History News Network

Departments

Just a Movie?

Don't know about others, but I'm refusing, on principle, to see the eco-disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow. I'm not in the mood to drop money in the hands of folks who are clearly trying to score political points with highly dubious science. Same reason I've never watched a minute of Bowling for Columbine (although Moore is worse for not acknowledging his film is fictional).

Were I to say to friends that I'm not seeing the movie on principle, I can already hear them saying "Oh come on, it's just a movie." That response just drives me crazy. No it's not "just" a movie; it's ideas in the form of a narrative, and those ideas matter. Perhaps it's the old Randian in me, but whatever the cause, I just cannot abide supporting forms of art that project ideas that I find fundamentally in error, or morally wrong. To think that I could somehow shut off the "ideas" part of my brain and just "enjoy the action" strikes me as so anti-rational and anti-intellectual that I don't know where to begin to respond to it. It's the same way I feel when I'm in class and talking about serious, if abstract, ideas, and the students give me the "roll of the eyes" look like "here he goes again...". I guess I expect more from adults, but having had the "oh, it's just a movie" reaction before, I'm sure I'll get it again.

Posted on Saturday, May 29, 2004 at 5:29 PM | Comments (8) | Return

Home Newsletter Submissions Advertising Donations Archives Internships About Us FAQs Contact Us All Articles