2/17 - Reading And Writing About Movies

Reading movies. Never thought about it in that way. It is true that we are all movie critics in one way or another, but reading a movie? Had to think about that for a bit. After some thought, I agree, we do read movies in a way. But in what context. I think 30 some years ago, I probably drew more social and cultural content from movies than I do now. I definitely am more cynical when viewing movies today and certainly am less apt to pay money on a regular basis to go see one in a theater.

When I think back to the 70's, when I first can remember going to see movies, I remember vividly, Jaws and Saturday Night Fever. The former scared me to death as I viewed it with my parents as a 13 year old the night before we left for a weeks vacation at the Jersey Shore. It took me years before I could go in the ocean without a great deal of fear. To this day I still think about that movie every time I'm at the beach. Less fearful, but still looking out into the ocean for fins.

Saturday Night Fever was more culturally influential for me. I was a sophomore in high school when that movie came out. Puffy sleeves, leisure suits, bell bottoms and disco music were the rage. John Travolta became the "cool" kid we all wanted to be and yes, I even tried to learn how to dance the way he did. I can still embarrass me teenagers with some of those silly moves in a heartbeat.

Today, I know that Hollywood and film making in general is a business. Studio's, producers, directors and even the actors go with the flow to make the big bucks. More special effects, more hack and gore, more story lines that sell like produce in a supermarket rather then tell us a story. I know that the lifestyles, clothes and interactions in the movies influence our culture, but to me, not in a good way much. Even my daughter tells me they ruin books by making movies out of them. The plots and characters change to make the movie sell. Historical remakes like the Flight 97 9/11 movie I didn't watch because you know right up front it's mostly speculation and hype to sell the movie. Nobody will ever know what really happened on that plane.

So with that I will tell you that I still enjoy sitting and "vegetating out" watching a movie. And I'll probably tell you that I still see movies that I'll say are good. But I'll say it knowing that I took a lot of the plot or story line tongue in cheek because I know its done to best capitalize on the almighty dollar, not necessarily because it's good art form or telling a real story.