

Am I Stupid Again? - elpachuco

A couple of years ago, say around 3 years ago, I could not watch movies anymore. Every single movie was quite predictable IMO which completely ruined the experience.<p>This let me to believe that that phase of my life were I could just vegetate all day in front of a TV watching films was over.<p>I decided that it was either two things, I'm smarter now, more experience, or the population is simply stupider. I did not think that the films were worse then before, is just that I'd seen so many films that no new films felt original. For somebody just getting introduced to films, say a child, they were great films.<p>Lately though I've started to see a lot of really good films. At least films that have kept me entertained. And although sometimes you can still predict that the hero will win and how he will win I still find the films interesting.<p>This has let me two believe one of two things, I've become stupider or I was simply going through a depression phase of which I'm just becoming aware of.<p>By the way, two examples of really good films that I've seen are "The Last Stand" and "Jack Reacher".  
Just saw a trailer of "The Internship" and though it was hilarious.<p>So what does everybody else think? Has anybody gone through something similar?
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lhnz
Liking or disliking films is, more often than not, independent of
intelligence.

Just because you now enjoy films doesn't necessarily mean your intelligence
has changed. It's more likely to mean that your personality has changed.
Remember that there are almost certainly many people that are smarter than you
whom absolutely love films.

Please don't be the guy in the room who thinks that they're really smart
because they have different/non-existent consumption habits than other people.
This is dumb social signalling because others will think you are being
pretentious.

You seem to have some kind of hang-up about being seen as being smart by other
people...

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lutusp
>I did not think that the films were worse then before, is just that I'd seen
so many films that no new films felt original.

I think it's both. One wearies of a film's efforts to tell a story (compared
to a book and an active imagination), given certain limitations in the medium,
but the filmmaking process is getting much worse as time passes -- there's the
temptation to blow stuff up for two hours (the Michael Bay approach) instead
of tell a story. Also flimmakers know high-quality films can't find an
audience -- old-style films that respect the intelligence of the viewers end
up in art houses and late-night TV.

To a first approximation, modern filmmaking is a bunch of business-school
graduates getting together and trying to create a "new" film that's as much as
possible like the last film that attracted a large audience. They do all they
can to include elements that worked before, they're extremely risk-averse, and
their cynicism about their audience is boundless (and largely justified).

Meanwhile, films like "Juno" and other first-rate films get a modest audience,
but at high risk -- most courageous films like "Juno" fail, so the risks are
high in producing a remarkable film that people also watch.

People need to realize that filmmaking is primarily a business, not an art
form. When a modern film is justly described as art, that's an accident, not
part of the original plan.

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6thSigma
I don't think predicting that the hero will win is necessarily indicative of
intelligence.

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elpachuco
Right, it sounds quite stupid in retrospect.

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davidroberts
I don't think you have become stupider. Maybe more in need of the mindless
relaxation that a predictable yet entertaining film can provide. I'd think if
it had been depression, but there would certainly be other signs then film
watching habits, right?

I don't even bother watching about 95% percent of the films available, just
because they are so predictable, but predictability isn't everything. If
you've watched a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars film more than once, it wasn't
because you were wondering how it would end. I think unexpected plot twists
are a relatively minor tool in the filmmaker's bag, compared with great
acting, great storytelling, wonderful cinematography, etc.

Could it be that when you were vegetating in front of the TV, you were
slightly depressed or indulging in some kind of escapism? Then you latched on
to something exciting to spend your time on that erased your need for dodging
reality? And now the raw peak of that excitement has faded a bit, leaving you
some time and mental energy to enjoy the subset of films that are good, even
when predictable. Could that be it?

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tait
Yep, with novels.

I've read many SF/F novels and got to the point where they were pretty
predictable and only bought one or two a year for a while.

After a break of a few years, I've been enjoying a higher fraction again.

For me, I think, it's an ability to enjoy the suspension of disbelief. If I've
been reading a lot, it's harder to do so.

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onlyup
Knowing the hero will win does not make you smart. Most people go into films
knowing the outcome (even when the hero doesn't win). That's not why people
like seeing films. It's for fun and it is an escape. When you're watching a
movie you don't have to think about work, family, that doctor/dentist
appointment you have been putting off..

I don't think you are "stupid again", I think you have matured more. Your
previous opinion is similar to what a lot of teenagers go through when they
think they know everything.

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Mankhool
You're not becoming more stupid - Hollywood IS. In their quest for more return
at the box office they make dumber movies that appeal to a large share of
their target market (which is anyone with eyeballs - *thanks to Argo for that
great line). Audiences, in turn, think that they are seeing really great films
as the bar becomes lower with each passing year. In the end it is a complete
circle and audiences end up getting the quality of films that they deserve
because Hollywood told them so.

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1123581321
I'll play devil's advocate. I don't think you are now stupid as in your
cognitive ability is lessened, but you are settling for a lower standard of
thinking (assuming how you used to spend that time was more mentally taxing.)

I think that you are unwinding after more strenuous living, which is great,
but I encourage you to find more beneficial ways to recreate that are also a
lot of fun.

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codegeek
I would say irrelevant. If watching moves and being smart/stupid were
correlated, I wonder where I will end up :). I personally enjoy all kinds of
movies. Serious types, movies with a mesage or just cheesy/silly ones.

You probably watched too many movies back then and lost interest. You are back
now.

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elpachuco
This could be it. I pretty much stopped watching films for a long time. I know
find them enjoyable again.

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mesozoic
I believe that likely your hypothesis that you were smarter then or the movies
were dumber is flawed.

Perhaps the movies are just more entertaining to your tastes.

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tbirdz
You probably overdid it on watching movies and TV before, and just got sick of
it. Then after you took a break, you were able to enjoy them more.

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danso
Could you give more examples of films in the past you've seen that you
considered "stupid"?

I haven't seen "Jack Reacher" or "The Last Stand", but both garnered pretty
lukewarm reviews, and at first glance, seem like the typical uncreative
blockbuster fare.

How many independent studio films have you seen? How about foreign films? I've
always been a fan of Kurosawa flicks, but a lot of Western movies follow in
his thematic footsteps. After watching Park Chan-wook's films ("Oldboy" being
the most internationally famous), I started to realize how formulaic Western
blockbuster films were and have generally stayed away from them.

That said, blockbuster films can still have a predictable end but still be
very entertaining. The first three Indiana Jones movies are the best examples
of that -- i.e. you know Indiana Jones is not going to die at the end, and yet
each (literal) cliffhanger is shot and structured so well that you suspend
disbelief.

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elpachuco
The last Batman films and the last transformer films. I wouldn't say they were
stupid, just so predictable that there was almost no point in watching.

I know that Jack Reacher and the Last Stand were not critical successes and
yet I enjoyed them immensely. Which is what makes me think that I was probably
suffering some form of depression.

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actionbrandon
i always upvote satire

