Our worldviews are shaped by fictions more than by realities we barely have any access to (even in our own lives, we only grasp a fraction of the components of whatever impacts us, and we extrapolate the rest). And a frightening proportion of our "knowledge" of the world is actually inherited by tales, movies, novels, sensationalist "documentaries". What we know of past epochs, what we know of life in countries or cultures where we've never set foot, or only experienced as meteoric tourists (with our interpretations already shaped by fictions). And most of it happens without us realizing it, it's just culture. Socialization. "Common sense", "common knowledge", etc. Okay, this existential fright isn't when I meant to discuss here.
My question is, when did a movie (fiction or documentary) managed to consciously alter our worldview. Made us look at some aspects of life in a novel way. Made us consciously "learn" something that changed our perceptions, our behaviors, our attitudes (maybe even our votes) ? Our sensitivities about a certain matter ?
Is is a movie about gender identity, or a movie about exile ? A dystopia about ecology or political violence ? A movie about appearances, illusions, and mob mentality ? Or about the complexities and familiarity of a remote place that we used to imagine in a simplified, folkloric way ? A revisionist take on historical clichés ? A switch of perspective on some notorious event, or on some more intimate situations ?
And did you go "oh, wait" immediately, or did you realize only years afterwards that you owed a certain outlook to a certain story ?
Did you ever feel that a movie's message did really accomplished its mission of influencing you ?
My question is, when did a movie (fiction or documentary) managed to consciously alter our worldview. Made us look at some aspects of life in a novel way. Made us consciously "learn" something that changed our perceptions, our behaviors, our attitudes (maybe even our votes) ? Our sensitivities about a certain matter ?
Is is a movie about gender identity, or a movie about exile ? A dystopia about ecology or political violence ? A movie about appearances, illusions, and mob mentality ? Or about the complexities and familiarity of a remote place that we used to imagine in a simplified, folkloric way ? A revisionist take on historical clichés ? A switch of perspective on some notorious event, or on some more intimate situations ?
And did you go "oh, wait" immediately, or did you realize only years afterwards that you owed a certain outlook to a certain story ?
Did you ever feel that a movie's message did really accomplished its mission of influencing you ?