The questions of reality and truth have always been ones that have plagued mankind. From the days when DesCartes first formulated his ideas on the "Evil Genius" theory on our views and perceptions of our world, man has often wondered what reality is, and if it can ever truly be understood. Now, we have to ask ourselves if there are indeed multiple realities and, if so, which one is the most "real."
Enter: The Movie.
How often I have heard someone speak with certainty and absolute knowledge on an actor/actress as if he or she was a close personal friend of his or hers is not only mind boggling, but so goddamn annoying when you consider that these people exist only as photonic representations in a moldy, dusty, dank local theater. Yet, we feel like we know them. We expect Samuel L. Jackson to use the word "motherfucker" in at least every 5 minutes of whatever new film he is in, due to the almost velveteen way it slides out of his mouth in movies. The shaping of our reality by the movie industy, easily digestable and readily available as it is to the masses, seems to be unavoidable.
But, what beyond the effect on people that movies have? What about our perceptions of the laws of reality and such that movies may shape? You can fall off a sixth floor of a building, catch a railing on the third, and never worry about dislocating any joints or tearing tendons or any various forms of bodily harm. Anything will explode if shot, unless it's a Jerry Bruckheimer work. Then it explodes if you simply will it to. Swimming in rivers and such with bullet wounds in action movies never result in infections. Vigilantes, so long as they have a supposedly righteous motive, are always exempt from the law.
Why? Why does this false reality, where everything is more colorful, where everything is faster, where camera angles change every other second (sometimes literally), where tranquility means boredom seem to win over ours?
We're bored with ours. We've seen it. Been there, read that, seen that, felt that. Saw the special on Jon-Benet, been to Ayer's Rock via the National Geographic channel, and even had the myth busted by Jamie on Discovery. We are sated and happy and full on this world, this place we've never truly experienced but would proudly and arrogantly claim we have. So, we turn to a manufactured reality, hyperbolic in nature and painfully transparent in motive.
We're sad, pathetic, opiated dreamers. It's time we all rode a train.
Enter: The Movie.
How often I have heard someone speak with certainty and absolute knowledge on an actor/actress as if he or she was a close personal friend of his or hers is not only mind boggling, but so goddamn annoying when you consider that these people exist only as photonic representations in a moldy, dusty, dank local theater. Yet, we feel like we know them. We expect Samuel L. Jackson to use the word "motherfucker" in at least every 5 minutes of whatever new film he is in, due to the almost velveteen way it slides out of his mouth in movies. The shaping of our reality by the movie industy, easily digestable and readily available as it is to the masses, seems to be unavoidable.
But, what beyond the effect on people that movies have? What about our perceptions of the laws of reality and such that movies may shape? You can fall off a sixth floor of a building, catch a railing on the third, and never worry about dislocating any joints or tearing tendons or any various forms of bodily harm. Anything will explode if shot, unless it's a Jerry Bruckheimer work. Then it explodes if you simply will it to. Swimming in rivers and such with bullet wounds in action movies never result in infections. Vigilantes, so long as they have a supposedly righteous motive, are always exempt from the law.
Why? Why does this false reality, where everything is more colorful, where everything is faster, where camera angles change every other second (sometimes literally), where tranquility means boredom seem to win over ours?
We're bored with ours. We've seen it. Been there, read that, seen that, felt that. Saw the special on Jon-Benet, been to Ayer's Rock via the National Geographic channel, and even had the myth busted by Jamie on Discovery. We are sated and happy and full on this world, this place we've never truly experienced but would proudly and arrogantly claim we have. So, we turn to a manufactured reality, hyperbolic in nature and painfully transparent in motive.
We're sad, pathetic, opiated dreamers. It's time we all rode a train.
posted by .venganza. at 9:44 AM
1 Comments:
Always the optimist, aren't you?
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