Distraction

Hello,

I went and saw the movie, Safe House, the other day. It was alright, not my favorite, but I'd probably wait for it to come to Netflix to watch it. It is tempting though because Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds are just two names you go out of your way to see. Looks aside, I think both did a great job acting.

Anyway, in the movie there's this part where Denzel is talking to Reynolds about something standard to the movie, and I won't ruin it, but somewhere in the talk he drops the words "...desire to believe" or "...our desire to believe." It hit me, smacked me right back into the movie. I thought about it for a while after the movie ended, and it definitely made me think of movies and television in as general of a sense that you could think (he wasn't talking about movies in the movie by the way).

It's nothing new that when we go to the movies or read a story that isn't necessarily true we "Suspend our disbelief," for the sake of understanding what's going on, getting the deeper meaning. That's got some great ideas behind it, but it doesn't do our own feelings and emotions enough justice.

Side Note: I am just now realizing that I think we talked about this in my Intro to Fiction class this week, but I'm not entirely sure cause I wasn't paying much attention.

Many people already know this, but movies were a huge part of bringing America back from the Great Depression. I think that is my single favorite moment of the history of the world. I mean everything, all parts of history, which is pretty ridiculous if you think about it, that is my favorite. Probably because it makes sense to me more than anything else.

The fact that people struggled so hard to just get by, but still went to movies is astonishing. Granted a movie ticket then was 27 cents and not 10 bucks (different times, different money situations, I understand). They wanted to be distracted from everyday life, they wanted to believe in what they were seeing, they needed that escape, even if it was worse than reality, it wasn't reality, and yet we still do this.

Movies and Television today play on this realness factor to life (I'm not talking about reality TV). Pretty much every Rom-Com ever made, the Office, Modern Family, Scrubs, Parks and Rec, all of these are suppose to be or have these realness elements to them, set in the "real world" that really make people believe that what happens would or could actually happen.

We're not idiots, we know these are movies and shows and not real life, but it places these ideas in our head to what real life could be like. It's "our desire to believe," we want these things to be true therefore we're going to continue to think they could happen. That's definitely dangerous, not to beat a dead horse with a stick here, but getting back to Inception. "...They come to be woken up," we chose which world we want to live in, and those of us not in the real world will be labeled "freaks," and those of us who chose to live in reality will be called "normal." It's not just two extremes, but a spectrum...(like in Donnie Darko, same idea, but different argument).

Before I go off on some psychoanalysis craziness, I don't want to stray from what I was saying. There's something far more shallow about movies and television. It's only a few hours long. I think a lot of the time I live too often in that distraction, but I know I come back, I have to because the movie ends... The movie will always end.

My own personal "desire to believe" is going to take what I want from that, because it's a selfish experience, and it should be. That's why I don't think you should listen to people about movies, at least at first. Go watch for yourself, and judge based on your own likes, dislikes, and desires. We are pigeon holed  into what is good and bad, but really it's not that simple. As many people call them, "Guilty Pleasures," I just call them "Pleasures." I do like a lot of "bad" movies, so that could just be me justifying myself...take it for what you will.

Now, that's my distraction. Although I do think movies have that ability for everyone, I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea. I'm just saying find your own "tea" and realize it. Life's tough enough, distract yourself.

Have a great and safe St. Patty's Day everyone, be drunk and merry (as borderline racist as that may be, sorry Irish people).

Night, Nite, Knight,
Jarrad