It's Only A Movie

by Steve Lazarowitz

As I've pointed out before (and will no doubt point out again), we all live in our own worlds. My experiences have caused me to look at the world in a certain way. Occasionally, I will have an experience that alters that perception. Another person sharing that happening, might get something completely different from it.

There is no better example than the difference between men and women. I don't like to go shopping. I like to buy. Shopping to me is not an event, but rather a chore. I don't make a day of it. If I can help it, I don't make an hour of it.

Yet many women I know, plan to go shopping for the day. For enjoyment. They go to the mall, and walk around, looking at things, waiting in line and eventually carrying packages. To some women, the mall is a social event. It's a thing to do. To me, it's an obstacle course I can get through quickly, owing to my years of practice.

Yet even members of the same gender, locality and social standing can see things from completely different viewpoints. Siblings can have vastly different angles on life. I sometimes find myself wondering if that can apply to identical twins as well.

My reason for this tirade? I recently saw the movie Fight Club. I don't usually allow movies to affect me on a deeper level. In the past, only a handful have succeeded. Circle of Iron and Knight Riders are two of them. Fight Club is up there as well.

I won't go into detail about the movie itself. I will only say that it was nothing like what I expected it to be. If it had been, I'd certainly have made it my business to see it sooner. I was completely unprepared for what I now consider a masterpiece of social satire.

Yet many people I've spoken to got a completely different message from the film. So different in fact, that it's as if we'd seen different movies (and perhaps we had).

I experienced the same thing with Hudson Hawk. Billed as an action film (it wasn't, it was satire), Hudson Hawk came out on the tail of Die Hard. Most people went to see the movie, with images of Die Hard still blazing in their heads. The commercials made is look like a film in the same genre, I suppose to capitalize on the popularity of the first film. Seldom has a movie been less appreciated.

I also enjoyed Howard the Duck, which for some reason has people looking at me with surreptitious sidelong glances.

Can you learn something about a person from the movies they love? Here's a list of mine.

Dark City
The Shawshank Redemption
Field of Dreams
Knight Riders
Hudson Hawk
Circle of Iron
The Game
Fight Club
Conan the Barbarian
Twelve Monkeys
Total Recall
Twelve Angry Men
Inherit the Wind
A Few Good Men
The Breakfast Club
The Big Chill


There are more. Many more, but I think you get the point. I'm not certain if you can tell anything about me from the above list, besides that I have eclectic taste. I even enjoy comedy romances, though I've yet to see one that affects me on a deeper level.

Still, I think most of my readers, the people that buy into my reality every now and then for entertainment, might have enough in common with me to enjoy some of the same films. However, to really enjoy a film, here's some advice.

Don't read reviews of it, talk about it and if you can, avoid coming attractions. In any event, don't attach yourself to any preconceptions about the movie going into it. This is especially true of sequels. Forget about the first film altogether. Let the second film stand on its own.

The same is true of a series or a movie based on a television series. The movie will never truly capture the heart of the series, so don't expect it to.

Try to watch movies you normally wouldn't. If you're in a relationship with someone, alternate weekends. One weekend see your movie, next see theirs. You might find yourself surprised.

Never compare a movie to a book. 99% of the time the book is better. That's the way it is. Once you've read the book, you already have a picture of what everything is supposed to look like. How likely is it that the director, casting personnel and art director will share your view of that world?

Finally, virtually every movie was created with intent. What was the writer trying to say? What was the director trying to accomplish? Don't watch Knight Riders and say there wasn't enough action, because it wasn't an action flick. Extend this courtesy to films even when it's not obvious.

Last night, Kara and I watched Conan the Barbarian. After the movie, Kara turned to me and said, "There wasn't much dialogue." I'd seen the movie a half dozen times and it never occurred to me, but she's right. The script had more grunting than speech, but for all that, it was one of the best visual pieces I've seen in a long time. I was so distracted by the backdrops and the story I didn't realize the script was all but absent.

Movies, like books, represent a unique and often startling view of the universe. For me, watching a movie is more than just a couple of hours of entertainment. When I watch one, I'm a voyeur into another human being's mind, for some of the creator slips inside each creation.

And on the rare occasions when a little piece of that creation finds its way into my psyche and makes itself part of my world view, I'm blown away-- which is what happened with Fight Club.

Some people don't take movies seriously. Some don't take them seriously enough. I've heard it said more than once. "It's only a movie."

Sometimes I think life is only a movie. We all star in our own picture and play a supporting roles in others. Sometimes we're just a walk-on part or even an extra. But we live our lives stoically or melodramatically, optimistically or pessimistically, in a comedy or a tragedy, or somewhere in between. And when we pull back and look at it, we are our own worst critics, punishing ourselves for every misstep, while in the darkness, a nameless audience cheers our performances.

It's not only a movie. It's a window into another space-time that for two hours is as real as you make it. Once the lights go off and the credits are done, you are immersed in that world, a stranger trying to learn your way around. A stowaway in someone else's dreams. You forget the worlds around you and allow the new one to carry you away.

And if you're lucky, the images will burn themselves into your consciousness, forming a slightly newer you, richer for the experience of watching it.

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