in the Film Room are about the power of movies and storytelling