Being really into film has its pluses -- but it can also be a drag, especially when people sort of attach your persona to that one thing and sort of make that their entire concept of you.
As a "movie person" I've grown to loathe certain qualities in moviegoers both committed and casual, and since I'm very tired and cranky at the end of a long week I figured I'd rattle off some of my biggest pet peeves here:
People who dwell on the length of a movie
I will concede this, if a movie is bad its length can really get to you. I recently saw The Green Mile for the first time and I loathed it, and the fact that it was just over three hours long really compounded my dislike for it. What I have a problem with is people who outright shy away from a film simply because they know it's long or heard it was.
Some of the best films ever made are long -- The Godfather Part II, Malcolm X, JFK -- all of these films would have required two VHS tapes in my youth. But they never felt long because they were so good. Sure, a long movie may require some rearranging of your priorities that day, but a rewarding viewing experience is usually worth it.
Genre bias
I have heard this complaint from music fans too. It's really hard for me to stomach people who are ready and willing to dismiss an entire genre on principle. This happens most often, I find, with sci-fi, action and especially horror. Let me take these on one at a time.
When it comes to horror, it is almost ubiquitous with the phrase "I don't like scary movies." It's almost as if moviegoers are split into two camps those that do watch horror and those that don't. As someone who used to be terrified of not just trailers but even the box covers (back when video stores existed) of horror films I have some sympathy for people who either have had a traumatic experience with the genre or who are genuinely just easily frightened.
Still, there are degrees of horror films. There are plenty with no gore at all that are more fascinating from a psychological standpoint.
There are some truly brilliant scary movies (*cough* It Follows) that make statements about our society from a unique point of view. Also there is something thrilling about overcoming your fears in a cinema surrounded by friends.
The same thing goes for action. I think some people have an idea in their head of what an action movie is and it's stuck at circa 1986. There are still plenty of what I would all dumb action movies, and some of those are still quite enjoyable. But there are also action films that are wildly creative and artistically motivated, which should not be dismissed just because they including fight scenes and explosions.
When it comes to sci-fi, some of the same prejudices are at play. Some people have an idea in their head of what sci-fi is and it often has nothing to do with the real thing. There are so many subgenres and styles in sci-fi that I could find an entry point for almost anyone who has genuine curiosity and an open mind.
Inability to articulate dislike for a movie
We live in an age where there are no longer movies that don't have detractors. If Citizen Kane came out this weekend there would be people tweeting about how the ending was whack and blogging about how unconvincing the old age make-up on Orson Welles was. So it's commonplace for me at this point to encounter someone who feels obliged to tell me they hated a movie that I loved or liked.
I rarely go to see things and walk out angry. I read up on most films I pay good money to see to the point where I know it at least has the pedigree of something that I might enjoy. Sometimes films live up to or beyond my expectations, sometimes they're a huge letdown. But at the very least I feel like I can articulately explain why a movie did or didn't work for me.
Nowadays everyone is a critic, but very few people can delineate their taste into coherent thoughts or sentences. I don't just want to hear that a movie was bad or good. I want to hear if you think the film achieved what you think it set out to do. I want to know what you thought of the quality of the performances, the pacing, the overall look and design.
When I go to a film, call me cheesy, but I always think of the enormous number of craftsman, actors and other creative people who valiantly tried to make something good. Sure, there are occasionally movies that seem purely made out of a cynical need to make a quick buck, but even on those films I am sure someone was making an earnest effort to deliver quality.
So at the very least I try to look for what is interesting about a film, even when on the whole it is terrible, and that way I don't become so put off by the process. There are no flawless films, and you can quibble with any of them from a sociopolitical point of view if you nitpick enough.
But life is too short for that. And when something provides me with the opportunity to escape the doldrums of my own life -- albeit for two hours -- I am going to reward it with some measure of gratefulness.
To be continued...
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