Movies Can Help Us Get Through This

Netflix recently had to decrease the video quality of their service to accommodate the high volume of people streaming. In these difficult circumstances, we're all turning on our favourite streaming services to offer us a form of escapism. I sincerely believe that movies are a useful tool that can help us get through this. But that's all they are, a tool. A hammer can be used to build something useful or it can be misued to break things or injure people.

The late great film critic Rober Ebert once wrote: “Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us into better people.” Cinema is an art form that can immensely impact us for the better, but I fear that the ways we have been choosing to interact with movies are causing us to stop engaging with cinema as an art form and treat it as mindless entertainment.

Have you ever truly been immersed in a film? Have you ever experienced the euphoria of sitting in a dark room as the rest of the world melts away. For two hours nothing matters except the story happening right before your eyes. Instead of stressing about problems at work you can watch The Rock save the world from aliens. Instead of worrying about your own relationships you can watch two people fall in love and make wonderful music together. Instead of being afraid of everything going on in the world, you can sit in a comfy chair and as Will Ferrell makes you laugh your guts out. That is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world and it is becoming more and more rare. In the tense and confusing time we are living in, I believe that the escapism movies can offer us is something we truly need more than ever. But if we fail to engage with these movies properly, it can reduce our abilities to be present, think critically, and do damage to our mental-wellbeing. If we misuse the tool we have, it can do more harm than good.

Without any further adieu, here are my tips on how to get the most out of your go-to streaming service:

Moderation

There are other things you can do in your home/apartment/dorm room/wherever you live besides mindlessly streaming content. Read a book, cook a meal, call your friends, make a blanket fort, Skype your grandparets, re-arrange your furnitre. If none of those suggestions apply to your situation, get creative. Do what you can to create more than you consume. Resist the urge to binge watch everything on Netflix. I love movies, movies are a good thing. But if you're like me, you probably have elders who have warned you about "too much of a good thing". Let's heed that warning.

Watch Good Stuff

Remember the days of blockbuster? I miss looking at all the DVD cases and taking one home and planning the whole night around it. Don’t overthink. There is so much available to us all the time that it’s hard to choose a movie, and it’s too easy to turn a movie off before finishing. Pick something that looks interesting and stick with it. If you don’t like it, finish the movie anyway. You already set aside the time and you should see it through till the end.

Don’t make your decision based on subject matter. I learned this when I watched Rocky. For years I was hesitant to watch Rocky, I knew it was an important film that people said “everyone should see” but boxing was never my cup of tea. I didn't understand why I should want watch a movie about boxing if I wasn't interested in boxing. When I eventually decided to watch it I was blown away and realized it’s not a story about boxing. It’s a story about a man learning to come to terms with his mediocrity and accepting the fact that he might not be the best in the world at what he does and choosing to be okay with that. That core theme is something anyone can relate to. Boxing is just the context they choose to tell that story in. If the heart of the movie is something that will connect with you the subject matter doesn’t matter.

Create an Immersive Environment

Once you’ve picked a movie and set aside time to watch it, here is what I want you to do. Pee before you press play. Get some snacks and make yourself comfortable, but don’t completely lie down. Position yourself at-least semi upwards so that your brain feels inclined to engage with the film actively, not passively.

Turn off the lights. The fact that there are people who leave the lights on during movies is baffling to me. The only way to be immersed in a movie is to eliminate the distractions of our world around us. Leaving the lights on is a great way to end up underwhelmed.

Put that phone away.. seriously.

If you are watching a movie while periodically glancing at your phone, you have already doomed its chances of impressing you. Every detail in a (good) movie is carefully curated to subconsciously communicate information and cause an emotional reaction. Looking at your phone not only makes you miss things (the small details are the most important) it conflicts with the emotion the film is trying to invoke. Everything on your phone from your instagram feed to a text message from your best friend is trying to create an emotional reaction in you, the movie is also trying to do that. These two things are conflicting with each other which breaks your immersion into the movie.

"But with everything going on in the world, I have to stay in the loop"

Granted there is a lot going on right now, but this is all the more reason why your brain needs a chance to breathe. Chances are if the thought of going two hours without your phone is seriously too much for you fathom, then you really need to disconnect for a little bit. Everything will be okay, you are allowed to enjoy your movie.

I know it seems so easy to sink into the habit of mindlessly consuming every movie and show that is available to stream, but I urge you to fight that urge. Movies are an art form that have alot to offer us right now, beyond just escapism. They can grow our empathy and shape the way we view eachother and our current situation. But we have to view them as more than mindless entertainment. It is up to us how we choose to engage with them.