I am writing this post in reflection of the 22 months that I have been in this forum. Among English internet forums this has been so far among the two where I have posted over 4 thousand posts. While I initially did not expect to have as many fights as I had (I had some heavy fighting in many internet forums as it is a way I have to vent, generating negative externalities to members in internet forums, but I am a rather "morbid" person anyway). So I apologize for the stress that I may have caused on some members here.
One thing that strikes me is that this was the first time I was immersed in constant communication with people from English speaking countries. Even after living in the US for over a year I don't talk to Americans much because most people I talk on a daily basis are also foreigners and I noticed some striking cultural differences. Anyway, I also noticed that my tastes are quite different from the average of the forum in terms of art from non-English speaking countries (being film, TV or music) even though they are very similar in terms of art coming from English speaking countries. I also never had that much contact with people obsessed with movies in general. Currently I might say that have lost interest in movies as I haven't watched any for about 45 days.
Anyway, I one thing that I noticed is that the more you watch/listen and the more you know in general, the least mainstream your favorite choices get and the more narrow becomes the specific appeal of your favorites. This applies to everything from music to movies. While a person may not be "restricted to genres", it is obviously true that preferences exist and they differ across individuals and genres exist because they provide information regarding the specific characteristics of films and hence allows people to choose what they like. People who watch only a selection of genres are not necessarily close minded, they just know their tastes. I for example, understand my tastes better than I did when I joined the forum. I regard as closed minded people who restrict themselves to stuff produced in geographical locations however as long as alternatives exist produced outside these locations.
For instance, I have been watching a ton of cute girls doing cute things slice of life anime over the past year or so, I haven't watched any slice of life animation made outside of Japan, not because I prefer the Japanese slice of life animation but because I do not know of any products of the genre not made outside of Japan. Anime is rather exceptional in that regard because it touches genres and subjects that animation produced elsewhere never does (pornography for a more obvious example). Three years ago I did not know that such a genre existed even though I had watched a ton of older anime. Truly a fantastic discovery in that regard and one that allows me to better understand my own tastes. I had a more exploratory phase at the time I joined the forum, it was around that time that I watched about a dozen Bresson movies over a few weeks period without knowing anything about the guy, for example, today I would never burn 20 hours of my time watching movies from genres I do not know because I have way less free time now. When I had a ton of free time I explored unknown genres while now I allocate my limited free time to more intensive activities (short TV series episodes compared to two hour long films for example).
One thing that strikes me is that this was the first time I was immersed in constant communication with people from English speaking countries. Even after living in the US for over a year I don't talk to Americans much because most people I talk on a daily basis are also foreigners and I noticed some striking cultural differences. Anyway, I also noticed that my tastes are quite different from the average of the forum in terms of art from non-English speaking countries (being film, TV or music) even though they are very similar in terms of art coming from English speaking countries. I also never had that much contact with people obsessed with movies in general. Currently I might say that have lost interest in movies as I haven't watched any for about 45 days.
Anyway, I one thing that I noticed is that the more you watch/listen and the more you know in general, the least mainstream your favorite choices get and the more narrow becomes the specific appeal of your favorites. This applies to everything from music to movies. While a person may not be "restricted to genres", it is obviously true that preferences exist and they differ across individuals and genres exist because they provide information regarding the specific characteristics of films and hence allows people to choose what they like. People who watch only a selection of genres are not necessarily close minded, they just know their tastes. I for example, understand my tastes better than I did when I joined the forum. I regard as closed minded people who restrict themselves to stuff produced in geographical locations however as long as alternatives exist produced outside these locations.
For instance, I have been watching a ton of cute girls doing cute things slice of life anime over the past year or so, I haven't watched any slice of life animation made outside of Japan, not because I prefer the Japanese slice of life animation but because I do not know of any products of the genre not made outside of Japan. Anime is rather exceptional in that regard because it touches genres and subjects that animation produced elsewhere never does (pornography for a more obvious example). Three years ago I did not know that such a genre existed even though I had watched a ton of older anime. Truly a fantastic discovery in that regard and one that allows me to better understand my own tastes. I had a more exploratory phase at the time I joined the forum, it was around that time that I watched about a dozen Bresson movies over a few weeks period without knowing anything about the guy, for example, today I would never burn 20 hours of my time watching movies from genres I do not know because I have way less free time now. When I had a ton of free time I explored unknown genres while now I allocate my limited free time to more intensive activities (short TV series episodes compared to two hour long films for example).