Okay, so maybe thought process while weblogging is not a good plan but that’s how I am rolling. This has been one of those creativeite posts that has been stewing in the deep recesses of my mind. Its going to take Piaget’s cognitive development stages and Freud’s unconscious doctrine to pull them out.

I have been a moviegoer for most of my life. I have only been very much more serious about wanting to actually learn from films and make them since 2002, and even more so since 2009. But it must get addressed with coherent reasons why one would spend time watching a film. I don’t mean a random redbox night here or there, or a movie when you get sick, I mean watching films to learn.

First, one must embrace art as form of education. Twisted and perverted and not always the best source but one at least must be convinced that it is a source. I read a recent stat in my Sociology book that said: people spend more time on tv and movies then they do on school, or about 64 hours. And listening to music and reading were the bottom of the barrel of night time past times.

If a person just is a bystander and wastes time on entertainment and has no intention of being provoked or moved by it they are still being affected. Impervious is only for the Freudian therapy sessions and all that later surfacing anxiety.(Thanks Psych teacher for all this info!)

The person that has a mind and sense is being affected and is learning from film. And if you aren’t watching films then you are listening to music, on youtube, on facebook, out at the store looking at magazines, exc. We cannot escape the voices, which is why its good and bad sometimes to have a sponge of an imagination.

Secondly, movies are made to appeal to the emotions. Guys just think then have to take a break and feel, and still figure out what emotion is what. Women can do both. Not just cook and clean but think and feel, cry and laugh at the same time. They can fix cars and write poetry at the same time. The film genre is all about using our fallen emotions and releasing their nuances upon us. Humans are prone to destruction and unhappy lives. The goal of the film is to capture this and enthrall the mind. Emotion is everything, so let it guide you. I think so therefore I am, rather, its I feel and I will remember what I feel.

Third and foremost: waste of time is only when you disconnect and just choose to not learn from what you are seeing. Yes, you can rent Fighting and waste two hours but even seeing something poorly done one can learn to not do that, or ask: why did that fail so bad?

Last, think of the investment. You spend 20 dollars on film and sugar and two hours sitting and watching. You drive to the theatre, you risk running into old friends and being caught(ha, ha!) and you invest yourself. Screen educate me, teach me something I do not know. The artist is the educator and so the audience is in receiving mode.

The crisis of originality comes from our demand to be fascinated. Even when we see the same things over and over, like fast car chases and love stories we still want something new when we are looking for it.