Why I can't or don't watch certain movies.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

I figured this out recently. I'm in my 50s, so maybe this is just figuring out my preferences and why they are the way they are.

I have never watched extremely gory or violent movies. I have never seen a horror flick. If I see something disturbing I will have nightmares.

Suspense, such as Alfred Hitchcock, is fine. A historical movie that is factual, like Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, is fine with me too.

I don't like Agatha Christie novels or movies because they turn something quite serious, murder, into a puzzle game that is a mathematical exercise. Sci-fi and fantasy do not interest me because I can't identify with any of the characters.

The other night Million Dollar Baby was on. I watched the middle of it and I had to stop.
I don't like to see people beating each other up. I had no sympathy for the characters. Then I watched a bit of it again when she was in the hospital after having her neck broken. First of all she was supposedly breathing thru a trach tube and TALKING??? WTF??? I couldn't understand what she said anyway.

I had no desire to see any more of her suffering.

Why?

Because I think boxing is morally reprehensible. Beating people up for no reason is bad. In fact, everything that our macho culture does, that might is right, and it's OK to bully other people, I think is wrong.

This includes things like football where kids get permanent injuries in high school -- let alone college and pro players who are even more disabled.

There are lots of movies I won't see because the fallback plot in most movies with no ideas is violence against women. I remember seeing Body Double on TV and being horrified that a woman was killed with a drill.

I was horrified by the Godfather movies. They were violent, and again, I think gangsters are not a good role model for anybody. I could not watch Alien. Too gross.

I borrowed Silence of the Lambs from a friend and started to watch it. I got as far as Anthony Hopkins' first bout of hissing at Jodie Foster. I didn't know what would happen after that, as far as violence, so I turned it off.

I worked in the court system my whole working career, so I have an acute sense of justice. I used to read true crime books because they are far more complex than fiction. If there was some strange motivation that could be figured out, that was interesting to me.

Books I enjoyed: Fatal Vision, Blood and Money.

I also saw the movie MILK and the opera HARVEY MILK, and thought they were quite good because they were about Harvey Milk's activism to change society and the interplay of the various personalities.
And how tragic it was that he and Mayor Moscone were killed by a disturbed man.

I thought the Dark Knight was a complete waste of time. Pointless, violent and full of people I did not give a shit about. There was nothing I saw in it that I could identify with, except the young lady who was killed off quickly. This is merely because I am female, and when I see a movie, I identify with someone of my gender.

TV and movie violence is highly minimized and stylized. You see dead people on TV on a slab, and they have a small bruise or a smear of blood near their mouths. People are shot, a bit of blood shoots out, and they die in a few seconds. The reality is extremely gross.

My daughter has made me watch a bunch of violent movies, like Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I think they are a waste of time as well.

I am not saying this like I am a prude. I am well aware that violence is quite prevalent. I saw pictures of murder victims when I worked in felony court, and a lot of those are absolutely mind blowingly horrible.

I think violence can teach us lessons in a proper context, but mindless violence is stupid, and it won't substitute for a plot where people have emotions and deal with their lives. I think great art should tell us something about the human condition.

Any comments???

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. I don't like movies with depressing endings either.

I read about Revolutionary Road. I read spoilers that told me the ending. In spite of the praise of the acting, I am glad I did not go see it.

Last year, when the zeitgeist seemed to be cranking out lots of pointless movies (There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men) I did not see any movies that year, I think.

I liked HANCOCK with Will Smith, and MILK. I thought Wall-E was not as good as the hype.

[Webster Green]

2. Loved 'Alien'...hated the fucking 'Godfather'..

Had more empathy for the Alien than any of the characters in "Godfather".

Jesus fucking christ...what a bunch of ass-wipes!! :smoke:

[saltpoint]

3. Us humans do some grizzly stuff sometimes and then somebody goes and

turns on a movie camera and next thing ya know the whole town kin see it up there on the big screen. Hot damn.

Which is to acknowledge that some people are more skilled in film-making than others.

All human activity, both the near-angelic and the down-in-the-gutter back-alley grizzly activity, are part of a continuum.

Art, in one of its roles, is supposed to confront society with elements of that continuum. It might be tougher to watch Jack Nicholson abandon Karen Black in the last scene of FIVE EASY PIECES than to watch a bad guy beat the crap out of somebody in an action film.

I hear what you're saying. We all have to decide how to spend our ticket money.

Here's a film recommendation I think you might like: Geraldine Page in THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL. the script is terrific. A beautiful film.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. Thanks.

The last movie I saw was DEFIANCE with Daniel Craig. It was the true story of some Russian Jews in WWII. They went into the forest to survive, and created a whole society. They got weapons and killed Nazis. Eventually they saved over 1,000 people.

I thought it was quite good.


The word is "grisly", not "grizzly". "Grizzly" refers to bears.

[Forkboy]

5. Different strokes, and all that.

If those things aren't your bag that's fine. You don't need to explain really. I disagree with much of what you say, but it's a silly thing to argue about. It's like getting mad at someone because they like chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. As long as you're not trying to stop anyone else from seeing a movie you don't like we're all good. And I see nothing in your OP to suggest that you would do that.

Watch what you appreciate and to hell with everyone else. Find the movies that fit your tastes and enjoy the ride. :)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. Yeah.

I know what I like, but I just recently figured out why. I guess they need to have some emotional interaction between people, or have something to do with morality, or societal change.

It's not about being positive and unrealistic like some fundy that obsesses on Jesus and thinks that if they see two people in the sack together, or hear a bad word, they will freak out.

The older I get the more I realize that if I listen to depressing music (country or heavy metal) or see a depressing movie, I will get depressed. Duh. :D

As Grace Slick said back in the Sixties "Feed your head". :D