OUR LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE MOVIES
People have been watching movies for a very long time now. The popularity of movies kept growing as fast as movie theatres were opening throughout the world in the 1920s and 1930s. We need to remember that television became available to most people only in the 1940s and 1950s. Eventually Hollywood became the center of the huge worldwide entertainment industry. Hollywood has always had a genius for promoting itself in the most successful ways imaginable. The annual presentation of the Oscars has become one of the most popular events in the world. Hollywood made sure that people would fall in love with the movie idols they promoted. Our fascination with movies and movie stars has been fed unceasingly by magazines, newspaper articles, and television programs. There have been extreme cases when women have committed suicide because of their total obsession with one of their idols.
The advantage of movies over books is that we can enjoy a full movie, from beginning to the end, usually in less than two hours, and we can do so in the comfort of our homes, or in an air-conditioned theatre. Movies make us see, hear, and feel with an intensity that is impossible for books to do. It would appear that our thirst for movies is practically insatiable.
“Great teachers entertain, great entertainment teaches.”
This applies just as well to great movies. One of the reasons for our love affair with movies is that we are not only entertained by them, but we can learn an awful lot from them. In a few brief hours, we can not only learn about historical and current events in which we are interested, but movies can make us identify with the main characters. We can relieve the great events in which they were involved, and feel the emotions that they have felt. We can relieve the struggles in which they had been involved, and learn how they were able to overcome the challenges that they faced. We can allow ourselves to fantasize that we are actually one of these great men or women and, at least for a few hours, we can feel that we are not just spectators but active participants in great events.
The choice of a vast variety of movie genres
The choice of movie genres is indeed great, and it ranges from feel-good movies such as romantic comedies to movies about crime. The list continues with drama, fantasy, action/adventure, thrillers, mystery, musicals comedies, horror, war, crime, westerns, science fiction, etc. Basically, it covers just about every aspect of life; there is something for everybody. Once Hollywood discovers a genre that has become popular, it will keep producing movies in that genre until some other genre becomes even more popular.
From movies, we can learn an awful lot about all periods of history, from contemporary to ancient. Some of the more recent movies that have become widely popular in this genre include Darkest Hour, Hidden Figures, The Imitation Game, The Kennedys, Spotlight, and The Post. These movies are all eminently entertaining and we can learn and relieve some truly amazing stories, from Winston Churchill’s rise to power at the beginning of WWII to the family lives of John F. Kennedy, to the great journalistic feats of the Boston Globe and The Washington Post. These are all movies that not only educate us but also uplift us and raise our spirits. If you have not had a chance to see them yet, I can strongly recommend them.
Feel-good movies
A very wise friend once told me that he does not watch movies that he finds depressing. I immediately took his advice and I strongly recommend that we avoid watching movies that are not really entertaining, inspiring, or uplifting. Instead, I would recommend that we watch movies from which we can benefit psychologically and emotionally, and that can make us feel good. In this genre there is an almost infinite variety of movies that have become very popular, beginning from Frank Capra’s series of movies to today’s Hallmark channel.
Frank Capra’s most popular movies include A Wonderful Life, You Can’t Take It with You, Mister Deeds Goes to Town and Mister Smith Goes to Washington. We can learn more about Frank Capra from his autobiography The Name Above the Title which is one terrific read and is most instructive. In his book, we can learn an awful lot, not only about Capra and his works but also about Hollywood and about what is involved in making great movies. Frank Capra, was not just a movie director; he also produced and co-wrote several of his most successful movies and was a true genius in more ways than one. He is definitely one of my greatest heroes, not only as a movie genius but as a human being.
Musical comedies
Most great musical comedies also fall in the genre of feel-good movies. Musicals have been popular ever since the introduction of talking pictures. In fact, the first talking picture was The Jazz Singer which was about the great singer and entertainer Al Jolson. The list of popular musicals is very long and it continues to grow. Here are a few of my favorites: Singing in the Rain, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Moulin Rouge, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, and The Music Man. One of the reasons that I love these movies is because they are not only very entertaining, but their stories and their music are truly uplifting and energizing. A good way to alter our mood for the better without using artificial stimulants or drugs.
Great Teachers
One of my personal favorite movie genres includes movies about great teachers such as The Dead Poet’s Society, The Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, The Ron Clark Story, and Mr. Holland’s Opus. The reason I appreciate and value this genre of movies is because I have been blessed with having had many truly great teachers throughout my life. Teachers who have not only inspired me and made me love the subjects they thought, but in some cases, they changed my life.
Mr. Holland’s Opus is a truly very rich movie about a great high school music teacher. It deals not only with how Mr. Holland became a truly inspiring teacher, but it includes his struggle to become a good husband and a better father. It also contains a wonderful musical section in which he directs his students in a Gorge Gershwin’s review. This is one of my favorite movies in this genre and one that I highly recommend.
In the articles that will follow I will deal with some of the other genres of movies. My intention is not to deal with all genres of movies, but to share with my readers what I find truly entertaining, inspiring, and uplifting about movies. Of course, our love affair with movies has been fuelled not only by feel-good movies but by many different genres including great movies that depict crime families, from Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy to the more recent The Sopranos. I believe that our love affair with movies will keep enduring for as long as great movies will be produced in Hollywood and around the world.
Copyright ? 2020 by André Korenyi