I don’t know. it seems to me you’re unnecessarily imposing restrictions on films by adopting a purely emotive stance…The cinema – and all a(A)rt, for that matter – should not be judged soley based how many tears you shed
we all have hope of recapturing the greatest feelings from our cinema watching
i think that if u try 2 judge a film in a critical way while watching it u are more likely 2 feel less immersed in the feeling of a pleasurable emotional experience
Well, that’s not the only way I judge it. Every movie starts out at 5.5/10 for me. I add a point if it holds my attention which means most movies are atleast 6.5/10. Then I add one if it’s well made (good acting/directing ect.) I add another if it has a good atmosphere. (Also I take off points for flaws) So the rest is for how it affects me. I never cry at movies, normally when a movie affects me I get goosbumps. There are other ways a movie can affect me like if it disturbs me, I don’t mean like in horror movies with cheap scares but REALLY disturbs me. But if I am trying to be affected by a movie it lessens it. Anyone else have this problem?
Well Peter, the way you are judging the film requires critical distance which is in itself opposed to emotional involvement. If you want to increase involvement, I would suggest dropping the score sheet.
Edit: Do you score them while you are watching them or after?
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Nope!
I rather think “adding points” is quite a demeaning method of evaluation for a film…Sure I rate films on this site, but its mainly for fun – it’s hardly a reflection of my own critical cognition. I mean, let me put this way, can art me quantifiable? that is, can it be graded such as a a college entrance exam?
Why would you try to be affected…who are you trying to impress/whose expectations are you worried about? Its often best with highly-touted works to take a more passive approach, and let the film wash over you. Either something grabs you or it doesn’t….but don’t be so quick to judge either. Some of the greats take time to appreciate.
i try i really try 2 be affected :O)
Eh, my philosophy on this kind of thing is that if you watch a movie just to ‘feel it,’ you might as go watch something on Lifetime. There’s a LOT more to movies than how they make you feel.
Learn to ignore self-consciousness.
The movies I tend to like the most are the ones that emotionally affect me the most, but that’s one among many criteria. I also judge a film by ability to interest me, originality, intelligence, presentation style, quality of character development, uniqueness of perspective, charisma of acting, and cinematic beauty.
A much bigger threat to objectivity I think is forming expectations. If you watch a movie thinking it’s going to be one thing, you’re going to be waiting for certain things to happen. If the movie turns out to be something completely different, you may not have even paid notice to the things that didn’t follow your original expectations. Or, maybe if you’ve seen commercials or previews for a movie, you’ll watch the whole movie waiting for the scenes you’ve seen to happen.
I don’t smoke pot anymore.
But when I did, I could get my mind into that “child’s” space….. where my emotional defenses were sort of naked, as they were when you were a pre-pubescent watching movies. No postmodern cynicism. You react empathetically, hand-in-glove, with the screen characters without a moment’s reservation.
Movies could move me profoundly in that setting.
I think it takes a willingness to put your emotional faith in the directors hands, to be vulnerable. When I first watch a movie, I am just trying to see if it’s good or not. Being emotionally affected is an intuitive thing, it only happens for me when I feel confident about a film. I remember watching Spirited Away recently, and it moved me to tears twice. It helped a lot I think that I had seen it once before, so I had a basic grip on the plot. And there are moments in Kubrick’s films, like 2001 or Barry Lyndon, that literally made me cry only after seeing it several times. In fact, I just watched Rashomon, and was totally moved by it, despite not even liking it the past 2 viewings.
I agree with Elston. It takes willingness to be emotionally affected and that can come in the form or laughter, tears anger, sadness, etc. I don’t like movies with downer endings – not that they have to be happy, “Hollywood” endings but when a character gets emotionally crushed over and over like in SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE it’s hard to take. Even though things kind of worked out for the main character in the end, he lost everything getting there. Ick! I think emotional impact in films is important, hopeless and depressed for a week after I see a film.
Yeah, I sometimes do..but most of the time, I get affected with films I never knew would affect me..and I like that feeling
I just let the films do what they do (NOT YOU), if they work they work. I can usually tell when someone is trying to be affected by movies, specially in the theaters, and I find it a little digusting, pathetic, and very deshonest.
I just go to the film and let it affect me if it does. I don’t have to try. If it does, it does. Sometimes I don’t go to a movie because I’ve heard that it’s depressing. I’m not up for being affected that way – not that every film has to make me laugh. I love being moved by a movie but something that’s just a downer for the purpose of being a downer? Bye bye.
“Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Peter H.
So I always judge movies by how they affect me emotionally. But I have the problem that when I watch the movie, there is an awareness of trying to be affected by the movie, so as a resulti’m less affected by it. Anyone else have this problem?