A discussion about movies and viewing habits
I sat down with a friend one time for his first viewing of The Exorcist. This friend had similar taste in movies as me, and a similar enthusiasm at the time for the process of filmmaking, so I was excited to be there for what I expected would be a seminal movie watching experience. When the credits hit, I anxiously asked my friend “so what did you think?”
“Meh,” he responded.
MEH??? The Exorcist???? My heart sank. I don’t go around expecting everyone to like everything that I like, or hold things to the same levels of reverence, but still, that one hurt. I asked my friend why he found the movie “unimpressive”, and his response was that he’d seen all of that stuff before, in newer movies. That experience taught me a valuable lesson: never judge the classics by their contemporaries, unless you want to be disappointed.
I feel like the way that media is consumed has changed, and so too has the (general) audiences’ attitude towards earlier works, or “the classics”. Nowadays, people are addicted to snippets: the vast majority of people don’t listen to full albums upon their release, or watch full movies uninterrupted, etc. The attention span of the average consumer has been diminished so greatly that I honestly fear for the future of art!
Growing up, I often felt ostracized because I had no one to discuss foreign films with, often receiving the same “I don’t like having to read movies” excuse as to why someone would instantly disqualify themselves from experiencing said films. Now I get a similarly annoying response when asking someone to watch “a classic” with me: “I don’t like black and white” or “I don’t like old movies”. But how do you know you don’t like them unless you experience them the way they were meant to be experienced?
This doesn’t mean every movie should be watched on the biggest screen possible, with the best audio, etc, like some of the modern directors tell you (often times in their efforts to drag you to the theater); it does however mean that there should be a level of emphasis placed upon attempting to replicate the vibe/feel of the time when a movie was originally released–or at the very least, an attempt to try to experience it as its own thing.
I rewatched Psycho (the original) this past weekend, for the first time in over two decades. Now, a rewatch will always feel different than a first viewing, simply because you know what to expect (unless you go see Prometheus drunk like someone, but I digress), and with a movie as revered as Psycho, even not having seen the movie, you more than likely know the twist. No doubt, knowing the ending changes the experience, but I felt like it also changed what I focused on while watching.
I know not all movie fans watch movies through the same lens that I do–as someone who wanted to be a filmmaker for a vast majority of my life, but still I think there should be a basic checklist of sorts every time you watch a movie. There should be a focus upon the storytelling aspects themselves. Does the story work? How is the pacing? Do the characters feel like they are at least written realistically? How does it make you feel at the end? These are the most simple, basic aspects that should go into a movie viewing experience (with the exception of art house films that have no story). If you want to dig deeper past these basics, then you can start getting into things like performances, film soundtracks/scores, costume design, film style, etc. I feel like to truly appreciate watching older films (or even if you are going to rewatch your favorites), you need this secondary level of viewership.
One other thing I’ve started doing more often than not is looking at the marketing campaigns of older movies. Take Psycho for example: Hitchcock made the theaters adhere to this strict set of rules where you weren’t allowed into the theater late at all–once the film started, that was it! This created lines outside of the theaters, which in turn, created additional interest from passers by. Hitchcock knew that the fear of missing out has always been real, and he expertly played up having a spoiler-free viewing experience, while simultaneously preying upon the passersby, many of whom probably only had fleeting interests in seeing the movie originally. This was something Marvel used to do so well for the longest time–made their new releases feel like can’t miss spectacles.
Sadly, one of the things that really hinders this type of movie going experience now is this notion that “we have to be first” to experience something now, otherwise we run the risk of having it ruined for us. I felt this exact same way over this past Thanksgiving with the release of the first four episodes of the final season of Stranger Things; I originally had no intention of crushing the new eps until I could have the full experience, but two hours after the first four dropped, there were already spoilers hitting social media.
Truly, we need to do a better job as a viewing audience to try and encourage better viewing habits–this means being hyped for something, but giving everyone the same chance at having their own unique, spoiler-free experience. Going back to the classics could present a great opportunity for everyone to practice, while also encouraging people to view them through the time capsule that they truly are.
Or we could just keep letting Hollywood remake everything countless times, to the point where we feel like we can afford to take a scene off, and bury our faces in our phones.