While You Debate Half-Empty or Half-Full
From my little experience dabbling in the art of film-making, I have an inkling that movie making is quite the undertaking. From finding actors to writing a script, from a strong management to successful publicizing, a movie, in its final form, is no joke. It would make you wonder then, what possesses individuals, who arguably have dignity and a reputation, to create films that are seemingly...shallow. Slapstick humor, fantasy, and essentially any theme that seems inapplicable to the realms of mundane logic and reason. We've all found ourselves asking how a piece so seemingly trivial has managed to successfully charge through the finish-line ribbon of such an intensely competitive obstacle course.
Thankfully,we don't need to jump hurdles to find the answer. Yes, humans are intellectual creatures. We converse and we debate, we are impassioned and we are infuriated, and nine times out of ten, we are doing it while carrying the world on our shoulders. But when we walk through the doors of a movie theater, we enter a portal to a third dimension. One where we, like ostriches, can have eyes that are bigger than our brains. Our worries and sorrows are the liquids and gels that are not permitted past the security checkpoint. We let down our hair and let loose. We sink into the plush velvet chairs while our hands sink into that carton of buttery goodness. No windows. No signs of the hardships and truths of the "real" world.
A pointless film, and yet sometimes, that's what we want. We don't want to have to think or justify. We don't want to be reminded of our financial problems or health struggles. We just want to drop our jaws as beautiful people and unlikely happenings throw themselves at us.
With ticket prices having pushed past the ten dollar mark, I think twice before sprinting to a third-rate film just to chuckle at a few crude jokes. Read: it's more socially acceptable to say you caught a gripping film about the underpinnings of World War II than say, a two-hour quest for a hamburger.
So movies are expensive. But our day-to-day interactions with other individuals, while putatively less glamorous, can serve the same purpose as big-screen entertainment. While I don't support crude (and often vain) attempts at pointless humor and love a deep existential conversation as much as the next guy, I do appreciate the witty and humorous exchange now and then. I'm not suggesting that we should each paint a smile on our faces and throw on a red nose. But realize that, with every social interaction, we have the opportunity to be the MGM lion. To be the entertaining film. We can avoid the eternal stream of what, in the grand scheme of things, are petty complaints. I'm not saying we need to be fountains of knock-knock jokes. We can, however, choose to engage in light-hearted conversations that promise a feel-good residue.
Obviously, we all crumble now and then and find ourselves in dire need of a shoulder to dry our tears. But often, we have the capability of leaving our bags at home.
People thirst for others who will brighten their outlook. Those who will single-handedly knock the mountain back down to a mole hill. Every morning, we can consciously leave our homes with the glass half full. We can make an effort to seek out those who travel light. And chances are that when we check back around midday, that glass will be filled to the brim.
Thankfully,we don't need to jump hurdles to find the answer. Yes, humans are intellectual creatures. We converse and we debate, we are impassioned and we are infuriated, and nine times out of ten, we are doing it while carrying the world on our shoulders. But when we walk through the doors of a movie theater, we enter a portal to a third dimension. One where we, like ostriches, can have eyes that are bigger than our brains. Our worries and sorrows are the liquids and gels that are not permitted past the security checkpoint. We let down our hair and let loose. We sink into the plush velvet chairs while our hands sink into that carton of buttery goodness. No windows. No signs of the hardships and truths of the "real" world.
A pointless film, and yet sometimes, that's what we want. We don't want to have to think or justify. We don't want to be reminded of our financial problems or health struggles. We just want to drop our jaws as beautiful people and unlikely happenings throw themselves at us.
With ticket prices having pushed past the ten dollar mark, I think twice before sprinting to a third-rate film just to chuckle at a few crude jokes. Read: it's more socially acceptable to say you caught a gripping film about the underpinnings of World War II than say, a two-hour quest for a hamburger.
So movies are expensive. But our day-to-day interactions with other individuals, while putatively less glamorous, can serve the same purpose as big-screen entertainment. While I don't support crude (and often vain) attempts at pointless humor and love a deep existential conversation as much as the next guy, I do appreciate the witty and humorous exchange now and then. I'm not suggesting that we should each paint a smile on our faces and throw on a red nose. But realize that, with every social interaction, we have the opportunity to be the MGM lion. To be the entertaining film. We can avoid the eternal stream of what, in the grand scheme of things, are petty complaints. I'm not saying we need to be fountains of knock-knock jokes. We can, however, choose to engage in light-hearted conversations that promise a feel-good residue.
Obviously, we all crumble now and then and find ourselves in dire need of a shoulder to dry our tears. But often, we have the capability of leaving our bags at home.
People thirst for others who will brighten their outlook. Those who will single-handedly knock the mountain back down to a mole hill. Every morning, we can consciously leave our homes with the glass half full. We can make an effort to seek out those who travel light. And chances are that when we check back around midday, that glass will be filled to the brim.
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