Skip to main content

Movies Explained (The Essential Emotion For a Movie or an Actor)

We like to watch a good movie. There are some movies you like, others you love and then there are a few that touch a cord with your heart. It could be a drama, horror, romance or comedy. We love to watch people pretend on the screen with emotions that should appear true. Some of my favourite movies are Treasure Island, In the Loop, The Chaser, The Godfather, I Saw the Devil and The Shawshank Redemption. 

As you can see my choices range from classics to murder mysteries. One of the movies is about a guy looking for treasure unintentionally accompanied by pirates and finally a fight ensues - everything else you already know. Another is about how world was forced into a war to fulfil geopolitical advantages for a group of nations; a political satire. The Chaser - is about a guy who is chasing a serial murderer, the "chaser" is a former cop turned pimp - yet I liked him. There is no particular genre that I can adhere too. So is there anything common in these movies? 

Apart from all these being a work of fiction. Have you ever asked why you do like movies you like? You can come up with answers like - good acting, favourite actor, excellent storyline, good graphics etc. But really, why did you like the movie? When I asked the same question repeatedly to myself (somewhat like the 5 Whys Approach) the answer was pretty simple I liked the idea about a person dedicated to a cause - whether that was his or her own survival, or survival of his family, or freedom or plain old greed! Yes that seems to work too.

We like the idea of dedication and determination. It seems to bring out a raw emotion in our human consciousness. Dedication towards a cause or desire inspires us and fills us with this invisible energy that seems to tell us that "yes you can do it too". That's what I seem to like about movies and that could be the skeleton of any story if we remove the flesh that can describe everything else. The bared bones of any movies are a protagonist or an antagonist dedicated to a cause/desire/aim/goal/wish/hope or any other word that can define a destination explicitly. So we love this idea which has the ability to transform us from a simple human being to a human being with a goal.

I'll let you apply this on movies you like. It's like when one actor said acting is like taking a razor and peeling yourself underneath your skin. It's the rawness (like the barbaric Yawp Robin Williams so beautifully said in Dead Poet's Society) that finally inspires heart and mind to greatness. So remove everything and ask yourself what you liked about the movie - if the answer ain't close to your heart it ain't the right answer!

Dedicated to Robin Williams - an actor who aspired to lay himself bare in front of us and asked the same openness in return. #RobinWilliams


Truest, Maddest & Enticing

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Scuba Diving 36 feet deep in Goa (Surreal but Nice!)

"Surreal but nice" that's what Hugh Grant's character managed to blurt out, mesmerized by the beauty of Julia Roberts (in the movie Notting Hill ). And this was the exact thought that was running in my mind as I was rising from a depth of over 35 feet under water in the Arabian Sea near Goa, India. I had just finished my first dive (rather second dive of my first dive) with grouper fish, tailor fish - and many more - knelt at the bottom of the ocean floor and touched a ship wreck that sunk more than sixty years ago! It was a surreal experience that has left me with a feeling of self-satisfaction as well as endless curiosity. The two feelings very rarely take a house together in my mind. Probably the last time they shacked up together was when I got an admit for my Master's from State University of New York . The feeling of gliding underwater among the fishes, water pressure trying to burst your ears drums, flying over huge boulders of rocks under sea; like an un...

How not to read History? Avoiding Sophistry, Deceitfulness, and Irrational Narratives

Introduction A few days ago I wrote on how a contemporary Dharmic mind is enslaved with various narratives meant to degrade the tradition of Dharmic spiritualism (or Hinduism) and relegate the spiritual path as non-sensical, patriarchal, and regressive (i.e. against modernity). I've three examples below that show the eagerness in contemporary conversations to push this narrative. Since free speech and vaad (Sanskrit: वाद, discussion) are two-way streets so it's well within my right to share my opinion based on sound reasoning and well-established examples. And my opinion doesn't rely on the play of words (Sanskrit: सामान्य छल, quibble)) or a mere attack on the opposition (Sanskrit: वितंडा, cavil/sophistry). Just a side note, these categorizations are based on the ancient  Nyaya philosophy composed by Akṣapāda Gautama between the 6th century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Example 1 -  वितंडा / Sophistry Buddhism and Sanatana Dharma have a long history of coexistence and assim...

9000 days of destiny

I was wondering about my doubts and prejudices I have at this stage of life. It is in human trait to suffer from these emotions. But history has given enough evidence to form a case when humans have risen beyond their flaws I recently saw the movie "Invictus". It is based on the true events that lead to South African national rugby team, the Springboks, winning the 1995 rugby world cup. The movie shows how two persons from completely different backgrounds rose above their beliefs and prejudices to unite a country broken by apartheid. These were South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela and the captain of the South African rugby team Francois Pienaar.  Clint Eastwood directed this movie. It stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar. The movie is thought provoking and inspires you to dream big. It in its' limited time depicts the segregation created by decades of apartheid in South Africa. However I was captivated by the song played ...