Do You Think We are Losing Our Ability to have An Open Mind Regarding Movies?

[InformationGeek]

I think so, but let me back up before I reached my conclusion there.  I have been all over the Internet and hovered around these parts for a long time now.  Everyone has their own beliefs with how they deal with movies, have their own attitudes about them, and such.  I have notice plenty of topics and discussions about movies of the past, now, and future were we automatically write the film off for various reasons.  I admit I have done so in the past, though when it comes to those 'parody' movies you really can't blame me since there hasn't been a good one yet (However, I am still trying to walk into every movie not ready to say its bad).  Do you think we are becoming people who are too quick to judge something and ready to hate a film before we actually see it?

And back to what I said, yes.  We really assume and make quick conclusions when we see something that we deem awful in our eyes.  We hate something because of an actor/actress, director, special effect, source material, and other factor but yet we do not see the film to confirm our suspicions.  I feel a little bad, since we could be missing films we could possibly like!  So, what do you think?  Are we losing the ability to have open mind and are we too quick to judge a film before we actually see it?

[Derf]

This would assume that we ever had an open mind toward movies. You can't see every movie, so you eliminate ones with subject matter you're not interested in. Then there's also time considerations, so you have to eliminate more, so you write off the ones that star "that guy" you just don't like. You've never seen him/her in a role you liked, or maybe his personality/political views/hair style/favorite basketball team is offensive to you, so you don't want to support his/her movies. There's still plenty of films to watch, but your spouse doesn't want to watch some of them because the special effects are too gory, so you have to pass on them to keep the peace in the house. There is still no shortage of movies to watch, however, so it's all good in the end.

The point is, we have always jumped to conclusions about movies, and we always will. There's nothing wrong with it. Movies are entertainment, and life is too short to waste lots of time watching entertainment that isn't entertaining just to prove you have an open mind. I won't go into my theories concerning the impossibility of having a truly open mind about anything. That is a discussion for another board. 

[66Crush]

I admit to being close minded to certain movies because I don't like the actor. I can't stand Brad Pitt. I don't think he is a good actor, so it is very hard for me to sit through his movies. "Seven" could have been one of the best movies ever made, but he just ruined it for me. I mean he's not even in the same league as Morgan Freeman, yet there they are on the same screen. I try to keep an open mind, but the major studio's keep putting the same ten actor's in every movie. I understand it from a financial point of view. This star made x amount of money for us last time so let's use him again, even if he is not right for the part. Happens every day. I keep thinking of the scene in "Ed Wood" where Ed complains to Orson Wells about how studio's cast they're buddies and Orson said that they did it to him too. "They want Charlton Heston to play a Mexican." People also like the movies they saw when they were younger. No movie can ever be as wonderful to you now, because you lack the innocence of childhood. Actor's are not of the same caliber today either. In the old days actors were trained in the theater and vaudeville. They trained in Shakesphere, and much more time was allowed for rehearsal. I also think that while CGI is a wonderful tool for some movies, it is a distraction in others. But we've got to change with the times. I try to to, but I admit that it can be difficult sometimes.

[Mofo Rising]

I would say it depends entirely on the person watching the movie.

When you get involved in this love of askew movies, sometimes you tend to make blanket decisions. I have heard arguments against anything out of Hollywood, anything that has CGI graphics, any movie that attempts 3-D graphics. I've also heard argument from non-film buffs against anything subtitled, anything not new.

The only way to destroy your ability to have an open mind is if you choose to close it yourself.

I watch everything, and I do mean everything. My movie watching flips between Hollywood blockbusters, obscure foreign films from the '60s, crappy-ass zombie movies made by high-school kids, and film-school favorites.

The important thing here is that I avoid any preconceptions I can have about those movies and find out what they mean to me personally, the guy watching them for the first time.

I am open to every movie. My opinion may very quickly turn sour, but that's dependent on the movie.

Here's a way of looking at it. InformationGeek, you're still pretty young, but here's something that is going to happen. Everybody you know is going to stop listening to music made outside of their teens and 20's. Whatever's new will cease to exist, and the only good music will be the music that came out during that very brief period of time. You can try to introduce the new stuff, but they will still stick to the things they enjoyed when they were young.

They will never change that opinion. Wait for it; it will happen to you.

I guess what I'm saying is that is frighteningly easy to close your mind. It's pretty difficult to leave yourself open for the new. But do it; leave yourself open. The rewards are pretty amazing.

[Psycho Circus]

I agree with everything that Derf said. I would have to be honest and say that yes, I have lost the ability to have an open mind (if I ever had an open mind to begin with). I know what I like and I stick to it, I look for a number of elements to ascertain whether or not I deem a movie good enough to meet my standards. Now this shouldn't particularly bother anybody else as it is my own personal taste, but I can understand at times my opinions can make me come across as some sort of narrow minded purist. I'm cool with that. "Good" movies and "bad" bad movies all seem to have to meet a certain criteria within my own twisted mind for me to confidently say "yay" or "nay" to it regardless of ever watching the full film. This is the case 99.9% of the time when it comes to new movies, latest cinematic releases and what-not because they don't surprise me with their content and use of budget. Older movies, say pre-94/95, I have an unbelievably open mind because I know that some of those certain elements I mentioned before will be present (positive ones) and others (bad ones) won't.

[Jack]

People use past experiences as a guide to making better decisions in the future.  That's sort of what life is based around.   

[bob]

Not always. For example I have hated Chris Elloit since I was kid and Ground Hog Day, which has him in it, is one of my favorite movies. I also hate M. Night Shyamalan's recent stuff but I like his first three films. I usually don't like anything with David Spade that doesn't have Chris Farley in it but I like PCU.

[The Burgomaster]

A lot of times I will rush to judge a movie based on the stars, director, plot or whatever.  But in many cases I will still watch a movie (and often buy the DVD) even if I'm very skeptical about it.  One example is THE GREEN HORNET.  I had bad feelings about this one when I found out Seth Rogan would be in it and when I saw the trailers.  I still have not seen it, but I'm positive I will within the next year or two.  And I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong about my pre-judgment of a movie.

[66Crush]

I am open to any new ideas. But I would like to see more variety in major Hollywood movies. Indies often have better ideas, but don't have the resources to pull it off. I think that's why I am so attracted to b movies. It isn't just because they can be unintentionally funny (even though that's what attracted me in the beginning). Sometimes the creativity is better. The well has run dry of idea's, after a century of film making it's bound to happen. The best film maker's can do at this point, is take what's already there and craft it into something special. There are new movies that I like, same with music, but I have to dig a little deeper to find it. Most of the general public are not this passionate about the entertainment choices they make, so the mainstream media makes that decision for them. It has always been that way with the arts. The true lovers of art are much harder to please.

[Kaseykockroach]

Well, being a closed-minded curmudgeon leads to higher standards anyway. :P Nothing wrong with only liking good movies.

[JaseSF]

I think I may be a bit of a curmudgeon but I will give most movies at least a chance and one viewing (honestly some of the films I absolutely love are really well - dreck -y'now stuff like No Holds Barred, Return of Swamp Thing, Creature From the Haunted Sea)...although this can sometimes prove rather painful (I really regretted watching Transformers 2, G.I. Joes Rise of Cobra and Armageddon in particular).

[Criswell]

Well, being a closed-minded curmudgeon leads to higher standards anyway. :P Nothing wrong with only liking good movies.

Then why are you on this message board if you think that?

[Flick James]

I can only speak for myself, and in my case, no, I've actually grown more open-minded.

[Kaseykockroach]

Well, being a closed-minded curmudgeon leads to higher standards anyway. :P Nothing wrong with only liking good movies.

Then why are you on this message board if you think that?

I'm talking about good bad movies too. =P

[Nakuyabi]

I'd say certain parts of one's mind open and others close as you get older. I actually didn't like much of my generation's music until about a decade or two later when I heard some of what was replacing it. (Ugh.) I find that an extra decade or two between the release and the listening tends to help weed out the real garbage and leave me with stuff I actually like.

As for movies, watching the ones that flopped (for whatever reason) has given me a new perspective on all kinds of movies that both opens my mind to some and closes them to others. Consider, for instance, the film One Night With The King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLy-oYnXBo

I recently was able to borrow this from a church library and see it for myself. Looking at the reviews over on IMDB, I see a lot of people either loved it or hated it. Comparing it to other films, my perspective was that I've seen better, but I've also seen a whole lot worse. All in all, it wasn't too bad for a relatively low-budget effort.

On the other hand, here's one financially successful film to which this new perspective has rather closed my mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ

Just what we need, I thought: a blatantly preachy film that combines just about every blockbuster cliche I've ever known with all the latest flashy effects. I don't doubt the graphics and special effects blew everyone away; I don't doubt people were every bit as dazzled as they said they were. So what? I also had no particular desire to see Avatar.

In other words, viewing a lot of old schlock has made me a lot more forgiving of mediocrity in the lesser flicks, and a lot less forgiving of bad writing in big budget movies that rely too much on special effects. What convinces me a movie is good is not whether it has lots of budget and special effects or very little, but rather whether I like the story it's telling and how it tells it.

Of course, some movies I won't watch in the first place not because they're over-hyped or rumored to be particularly bad, but because their subject doesn't interest me. Black Swan? That was the one about lezzie ballerinas or something, wasn't it? Not interested. The Devil Wears Prada? That was something about a notoriously ruthless business woman teaching a newbie the secrets of her success, wasn't it? I might actually watch that if someone put it on for me at a party or something, but I'm not going to go see it otherwise.

Yes, the message does count too: if the movie's pushing us all to worship Satan or something, I don't care how good the writing is, I hate it and I'm not going to go see it. If it's got a wonderful message but is done really badly, however, I'm not going to go see it either. Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ was very well done; it's about as violent and bloody as the actual historical event probably was. I loved it. Left Behind? I can see why the authors sued the studio: virtually everything that might actually have been worth seeing from those stories was left out. (There's another borrowing from a church library; sure glad I didn't actually pay money to see that.)

So no, I don't think we're losing our capacity to have an open mind. We're just getting more discerning with experience, figuring out when to fling the gates wide open and when to shut them and bar them.