daydreamer
Permanent Fixture
- MBTI
- ENFP
- Enneagram
- I forget
Are you most likely to cry during a sad movie, be scared by a scary movie? Or do they not effect you?
The problem with films and the issue of sadness and violence, for me, is how the sadness/violence is portrayed.
It is not enough to assume that all films hold emotional sadness and horror in the same weight. Generic hollywood, "audience rakers" treat violence as a form of entertainment. In that respect I find it repugnant. It is far more disturbing to watch violence that you can stomach then to watch violence that actually makes you uneasy.
In terms of sad films, the machinations of a hollywood script are painfully clear to me, and the use of text book audience manipulation technqiues means that I feel no empathy or remorse in the context of the story in the film. I do feel sad that I am watching a crap film.
However to actually answer your question, I dislike genuine, well made horror films because they do overwhelm my senses. I'll watch them frequently, because i'm "cine-masochist", lol and believe the discomfort is good for me. As for sad films, most of the films I watch are sad and I love it!
I completely agree with everything you said here Yield.
So for good movies, yes they affect me very much. Especially the sad ones. Now I come to think of it, yeah I don't even know why I like them so much. I can even feel really crappy for hours after watching one of these. But still..
Me and my friend were in the car and we were discussing rape scenes in films (keep reading). We both expressed how thoroughly angry and sick it makes us feel when we watch scenes like this. But we both agreed that it's better to be sickened by watching something like that, then for you to be casually observing it with no emotion what so ever, which would be a reflection on the intention of the filmmakers.
Down with morally vacuous cinema!!!
I think you have a point there. I actually really need to feel something when I'm watching a movie. If not I turn it off half way. Most people I know say that they don't have that at all. If I can't feel emotionally involved in some way, I can't watch it. It's pretty extreme, I just get really bored with it. However, I can for instance enjoy a really silly comedy too, but I'm selective even with those lol.
With the amount of time I spend towards films, I better be feeling something! If not an emotional feeling, then something intellectual.
Bored Now mentioned the attraction to films on a technical level. Perfect example, take The Dark Knight. That was the most unemotional, un-engaging film I've seen, where I desperately wanted to feel! From a technical, financial and creative (intellectual weight/price tag ratio) point of view, it is an astounding achievement. However I watched it once in the cinema and I ain't watching it again! It is the most depressingly driest film I've ever seen! Depressing because I desperately wanted to be emotionally engaged by it but I wasn't. I was very dissapointed. Sure, I could appreciate it for it's intellectual value (in the context of a hollywood superhero blockbuster- trying to be more) but I got all of that from Batman Begins and in a far more invigorating way.