IT IS NOT LIKE REAL LIFE
BECAUSE REAL LIFE IS BORING
– from Jasmine’s lecture
I think some people watch certain films as a way to escape their own lives, to exist within a different world. Action films, superhero movies I think apply to this idea.
I’m not sure its that life is boring; maybe its more that through basic human nature, we don’t take as much interest in our own lives as we do in the lives of others. And once some kind of life is publicised, it immediately becomes interesting to people, such as the life of a character in a movie, or the life of a celebrity in a magazine. Its like an illusion. Or it might be that once a pattern of living is validated by the media, it appears to be more special than anyone elses approach. Its as if once something is put on a screen or in the media, we immediately feel disenchanted with what we are personally doing, and we place our interest somewhere else, as if to forget. I kind of avoid the media when it starts to glorify other standards of existence.
The kind of films I like I think apply real life ideas to a story, probably more intriguing than our own– so I get what Jasmine is communicating. But I also believe that a film can affect a viewer and allow them to understand new things; things they can apply to their own lives.
I feel like a character begins in some way, usually conflicted by something, and by the end of the film they have discovered something new (or uncovered) within themselves that they apply to their lives. And if an audience member can associate themselves with what that character is conflicted by, then they themselves can apply what that character learns to better their ownselves. I like films that deal with human things, like emotion and relationships.
One of my favourite fictional characters is Private Witt out of The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick). I found his view of death-something so terriyfing to everyone-kind of fresh, kind of invigorating, like for a moment it took away any fear I had of it. I’m sure whenever I die, in the seconds I’m dieing it’ll be different, but maybe if I can apply Witt’s perspective, if I believe in it enough, it won’t have to be that way.
‘I wondered how it’d be like when I died, what it’d be like to know this breath now was the last one you was ever gonna draw. I just hope I can meet it the same way she did, with the same… calm. ‘Cause that’s where it’s hidden – the immortality I hadn’t seen.’
The way Witt comes to accept death in war is so nice to watch, even when war is such an ugly phenomenon. I think that is what Malick tries to allude to: that once you accept death, your able to lead a peaceful life, as if your immortal.