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r3port3r66 01-11-03 03:11 PM

Why Are Movies So Important To Society?
 
Why are movies important to society?

Why do we as people flock to the theater just to see a movie. Yes, the obvious answer is entertainment. But there has to be something else other than that. We can entertain ourselves in other ways without having to shell ot $8 (U.S.).

Why do people like us, avid movie fans, escape the reality of the real world to sit and watch something that is not real, but is set in the real world? And even if the film is not set in the world we know, the characters feelings are exchanged to us by the actors as if they are real. Why would we want to see someone else portray something we live out everyday? What is it we're looking for inside a movie?

What is the most important contribution that film brings into our society? And do we actually learn from what we see, or just forget the whole thing after we see it?

g0dzer0 01-11-03 04:15 PM

we learn from films, of course we do, i learned what a pugilist was when young guns was first released, when i was just a kid, vocabulary is a big part of film and same with books, it increases your knowledge of basic things in life such as conversation and different possible situations people can be put in, and of course morals found in films the same as books which can try to teach people the right thing to do. films are an escape, its a vacation from the same setting you view on a regular basis to see the world in a different perspective and try to understand people and the world around you better. movies aren't just a form of entertainment but also a form of education, and to enhance an imagination of what is possible. I personally will never be a detective, or see the wild west, or fight vampires but i can watch a movie about it and get an overall sense of what it would be like to be the character, and still identify with the character based on personal beliefs and habits. that is why film is so important to society, and film will continue to be important to society in the same way that books have always been important.

Yoda 01-12-03 01:10 PM

I dunno. Why are new threads so important to you? ;D

Serious answer (sorta): people love to be entertained, and, in my mind, movies are the ultimate form of entertainment. They combine music, stories, and pictures all in one, and these days they do so with uncanny realism.

r3port3r66 01-12-03 03:10 PM

Yeah, I know I was sort of the thread hog the other day. I just ask these questions because there is more to movies than just "Favorite" and "Best of" lists. :D

MyRobotSuit 01-12-03 03:22 PM

I do find to strange that in order to escape from real life to watch a film we have to sit in a large room and sit next to someone we've never met. I'd rather stay home.

Fugitive 01-12-03 05:19 PM

Escape.
Sure, I think everyone likes to be entertained and of course you can learn from movies but I personally think it's a form of escape too. I'd rather sit at home and watch a movie in peace too but if I'm at a theatre and if I'm engrossed in the movie, I don't particularly notice those around me. Most times if I rent a movie or go to the cinema, I go to relax and escape my day -- usually from a hairy day at work.

Deathman18 01-12-03 05:47 PM

re:
 
I saw a church sign as i was on my way to a movie (obviously). It stated "We are judged based on our actions, not on our intentions". I thought it was so true. We have good intentions, but most of us are too afraid or too embarased to go through with them. In most movies (usually the ones that make the most money) is really about turning those intentions into actions. The movies show the result of this. It could be good, could be bad, but in the end you know you've done something right. Something other than what we do. We always want to save the world or make a difference, like what people do in movies, but we just brush it off. If it's saving the world from the bad guys, having the guts ask a guy out on a date, sustaining a relationship when things seem bad, and getting up when you've fallen. Think of any movie you know, and think about how the characters have done something you wouldn't of, in a good way, of course. Jackass doesn't count. Since no one does it in real life, directors want to see what would happen if it did. We want to see people succeed. We want to see them fail. We wan't to see them do things that none of us can do. That's why movies make so much money. That's why they have an impact on our society. I'm agreing with r3port3r66 that entertainment isn't enough, because it isnt.

Monkeypunch 01-13-03 12:26 AM

I personally have to go with the escapism theory. Life pretty much sucks and the world's a frickin' mess these days, so who doesn't want to get away from it all for at least 2 hours. I love going to the movies because for that space of time, I don't exist. My problems are gone, the world is gone, all that matters is what's up on the screen. Sure, some movies can change the way you think, see the world, etc. But only a real big liar says they go to the movies to learn important life lessons or have their perceptions of things changed.:yup: In the end, if movies don't entertain you in some way, they've failed.

g0dzer0 01-13-03 12:32 AM

movies are definetly an escape but you learn things from them as well, you can't deny that you don't learn things from watching movies, i didn't mean for that to be the ultimate purpose of watching movies, who reads novels purely to learn? i was comparing books to movies, they're basically the same thing in essence.

theshape82 01-14-03 04:21 PM

to be brief...movies are important because they are fun...because they are scary...because they are educational...because they are classy...just because
they are there to excite the human emotion
not just entertain us but to allow us to feel what we want
(example:...if you want to feel scared what are you going to go see?...dumbo??...nah..you want a good horror movie)

Sir Toose 01-14-03 04:59 PM

Hey, R66, I dig your threads. They breathe a little life into this place.

I'm a sensory junkie. I was diagnosed long ago with attention deficit. It may or may not be a b.s. disease, but I know I crave sensory input like Charlie Sheen craves hookers. The movies play to those cravings. I get a head full of stimulus, an ear full of booming sound, and an eyeful of candy without leaving my seat.

Can't think of another place/way I could do that short of following Charlie to the house of ill repute.

People love stories, too. Cave paintings were about conveying a story. The tradition lives... the media changed.

Caitlyn 01-14-03 09:05 PM

I have to agree with Fox and Monkeypunch about escapism… movies can help you unwind and even if they show the very worse society has to offer, hopefully they still make you feel better because what is on the screen is worse than what you’re going through and if not, then for a short time you have someone else who has the same problems you do…

Sullivan 01-14-03 11:17 PM

Where's Holden?....

LordSlaytan 01-15-03 02:46 AM

Back in the day when Shakespeare was an active playwright, he mentioned that the reason he wrote his tragedies and comedies was because of the human condition. Life can be hard and cruel, and people need to be given relief. More for their over burdened and over stressed minds than anything else. Watching a tragedy that can make you feel grateful for the trivialities that encumber your own life can be healing. In fact, it can increase your lifespan if you really think about it. Times are different now, of course, but now we have even more stresses than the simple issues of keeping warm and dry, and staying fed. Mentally, we need much more relief than they did back then, because we are bombarded with multitudes of problems that cannot be escaped, that people back then couldn’t even begin to fathom. I can have a hard day at work, be in pain from missing some loved ones, be burdened with debt, and worry about my future; but then I go to a movie. It might make me laugh, it might make me cry, but regardless of what it does…it heals me, if only for a short time.

Fugitive 01-15-03 05:14 PM

Very well put, Slay and so true.
In short, we escape if only for a brief while the tribulations of real life.

OG- 10-05-04 12:16 AM

"Movies are not only the dreams of society, but also the therapy."

From a paper written for an intro to film class. I couldn't agree with it more. Though people may not think about it on an active level, movies make our lives easier by both escape and understanding.

iluv2viddyfilms 10-05-04 10:53 PM

Movies are great in all the aspects mentioned thus far... escapisms, reflection on life, entertainment, and such.

One other thing too. We should consider that movies are a semi-modern art form. They've had written art in novels and suck for awhile, and paintings, written music which could be duplicated.

But movies are the only artform where you actually see life being represented or at least mimicked. So just imagine 1,000 years from now when people are studying history. What's going to be the biggest source people can draw from to understand the way things are today? movies of course. There's no doubt in my mind that historians 1,000 years from now will be studying The Grapes of Wrath, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and many others to get a depiction of what life was like or might have been like. Even lesser movies or (god forbid) TV shows, news broadcasts and stuff like that. The camera will probably go down as the greatest invention of all time, even possibly surpassing the printing press I would imagine in the centuries to come. Seriously it's an eye into the past. Wouldn't it be great to study (if they had it) movies from the era of Christ or Ghangis Khan, or whoever else? Just to get a glimpse of how things are.

Of course that's just one of the reasons I love movies because of their potential (though CGI could be a huge misstep in this), but there's a million others too. But I just wanted to quickly mention something a lot of people might not think of.

Diablo 10-05-04 10:56 PM

Easy, it's an escape from reality a.k.a Your crappy existence. Don't bother posting anything after this, that's all it is to it.

iluv2viddyfilms 10-05-04 10:56 PM

also can you imagine what a great tool movies are going to be to historians studying dialect, culture, and such. Maybe everyone in 1,000 years will be one race. Wouldn't be cool to see people of different races in movies, that are actually real people who lived and die, rather than some painting or heiroglyph.

scissorhands85 10-05-04 11:45 PM

I just like the feeling you get from driving to the theatre, standing in the line and talking to the lady behind the glass, finding a seat way up high and sitting down and waiting for the lights to dim and the movie to start. It's relaxing in my opinion, and to have to pay seven bucks to sit down and relax for two hours and see something new and refreshing (hopefully) is well worth it to me. That is why I go to the movies. Nice topic though.


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