How many movies do you watch (first viewings only) every month? In the past four, I’ve seen seven. Some “cinephiles” (terrible word btw) will tell you that you aren’t a real film fan unless you watch two per week. Some people with dopamine problems can only scrape by with a measly one film per day.
There’s someone out there who takes the noble task upon themselves of watching multiple films, every single night. If you’re a try-hard, you can watch two different movies at once to truly moviemax your life. In the future maybe we can eat movies like pills and experience them in seconds.
If you are a certified Consumer Of Media, and you love any-and-everything created by the Makers, you have of course heard of the tryhards. Those who take it too seriously for your sensibilities. Every level of familiarity with a subject/hobby has its own version of this legend:
Pedestrian moviegoers may think of people who call them “films” as pretentious. Movie fans with slightly more cultural capital might talk smack about “filmbros.” And the REAL film-freaks always assure you that they are really pretty normal compared to, the, uh, other ones. Just trust them.
I’m always trying to get into hobbies. For some, I find it suffices to poke my head around and then back out (See: 02/05/2025 Hobbies). But I have really tried to put some effort into my exploration of movies! For me, that means 7 in 4 months. One and three fourths of a movie per month is a really small time investment for something I have found a lot of joy in. I think everybody should try a little deep-dive into it!
Oftentimes, the most fun I have with movies is talking about them. Almost all of the vocabulary I have learned to talk about “films” with, I picked up through a very fun film studies class I enrolled in last year. In fact, I liked it so much that I just enrolled in another one. There are also thousands upon thousands of podcasts/articles/blogs/videos/write-ups/programs/clubs for the express purpose of talking movies.
It can be really enlightening to see what other people think about your favorites (Also more than a little bit scary) or your least favorites. Talking Movies is for me at its peak when you gain perspectives on things you had closed your eyes to (See: Modern interpretations of the Matrix, or biblical allegory in Lord of the Rings).
That’s kind of what it's all about to me. Nothing means just one thing. Not just across various people, but various times. Movies might mean something completely different in the future when The Secret is revealed, and suddenly everything is Before-Secret (BS) or Post-Secret (PS). PS I urge you to go watch a movie today that you’ve been meaning to watch. It takes as little as an hour and a half! PPS don’t let anyone call you anything, ever, that you wouldn’t call yourself. “Cinephile” sounds like latin for a sex pervert or something. BS Also means bullshit.