justmyblogstuff

Goodness is subjective. Art is subjective.

Someone once said that by studying film, your taste will get “better.” That you can still like a bad movie, but it’s still bad. I find that thinking pretentious.

Even if a movie is universally considered bad, if you like it, that means something in that movie speaks to you, that made you enjoy it. It could be the music, the action, or the characters. Ergo, the movie’s done its job and is therefore a good movie. It might not speak to the majority, but it still speaks to you. You can learn to appreciate the advanced technique of critically acclaimed movies, but obligated to like them you are not. Like Two For the Road. I’m aware of the unique editing skills but it’s still a boring movie and there’s a reason that it’s boring. In that sense, it has failed. And it'd be kinda sad if you stopped loving the movies you once loved just cause your taste got “better.” Of course tastes naturally change but there is a reason, something that the filmmakers did, that made those movies appeal to you in the first place.

My teacher once said that it annoys her when people don’t have a reason why they dislike a movie. When she asks them why, they go “I dunno, I just don't.” Everything must be explained intelligently. I disagree. You don’t have to explain why you don’t like something and you’re completely entitled to your opinion. People might not be able to articulate exactly why they like their favorite movies, but their instincts are telling them something. Knowing these things helps if you want to make movies or go into that field, but for the average Joe, you like what you like. Simple enough. No need to justify your preferences to please others. After all, movies weren’t designed to make people super intellectual even if they can include intellectual things. If people only liked or disliked movies for purely logical reasons, then movies wouldn’t be art anymore. It would be a hard science, which defeats the whole purpose of movies in the first place. After all, movies are better judged by its overall effect rather than the sum of its parts.

And that’s why I wonder if I’m starting to become too evaluative about movies. That I should just relax and enjoy the movie-watching process more like I did before, when I fell in love with movies in the first place and just sit back and be absorbed and not worry about judging.

I’m not sure if I’m starting to be pretentious about my supposed lack of pretentiousness. But comment below what you think. It would be quite hypocritical of me if that were so. But I love irony. So a good dash of it in my life would be amusing I suppose.

That is all.

The Blogger

#movies