Understanding taste in movies

LOL Whut is arthouse? WHO IS 4CHAN?

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Mubi

With the rebirth of some other threads and now this, I wonder how many people look to movies as having a spiritual relationship with them. I know that even though many members have identified themselves as atheists, they also seek to evolve to a higher form of human being by appreciating art which they feel has evolved to a higher level of art form. This can manifest itself in literature, music, painting, photography and certainly movies, since they tend to incorporate so many of the arts. Could this possibly be what people are doing?

I see religion and spirituality as two separate subjects, so it shouldn't matter if one has a religion, organized or not. But seeking to elevate oneself to a higher level of humanity is something I believe that every honest, intelligent member does, even if they don't actively seem to seek it, whether through film or some higher form of expression. Think about it, and I realize much of this is based on one's age and culture and how one was actually introduced to movies, but many people are introduced to them through the mainstream, and many are happy with what they receive from it. But others, especially here, cannot be satisfied by the mainstream alone (man cannot live by bread alone) and seek out other ways to quench their thirst for what they feel are the movies' and their personal higher calling. This may seem obvious but I don't recall it being expressed here in quite this way.

So basically I see the appreciation of film and other arts as one's spiritual evolution to a potential state of nirvana. Some may believe you're crazy or deluded. Some might not see or understand what you do. Some may not have faith in your favorite film/filmmaker. Some may change in their relationship to a single film or film in general. I guess you could just call it life, but at least before some of us become too jaded to care, don't you want your life to serve some higher purpose, especially if you only go around once? It may only be a hobby to some, but getting the most you can out of film and sharing that with others isn't that unimportant a life's ambition, outside of what you may perhaps accomplish through having a family, job and education.

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Me too...12 years ago I wouldn't watch an old 'crusty' black and white film, I hated musicals too. Now I love both. And I found myself NOT liking most mainstream, mass entertainment that's churned out of Hollywood these days.

@ Citizen Rules, Well, among your favorites you have mostly mainstream Hollywood films, the fact is that most mainstream hollywood films are not mega blockbusters which are about 1% of the stock of hollywood cinema. Naturally, if most of your favorites are Christopher Nolan films and Avatar, one can deduce that you haven't watched many films.

Mainstream movies such as the Men In Black and LOTR are the films that got me here in the first place. In my opinion mainstream films serve as basic platforms for the further exploration of the world of movies. One continued taste does not ruin your appetite for other things.

In knowing many genres you know which genres you like. And while you can like movies in many genres your favorites top 10 list (not only your personal one but from everybody) are always more restricted and focused on the specific type you like the most.

Different people have different tastes and different interests. Different types of movies exist to satisfy different tastes and interests (even auteur movies satisfy the auteur's interests and tastes even if he/she doesn't want to serve any audience). Denial of your own taste leads to self torture and I from reading favorite lists of movies and music it is very obvious that pretty much nobody has truly eclectic tastes in anything. Favorites lists always favor certain genres over others. Even Roger Ebert's top 10 list he sent to Sign and Sound wasn't exactly eclectic and Roger Ebert was among the most eclectic film critics (compared to others I know about).

Of course it's natural that was my whole point. However one thing you missed is that it is them perfectly natural that very experienced film buffs favorites will naturally tend to be hated by the average person because they satisfy very personal tastes (your favorite movie is the ultimate example, it is obvious that 99.9% of the general population would absolutely hate it).

But that wasn't my point. I can like mainstream stuff, my point is that the more you know your own tastes and the more you explore any field, comics, movies, books, music, etc, the more precise your favorites become in the sense of satisfying our own personal tastes. Since different people have different tastes. these favorites tend to not fit other people's tastes since they are very personal favorites that are such that they satisfy your own personal tastes to a very high degree. So unless your particular tastes are such that something that fits really well with the average tastes of the population, your favorites will tend to drift from the mainstream the more you know about them.

Also, I would finally add that you have to be open minded to actually known what you really love because you need to explore a lot of stuff before hitting the nail of your tastes in the head.

Pretty much. It's hard to think of a movie that doesn't reflect anything personal from their creators which would be the type of movie of purely commercial nature without any artistic intentions (according to my definition of art as something that is made for it's own sake).

I also love the sci-fi genre. It's almost impossible for me to not find sci-fi entertaining. Even Goddard's sci fi film was entertaining to me and I usually dislike his movies. By contrast I don't like Gangster movies very much, noir movies like Chinatown as well as traditional westerns or traditional 1940's hollywood melodramas like Casablanca.

Yet you made a top 25 animated films list.

I think that religion is just another way to achieve a spiritual relationship with something. Religion is kinda like an artform in a way.

That's what art is all about, either classical music or videogames. Yes, I have achieved "nirvana" playing videogames many times.

Indeed. I dislike when people tell me: What? You have spend your vacations watching TV?

I do not understand what you mean by that. Maybe you mean that you try to force yourself into ignoring your tastes when watching something in order to adapt to the established opinion of widely well regarded classics? Or do you mean you don't try to limit the genres you watch by the genres from where most of your favorites come from? I remember you said you did not like sci-fi novels, how that fits with this claim?

I see, but there is the fact that some masterpieces are more accessible than others: I loved Star Wars when I was 10 without knowing much. But it is true that your tastes develop as you know more and you become able to understand better the language used by different varieties of movies, TV, music, books, etc.

For example, 95% of all the music I listen too is heavy metal while 5% is orchestral/classical (usually Romantic or Classic, trying some 20th century composers as well). I am open minded in trying different genres of music, however, the fact is that I listen to different stuff and it just sounds weaker/less satisfying than the genres I usually listen to and as my ears developed I appreciated better the more extreme qualities of metal and other forms of music now seem even less appealing/more inferior than before. about 8 years ago I tried listening to Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc, but now they seem so "tame, boring and primitive" to my ears. While when I first heard Judas Priest my favorite albums were Screaming for Vengeance and British Steel, now those two sound simplistic compared to their earlier masterpieces like Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class (Slayer guitarist Kerry King said the same thing as well). Indeed, your tastes develop and evolve with time and with the stuff you appreciate changes.

You mean humbleness of recognizing that your own tastes are also subject to potential change and development upon differing influences? That's true indeed, I know that my tastes can change but I also know that they are not exactly like clay that will adapt to any influences. I cannot make myself love Goddard's movies just because I am "supposed to".

Also humbleness if recognizing that other people might have different appreciation of artforms than you do. For instance, when my friend told me that it was a ludicrous waste of time to spend my free time "watching TV" he was being arrogant in not understanding that other people might appreciate the art of watching stuff on a screen more than he does.

Not everyone? No one. Each person is different and so has different tastes which will evolve differently. I also think that besides evolving tastes in the appreciation of art there are some core elements of one's taste that one learns how to satisfy as one's capability of understanding art improves with experience. And as you improve our own understanding of a medium you will tend to like more and more stuff other people in general would not like.

I did say that? Where?
I have no issue with Sci-Fi novels. If I ever said anything about this genre of literature it couldn't have been very substantial because I have never read stuff from it. I will say that this is not the literary genre that allures my interest the most, but this doesn't mean that if I get to read a Sci-Fi novel I won't give it any chance to prove its worth.

Take the horror movie genre, for example. I have lost much interest in this genre in particular because it's rare to find a work that is a good horror movie and a fine work of cinema (according to my subjective criteria, YMMV). But this doesn't mean that I will avoid watching a movie just because it's from this genre nor that I won't be as receptive to it as I am to any other. It's only fair to give every movie a chance even if I have a developed aesthetic preference or taste. Because one's artistic appreciation is not a static thing, it's constantly developing. The more open-minded one is, the richer one's artistic appreciation can be. This doesn't necessarily mean that one has to like every movie, but at least, they are given a fair chance.

Before I joined this I was very closed minded in regains to what movies I watch, for one I did not even check out the old ones (previous and late 70's) therebefore I only liked the new ones which now I find incredibly stupid in general, note that I've been here for like a month. I wonder what my thoughts will be in 5 years.

As I go watching movies I start to find it rather difficult to rate, while before it was easy, if it made me smile it's good comedy, if it made me sad it's a good drama, if it made me intriged it's a good thriller. Now it's harder to rate, why? Because now I look in the acting, in the storyline, in the flaws and therebefore I sometimes have to rewatch the film just to be able to give it a decent rating, which at this point could definitely change to better or worse if I re-watched a movie in a month or two.

The more we get into something the more good we get in judging, by OUR own likes, of course. And just as you've realized that your likes get less and less mainstream so did all of us.

I'm a 90's kid, I was introduced into films for the first time with Alien, then movies like Terminator, Rambo, Rocky, Gladiator, Troy and Titanic.

Some years ago I'd have mentioned some movies like American Pie, Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings to be my favorite, movies which now I cannot enjoy, simply because my likes have got more defined through the years, my perception of what is a flaw, what is a good comedy and what is sci-fiction has changed as well, I can barely stand movies that go out nowdays and I get interested in very few of them, which tend to be a dissapointment.

We can be very open minded and watch anything but we have our own scale from x to y and that is something we develop over years, over trying and experimenting. The process of developing our likes and dislikes goes along with us growing as individuals. Hence why everyone is special and unique.

Point of all of this is, if you want to find out what you like, sit down and explore (at least in movies, if it's the world you want to explore, then I recommend getting up instead )

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Indeed I agree 100%. You always have to try to take out as much as you can from anything you read, watch or listen.

Good live action horror movies? Persona, Alien and Eraserhead are among my favorites.

Just stumbled across this

I do believe it was me that first came up with the term 'art house mafia'. It just seemed quite fitting I thought given that art house aficionados tend to be the most aggressive and confrontational of all film fans. They tend to try and force their films on others, rip into mainstream stuff and anyone who dares to call art house films boring or pretentious they tear into. Though to be fair the people on here are generally ok, certainly compared to art house fans you find in other places.


I think we actually need more groups. This place has entirely too much of a community spirit for my liking. I'd like to see it to be a much more fractured and splintered place! It should be like The Warriors with all the colourful, distinctive gangs. So in addition to the art house mafia we could have the Superhero Squad, the Horror Hounds, the Sci-Fi Syndicate, the Western Warriors, the Animation Addicts, the Anime Army etc. Fans of specific movements and eras - Golden Age Groupies, the French New Wavers

We could also have director specific groups - the Hitchcock Hierarchy, Fincher's Followers, Godard's Gathering, the Kurosawa Krazies, the Miyazaki Mob, Bergman's Believers, the Fellini Faction, the Coen Cronies, Herzog's Horde, Malick's Manics, the Cronenberg Cabal, Almodovar's Acolytes, Linklater's Legion, the Capra Clique, the De Palma Devotees etc. Not to mention the Cult of Nolan (aka Nolanites. aka The Fear Bringers. aka Satan's Minions. aka The Harbingers of Doom). Oh and of course The KKK (the Kubrick Klan Kollective).

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My decision between the Superhero Squad and the Horror Hounds would basically be a reenactment of West Side Story.

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The Warriors...'art house mafia'? ha, I'd say more like 'art house Orphans'

Yeah, they don't got a social worker.

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I forgot the greatest group of all as well - The Divine Church of the Goddess Drew Barrymore. Led I'm hoping by the honourable honeykid.

Oh yeah and for fans of Cameron Crowe there's A Murder of Crowe's Fans. (it's sad just how ridiculously pleased I am with myself for coming up with that. )


And lastly as a gesture towards the Art House Mafia, an olive branch if you will, I have made them this recruitment poster

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.