Movie Blog Entry #1: A very specific experience I had. "Books vs Movies."

2023 was the year I began watching movies. Like, really, really watching movies. I had discovered the joy of cinema. I was struck. I had decided that year, that I would dedicate my life to this.

Part 1: Some Context

It's around May now. I'm in the student council, for some reason. That morning I watched Taxi Driver (1976) for the first time*. Confusion doesn't begin to describe how I felt. Before that moment, I wasn't exposed to stories like this. About these types of people, and these types of sitiuations. I don't believe I was ever that challenged morally while watching or reading something. I barely knew how to articulate my thoughts on it. The only feeling that persisted was vauge disorientation. Before that day, it was GoodFellas, before that Dog Day Afternoon, etc*. Everyday I would eagerly anticipate the next movie I got to watch. But before that, I have to go to school, and what do you know? I have a council meeting today. How fun. The actual meeting had nothing to do with movies of course. Mostly about boring things like, I dunno, school. But there was one moment that has stayed in my mind after all these months. 

Part 2: The "Incident"*

The activity we did was based on using the room as a scale of agreeing and disagreeing. Right is that, left is this, you decide where you are on the spectrum. Pretty simple, pretty boring, you get it. The warm up was the age old question, the classic debate, the original problem:

"Books or Movies?"

Well to (the absence of) my surprise, most people were book leaning. I, and one other kid, were the only persons planted firmly at the very edge of the movie side. I have zero problem with this. I have nothing but utmost respect and admiration towards literature. Although the initial joy of proudly flaunting stance, proving my newfound love in a way, was soon proven to be misguided. 

Part 3: Their Arguments

"The books are always better." 

"Movies leave little room for the imagination." 

and my favourite, "Movies don't require thought." 

For the sake of specificity, the last point was actually said like this: "You don't have to think during movies, you can turn your brain off during them." This and the other points were likely the result of the current state of cinema right now. What to say that hasn't already been explored in far more thoughtful ways?  You could blame these statements on IPs, remakes and Franchisies decimating the box office (and my local theatre), or the "content-ization" of any form of visual media. I'm not saying that there aren't any good movies anymore, I'm saying that good movies, unique movies, no longer hold the same space in the culture. My local theatre, the only one I can go to, didn't even have Asteroid City. Wes Anderson is a POPULAR director. Perhaps I'm overreacting or overanalyzing, but even so,

Part 4: "IM REALLY ANGRY" - Goku

At the time, it felt like I was punched in the nose repeatedly. How could it be that cinema was made out to be such a joke? It was seen as lesser than, an intellectual inferior. I can't bring myself to understand how someone could so callously dismiss this. This is personal now! How can it not be? Movies have benefited me as a person, it drastically changed my perspective on things, dramatically increasing the quality of my life. The only way I can attempt, or even know how to properly capture this is by saying it in the simplest way possible. Movies changed me. Some of my best, most emotional, experiences were watching movies. Cinema is endlessly beautiful, and so damnn hard. The amount of effort and skill it takes to make a single movie is properly insane. That's why it's so special, and I do not use that word lightly, to watch a good movie. People live for this stuff, It's like if I went up to a soccer player, who continually pushes themselves, who trained, and trained, and trained, their entire lives just so they can be half decent, and told them "It's just kicking a ball." I don't even like soccer. But I do like movies. So what did I do after hearing that blatant slander? 

Conclusion

In reality this meant nothing to anyone else there. The moment left like a weary fly you tried to swat. I say this with dissapointment that I am the only one who even remembers this. Maybe I'm am just being silly, but at the same time it has inspired me. By the way, the response to the question after the last paragraph was: "Nothing." At least, not yet anyway. I'll end with a Martin Scorsese quote, so you (hopefully) think this is better than it is:

“Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema is the best medium for doing this.”

*1 Foreshadowing???!?!

*2 I say etc, but there really wasnt much other than both Scarfaces. I was very new.

UP NEXT:

The Taxi in Taxi Driver: A Taxi Driver analysis