Premium Essay

Why Watch Movies

In:

Submitted By sateesh
Words 911
Pages 4
In the end of another “awards season.” That time from December until the Academy Awards (airing this Sunday), when studios roll out the prestige pics they hope will become the next Slumdog Millionaire. It’s a good season for film lovers seeking a palette cleanser from the likes of Transformers 2. And it’s a season that gracefully reminds us why we still love watching movies.
We all agree movies allow us to escape—and there’s value in that—but it’s more than simple escapism. Movies take us to places we’ve never been and inside the skin of people quite different from ourselves. They offer us a window onto the wider world, broadening our perspective and opening our eyes to new wonders.
This “window” idea figures into the very form of cinema itself. One of my favorite film theorists, André Bazin, often compared the cinematic “shot” to a framed window that hints at a vast reality just outside of view. While other theorists saw the framed shot as something that restricts or limits what can be seen (i.e., what is inside the shot), Bazin theorized that the film image—through its suggestion of off-screen space—was about being “part of something prolonged indefinitely into the universe.” Siegfried Kracauer, another of my favorite film theorists, agreed that the film image was by nature indeterminant, ambiguous and open-ended—a fragment of reality suggesting endlessness.
Art is a window
The idea brings to mind what C.S. Lewis said about art functioning as a “window” onto worlds unseen. As humans, he writes in An Experiment in Criticism, we “seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves. Each of us by nature sees the whole world from one point of view with a perspective and a selectiveness peculiar to himself. ... We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own. ... We demand

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Stephen King Why People Crave Horror Movies Summary

...The renowned author, Stephen King, develops his argument on why people crave horror movies. Structurally, King first starts by examining the simple and obvious reasons, and transitions to analyze the deeper, harder to see reasons as to why horror movies are so captivating. First of all, King states the obvious reasons of why many people crave horror movies. King compares horror movies to roller coasters. He argues that we can ride this roller coaster and not be scared just like watching a horror movie. A roller coaster makes us scream at various parts of the ride such as when it plows through the bottom of the lake, similar to how horror movies can make us scream at different parts of the movie. He says that on the surface level, we watch horror movies for that level of fun. He also says that we go for the dare of it, to see how far it can push us, and that is what makes the experience so fun....

Words: 441 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Soulutions Assignment

...Assignment To briefly summarize my actual solutions assignment: I love stand-up comedy and movies. I actual perform stand-up comedy on occasion and I am a huge movie buff. I have always seen racist and sexist acts and jokes but never really thought of the impact on society they had. Sure, from a stand-up perspective, I thought that people just realized it was a joke and somewhat true. In movies I thought that most people realized that it was just a movie and a movie is scripted and staged. I now know, that as stupid as those jokes and scenes can be, they actually contribute to a large portion of the social inequality that occurs every day all over the world. So my main goal over all of my journal entries was to do as much as I can to not watch any movies or stand-up comics that played on the idea of racism or stereotypes. It was honestly easier than I expected to do. I have not watched any movies that play on these stereotypes. I was having a movie night with friends. They wanted to watch the movie “12 Years a Slave.” It won a few Academy Awards. I suggested that we shouldn’t watch it because it plays on the typical stereotypes that white men have the most control in society white black people usually take the role of some sort of domestic work I movies. They then asked me, quoting here, “Joe, you love movies. This is a great movie. Who cares what the subject matter is. Why are you telling us this?” I then went on to say that I had to do a paper about what I do that contributes...

Words: 1125 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

James Holmes Research Paper

...killing twelve people and 70 people were wounded. Why would anyone let a man dressed like that come in a movie theater and why would you stay? The first thing you should’ve did when you saw him was run and call the cops or get a staff member. James Holmes was a doctoral study because he had a disorder and he said he went because he wanted to understand his own personal difficulties since he had since a kid. This man was sick and needed help that’s why he shot up the movie theater, not because of the black knight and the joker. Horror movies don’t causes people to turn violent. Violent horror movies are not the reason people go...

Words: 2281 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Surveys and Research

...2.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS 2.1 Interview Three people were chosen to be interviewed. In order to participate in the interview, one must be familiar with the broadcast and print media. He or she must like reading books and watch movie or TV series as well. The purpose of conducting this interview is to get more thorough perspectives on the Broadcast and Print media. Among the three interviewees, two engaged more with the Broadcast than the Print media. However, when asked to choose their preferences on visual or text, all of them agreed that visual plays more important role in their lives. The first interviewee, Charmaine, could not decide whether she prefers movies over books, or vice versa. The second and third interviewee, Louise and Hans, would want to watch movies based on the good books that they have read previously. However, they both would not buy those books if they watched movies first. Adding on, they both claimed they are regular movie goers because a movie only consumes two hours whereas, finishing a book takes them a week. Charmaine on the other hand, prefer convenience and tangible material. Therefore, she prefers reading books instead when she has the time. She still would go for movies at times but she stated that books offer more escapism from reality. Louise and Hans, as movie watchers, believe that watching a movie is the best way for stress relieve. 2.2 Focus Group Five people participated in this focus group which fulfils the minimum requirement...

Words: 4218 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Acsfzdgd

...other mobile handhelds, and file-sharing services have made downloading of video content from movies and television shows faster and easier than ever. Also people can even have more choices to watch different kinds of television shows. Internet appears an increasingly important role in television business strategy than it has in the past. Television is starting to lose viewers to the internet streaming of television program. The advertisers and viewers is change to use for the internet as delivery systems for content which keep the television industry lose revenue. For the result, there are more and more people start to watch movies and television online instead of watching these through the television. This is a big problem for television industry that is losing their customers. 2. Describe the impact of disruptive technology on the companies discussed in this case. The impact of disruptive technology on the companies in this case is bigger thing that will be definitely more and more choose to watch movies and television shows on the Internet. Disruptive technology or innovation makes a product or service better by reducing the price or changing the market in a way it does not expect. We think the television industry should try to come up with a new business strategy about how to integrate the traditional television industry with the innovative way that people choose to watch movies and television show. 3. How have the cable programming and delivery companies responded...

Words: 800 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Different Movie, Different Life

...Different Movie, Different Life I like watching movies in my spare time, such as action movies, emotion movies, and suspense movies, actually I like all kind of movies except horror movies. Action movies can make me passionate and feel good, and actors in action movies are handsome and cool. I am excited by the fight scenes in action movies, which are amazing. I also enjoy in emotion movies. That kind of movies can show me various emotions in our life, and teach me what they are and let me know I should treasure them. Furthermore, I can realize the emotion which I never seen in my life. I can exercise my ability of thinking when I watch suspense movies. My brain is thinking when I watch that movies in a whole time. And I really admire creator of that kind of movies, they are genius and so smart. Let me talk about this kind of movies I dislike, horror movies. Somebody say watch horror movies can release pressure and relax themselves, but I do not think so. I am so upset and afraid when I see something about horror movies, even a playbill or a soundtrack. I do not know why so many people like watching horror movies. My favorite movie is called The Shawshank Redemption. I think so many people have seen this movie. This is an old movie which shown in 1994, I was 2 years old in that year. I watched it some months ago; the story really shocked me indeed. The story is about a banker called Andy; he was falsely charged with murdered his wife and his wife’s lover. He used 19 years to...

Words: 589 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Disney Movies Tangled, The Incredibles, And Mulan

...Title Have you grown up watching movies of different genres? There is about 500,000 movies that have been made in the entire world. I, however, have seen a wide variety of different movies. Some of them come from a producing company called Disney or Pixar. I have seen a lot of Disney and Pixar movies that are pretty good. The best three animated Disney and Pixar movies are Tangled, The Incredibles, and Mulan. First of all, I think that Tangled is a pretty good Disney movie. Tangled is a movie about a princess who wants to find out why there are glowing lanterns every time on her birthday. The princess, Rapunzel, is living in a tower because a person who claims to be her mother is keeping her there. Because she has magical hair that can heal...

Words: 408 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Mism

...increased the ease which TV shows and music can be uploaded to the internet and shared with others for free. YouTube, which was started in 2005, is the most popular video-sharing website in the world. Over 150,000, unauthorized video clips of copyrighted television programs appeared on YouTube.Hula.com, a website offering streaming video of television shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC, Comedy Central and other networks. Hula.com is supported by advertising commercials, and much of its contents are free to viewers. 1. What competitive forces have challenged the television industry? What problems have these forces created? The movies and television shows would threaten the original television industries, such as Youtube, Hulu, because they are provided more than the original and can freely select a television.High-speed Internet access, powerful PCs with high-resolution display screens, and IPhones and other mobile handhelds, and leading-edge file-sharing services have made downloading of video content from movies and television shows faster and easier than ever.Farthermore, people can even have more choices to watch different kinds of television shows online. As a result,...

Words: 1052 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Book and Movie

...Example 1: subject by subject Books vs Movies (capitalize both words) There are different ways to get a story from different sources in modern times. Books have been good sources for stories, but movies are getting more popular and have the same story with wrong word the books. Why auxiliary verb needed people still reading books, and others are prefer watching should be an infinitive not a gerund the movies? Reading books and watching movies have a lot in common but there are some differences that makes the readers remain faithful to reading books. First, books keep a person’s mind going. A mind is filled with questionspunctuation and as the wheels in your head are turning, your brain is being put to more use rather than if you let it go numb during a movie. It is basically the same as watching television versus going outside and playing for a couple of hours. Movies are like a version of a television show, wrong punctuationthey are just longer. Everyone has heard that if you watch TV for too long it is not good for you, that you should pick up a good book instead.comma splice Should not the same rule apply when it comes to watching a movie?  You are contrasting movies and books but you go off on another idea of television. Keep on topic and show how books contrast to movies. In this paragraph you are trying to show how the brain reacts differently to movies and books. (Give more examples of that.) Films can do a lot of different things. They can bring whole worlds...

Words: 2110 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Horror Movies

...imagine themselves as the hero of the film. But that also means that one can imagine themselves as the antagonist of the film. “Why We Crave Horror Movies” is an article in which the author, Stephen King states his position on horror films. Stephen King points out that while some individuals watch horror movies because they are entertaining, horror movies may also be used to help suppress one’s psychopathic tendencies by feeding their craving for real murder. I agree with Stephen King one hundred percent. Not only are horror movies the most entertaining type of films to watch, but society can also use horror films as a therapeutic tool to help suppress their homicidal feelings. In the second paragraph of the article Steven King states “When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare” (Par. 2). Daring the nightmare to me is only looking for an entertaining situation that I am not normally accustomed to, whether it’s a thrill or just plain terrifying. Horror movies are by far the most entertaining types of films to watch. Whether it’s Children of the Corn or the Blair Witch Project I am always ready to watch a good horror movie because they always leave me satisfied. The suspense, the gore, and the various types of villains in these movies are all reasons why horror movies entertain me. . By watching a horror film one can actually escape their everyday life and have experience that they wouldn’t...

Words: 636 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Downloading Music from Internet

...During the last years, music, movies and TV programmes have been downloaded for free from Internet affecting CDs sales, TV programmes and movie rights. So, is this harming artists and TV corporations or helping them? Many people argue that downloading music from internet is not just illegal but morally wrong because you are stealing the artist who has put a lot of effort into that music that you are stealing. If you believe that you should not steal from an old shoemaker, who works because he needs the money to live, so why do it from a music artist who puts a lot of work in his songs is right? However, many of these artists make more money that they will ever need as they also make money from concerts. A lot of people run short of money and do not have much to spend on music, movies or TV programmes and downloading it for free seems the best option for them who don’t want to be left aside from the new technological society who offers these entertainments. Before you had to spend a lot of money to get all of these, but nowadays they are closer to our needs, closer for the people with limited resources, so why are we going to take away this privilege from them. People who support this side of the argument consider that downloading music, movies or TV programmes is not a way of steeling it, is a way of sharing. It is very common that when you are with your friends you listen to list of music so you share songs with your friends and widen your music spectrum including more artists...

Words: 654 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Watching Movies at Home

...In terms of movies, I prefer to watching them at home rather than watching them in theaters. There are three reasons for why I prefer watching movies at home. First of all, living far away from theaters makes me like watching movies at home. I should spend at least one hour taking bus to the nearest theater, and the time spending on the runway will be equal to a two-hour long movie. That is to say, if I choose to watch movie at home, I could watch another two-hour movie in the same four hours. Secondly, several movie websites give me more choices. Take one for example, I like watching movies on Netflix, a famous movie website. There are a large amount of movies on this website I can choose to watch if I pay $7.99 a month. On the other hand, the cost I spend online is cheaper than what I spend in theaters. I can watch more movies with less cost. Additionally, I have more freedom when watching movies at home. It is not hard to stop the movies whenever I want to get some snacks or I want to go to restroom, and I will never afraid of missing some essential plots. Furthermore, watching movies at home allows me to have bigger and more comfortable space during movie time. I really feel freer when watching movies at home. All in all, watching movies at home is really a better choice than watching movies in theaters since it can give me more time, more choices and more freedom. It may become a trend in future, especially among young...

Words: 275 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Re: English as a Global Language

...fashion, clothes or music. Movies are also an agenda for youths. It plays a big part in their lifestyle. Youths want to be like their favorite movie star like Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham or Robert Downey Jr. They play a big role in their youth lives. The movie ‘Avengers’ grossed a box office of $623,357,910 when it was premier at 2013. Half of the audiences are teenagers. Their age group range from 15 – 25. The target market for teenagers are very big; therefore, movie producers must take into consideration of this audience of theirs. They have to be considerate of the content of their movies or movies producers will face criticism from the public audience. Movies plays a big impact to the teens and it will impact them in a psychology way. Thus, movie is the entertainment that affects the youth today. There are few effects of movies on youth today such as, the factors of sociality, educational, cultural and political. Movies are entertainment for youth, because watching movie with family and friends can release their stress, forget everything and concentrate in the movie. In cinema, audience will laugh together or applaud together; share the same emotion with most of the audiences. These bring the viewers experience in more excitement and enjoyable; however, modern generations now are addicted towards movies. Addiction to movies can affect us mentally and physically based on health. Watch a lot of horror movies and you might believe in ghost existence; watch a lot of romance genre...

Words: 1635 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Blockbuster Mentality

...films. Not only that, but the majority of these films also had a massive marketing campaign with fast food restaurants, action figures, and all sorts of other products. The question here is; why do all/most of the movies in this list contain the same attributes? Is it because these are the most popular types of films or because Hollywood continues to develop these types of movies? Finally, there are the foreign and independent film genres. As you can probably tell, foreign films are not produced in the United States and are instead produced in other countries. Independent films are not as self-explanatory. These movies are made by incredibly small studios with small budgets and often do not get recognized. All of these different aspects will be visited throughout this paper. First off, it is clear that many of these films share similar aspects and it could possibly be the leading reason as to why these movies are successful. Out of the top 25 list, the only movies that did not include animation or an extensive amount of special effects were Titanic and Passion of the Christ (I am not positive about the latter because I have never seen it, but after watching multiple trailers it seems that it has minimal to no special effects). So that means that twenty-three of the highest grossing movies of all time are “altered”. And by this I mean that many elements were added after the movie was actually filmed (ex. In transformers the robots have to be edited in after that particular film...

Words: 2204 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Sex Education

... Have you ever seen the movies that Michael Bay has directed? I know that most of us have seen it before ,but some of us might not know that who has directed this movies. In this essay , I will tell you about him so I’m sure that after I tell about him all of us will know who is him. Michael Benjamin Bay was born on February 17,1965 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, director, producer, and writer. He has adopted by Jim Bay and Harriet Bay. His educations are Crossroads High School, Santa Monica, California, Art College Center of Design, Pasadena, California, and Wesleyan University, Middletown, California. When he was 15 years old, he worked at Lucasfilm and Formed Bay Film. He was one of the principals in Propaganda Films; directed TV commercials for Budweiser, Milk, Coca Cola, Nike, etc. He began directing music videos in 1988. After that he used to direct music videos and movies. The last movie that he has directed was Transformers. This movie has 4 part and it will be part 5 in this year. I really liked this movies because it’s very amazing movie. Even though I have watched it many times, but still used to watch it. This movie was very hard to direct because almost of characters are automaton so that why I used to watch and like this movie. In brief, I have given the reasons that why I like this movie. I sure that if you have watched this movies like me you will use to watch it and I hope everyone will...

Words: 275 - Pages: 2