Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Issue 554 Should movies make you think? March 24, 2015

So, should movies make you think?  Not that senseless movies are bad (National Lampoons series was always fun for me as a kid), but we can do so much more.  Let us discuss.

What I think a really Good movie should do to us:  So what I would like, and I am sure others do as well, is to get more movies like "American Sniper", or "Patch Adams".  They made you think and made you try and figure out what you have learned.  So the smell test is, can the movie make us ask, who, what, when, where, why, and how.  These questions are asked in respect to the characters and their motivations, the story as to why is went the way it did, and even the plot.  It makes us try to understand and contemplate what we have learned.  If the story is dark, make sure it has a point, otherwise is simply a dark brooding movie that makes no sense.  Basically, give us a compelling story about real people with real problems.  I am not saying you cannot make it entertaining, but it can be an awesome learning experience.  "Argo" was a learning experience, even if not 100% historically accurate.  Even "How to Train Your Dragon" was something children can learn from with respect to friendship and trying hard to do what is right.  So yea these movies exist, and are fun to watch, but are they enough?

Conclusion:  Movies are a source of entertainment, but they do not have to exist in a vacuum.  They can make us look at torture from multiple facets.  We can see different kinds of friendships and how we can innocently harm each other or cause a friendship to become deeper by simply adding what we have obtained from psychology classes to the movie.  The sky really is the limit with films that can educate us and help us learn, so why not add real science, real sociology, psychology, history and power struggles to wherever and whenever they are applicable.  So, I say let us get compelling stories that make us think.


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