Movies Film, a blessing or a curse

Well I'm not sure this goes here or in Debate, mods move it if you think its necessary.

Question: Is Film a Blessing or a Curse??

-Blessing argument-
Film opens a whole world of creativity to us. We can created entirely new worlds vividly with a hightened sense of emotional attachment with the audience. They are fun and give many people pleasure.

-Curse-
Film has lessed the need for creativity. Why read the book when you can watch the movie. Why imagine a new world when you can have one shown to you? And aren't we using film as a means of escape from our own lives, living vicariously through fictional narratives that seem so real they can almost pass for it?

Hmmm. A question to ponder.

 

Wait a minute...

Isn't that the same thing as reading books?

Reading a book is like watching a film. Inside of you, you are picturing what's happening? Well, a movie is preety much that, but without the long hours of just staring at the same spot and flipping pages for countless hours. Movies are good because they size it down into about 2 hours (1 1/2 actaully), and is actually showing you what's going on...

Take this as an example:"can you imagine a cool Jedi fight in a Star Wars book?" Maybe, but watching the movie is better because it's actually there....crystal clear in front of you (with sound and all), which make your life a whole lot easier.

In my opinion, movies, BLESSING!

-Seishin

 

Hey dont get me wrong, I'm not hating on film...I'm actually majoring in it in college.

Yes the transportation to another world element is like a book but it doesnt require the imagination of the viewer like books require the imagination of the reader. Now the film maker and script writers etc sure that keeps human creativity alive but I wonder, it seems like movies have been degrading in quality over the past years...maybe thats due to too many of them being watched. A bit of a Catch 22

 

Erm, I personally thinkfilm may be more of a help then a hender, but hey....No one asks me personally...

 

Films are good if you are those who have short attention spans for books or novels.

You get to see the whole picture, instead of waiting for the novel to slowly describe itself to you.

Films are good for creativity, yes i agree, the way film-makers and the time film makers give themselves to find the tools for film, are indeed exhilarating but novels and books are not the lest worse.
Writers spend lifetimes to hone their skills and find the best subjects to write about.

Art consists of many forms, from painting, to sonnets, to classical music pieces, history, typically anything one uses to express itself has the true essence of creativity. And one must learn grasp!! Not the one who writes them, also the listeners, readers and the spectators. It truly takes two hands to clap.

If the spectators cant grasp the meaning of the film, cant grasp the suspence of horror shows, cant grasp anything out from it. How creative a piece of film is, is truly garbage, as it is not appreciated, or elevated by people. That is the curse from it. Can you imagine 'sixth sense' that cant make you 'sense'?

For me, i am okay and fine with different art forms, the artist can get the picture to me, the advertisers did a good job in handling the art to refined forms for us to acknowledge. Thats already blessings in disguise..

 

Movies are indeed a blessing. They help us distract ourselves from everyday stress. And although some movies may be bad, others are great to watch.

And the reason movies are loosing quality, is because so much has been done up to this point, its hard to write a story that hasn't been made and still be a great movie. At least thats what I think.


- Kaiyon

 

Film is a blessing, not a curse. The "living vacariously through films" argument doesn't work because that's done with books too. As far as the creativity bit goes, we all seem to be forgetting that for thousands of years we've had these things called "plays". There hasn't been that big a decrease if any.

 

If anyone shall ask my opinion, I have to state that it would always depend on the viewer. As an audience, the viewer would be provided the whole scenario, the world of the lead character itself. But it's the viewer's choice on how he looks at things. While being shown the imagination of the film maker, et cetera, he could always make up things for himself if not satisfied with the 'movie'. Mold things from the film and create it into something that would content his soul. In short, there's always the chance of enhancing the viewer's creativity. Same goes for the readers. But the readers have the privilege of using his imagination to his liking. No one shall question how he'd thought a scenario shall be. So, it would lie on the viewer if he is going to put to use his creativity or not. Between a blessing or a curse...I wouldn't be sure if I were to answer, so I would not respond at all.

 

Film is both a blessing and a curse, just like money. Money is the same as film because it is a blessing that we can pay for the things we desire, but it corrupts many. Many things are that way, so you've got to live with there being an easy way and a right way.

 

I agree with you, joey/seto.

If cartoons were to be too violent, it was considered as corrupted. Same goes for films that goes beyond the lines of RAted.

 

You know, movies are a blessing really. They are an artform, which shows the creativity of writing, filming, directing and expressing feelings.

I'd say it's more blessing than curse. Hell, if there weren't any movies on this planet, I don't think we would get such colorful and detailed story telling.

- Teddz

 

A little clarification, are you stating that the general population considers films that warrent a rating higher then R due to violence are corrupted or you personally believe that these films are corrupt.

I'd have to agree with your assesment of the general opinion but I personally dont see anything wrong with violence in films. It's not real. Excessive sexuality in films I'd draw a bit of a line with in showing my children, just because it really doesnt pertain to their lives at this stage of development and its not fake like violence is in films.

No one really dies but those are their actual naked bodies.

Anyways people will have to experiance and deal with violence and sexuality sometime whats the harm in exposing them to it early so they arent blow away when they encounter it.

 

Mine? It can be an opinion, it can be a fact.

And yours is an opinion, because you have explained that to your children, and it becomes a fact.

 

Films.......I think that they are a blessing. And I make that opinion based on many different parts. Ok just for a warning this is going to be long….. First of all film have always been part of our lives. Films are part of a tradition. In many countries around the world people use films to convey many statements. Maybe they do so for entertainment, money, politics, or just to declare something. In many countries they use films to convey their traditions, culture, art, and basically their way of life. For instance films are able to brilliantly show a country's culture using characters with different storylines, the government, events, religion, and even the usage of their colors, clothes, and appearances.

I mean go check out India for instance. They have their own Hollywood (known as Bollywood). Their movies are so different. I was watching one the other day and in one scene a man just got brutally murdered and in the next scene just all of a sudden changed into a dance room and people were singing and dancing. I was confused I thought that maybe my satellite dish went crazy or somebody changed the channel. And just like that again the movie came back. But really that’s a typical Indian movie. I not only got to see how different their films are, but I also got a taste of their culture. And if that is not the case a lot of these films are a piece of art; they are created by one’s mind. You know I love watching films from my country; it’s different, completely different from western films that I watch here. But it allows me to see how people from different ethnic backgrounds view situations around them. For instance a great movie from France, translated as The Dinner Party is a great film to watch because it lets us see a French comedy and how they handle situations under pressure.

As for films based on books it’s, “I didn’t read the book, but I watched the movie, same thing.” I’ve seen kids do this all the time at school and they always do horrible on the test. Yes, films do condense the book and make it more entertaining then formulating it in your head. But I hate reading a good book and then get excited about the movie and then having the film be nothing like the book. A huge waste of time and money. But that also goes in letting the creator create his own work. But it’s just that films are able to actively show a visual statement from the mind of creator. And a great example is George Lucas and his whole Star Wars empire that he created.