Film Analysis

I've never taken a film analysis or film appreciation class.

I'm curious, for those of you that have had classes, if you find it adds or detracts from your enjoyment of a film?







Sorry if this has been done. I searched it and didn't get any hits...

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If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe

The more you know about a film, the themes of a writer/director, the evolution of various artists'/technicians' careers, the historical context of the time the film was made, how it relates to any original sources, and how its reputation may have increased/decreased over time, the more you will love film. You don't have to know these things to enjoy and understand film, and you certainly shouldn't feel "out of your league", if you look at a film from a certain specific perspective, but your brain will not get "scanned" (I hope and pray) if you choose to dive into all the various ways to look at the awesomeness which is film.

I realize this is very superficial, but my daughter Sarah has to use the computer to finish up the final draft of her English essay. Maybe I'll get Sarah to join up and post here because she's been taking film appreciation courses, here at home, so she just started her high school's first film club. (The first film she showed was Modern Times.)

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

My school offers Film & TV as a subject (which I just so happen to be in right now). Our teacher warned that this would suck the fun out of watching movies for us. I haven't found this to be necessarily so, and an understanding of films can actually enhance watching more often than detracting.

Although, it does turn you into something of a snob.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I tend to find that it hasn't changed how I view movies that much. I will still enjoy the viewing process a lot, and I can turn my brain off and appreciate a movie while I am watching it. However, once I have seen a film, I will think about it, and go over parts of it in my mind, and that is the point in time I will pick it apart more and look harder at the details, so movie that I might have enjoyed watching multiple times before will have less interest for me know in future viewings, but I still find that at least the first time that I have watched a film that I still enjoy it and don't think about it a ton. If anything the first viewing I have of a film can end up being better because I catch some details without even trying to, but I definitely have seen it work the other way when people try and pick apart movies so much that they suck all the fun out of them, even while they are watching them. And I vowed to myself that I wouldn't let this happen to me, and so far so good.

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"As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away."
-From Identity

Take the class. Impress your friends, or annoy them, it don't matter. Just take the class.

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I'm taking a Introduction to Film course this semester. We're starting with the Silent films and moving on from there. Should be fun.