Threw a Tinted Looking Glass

It seems to me that at first glance films do not effect the way we see the world. I know that is a rather strong statement to make in a film class but what I mean is that people don't try to or even want to be effected by films in a long term manner. How many people do you meet that say I have to go see this bloody movie just so I can lower the amount seeing people die affects me. Or I'm going to go watch a raciest movie so I will think worse of people. My point is we don't go to the movies so we can be effected long term. People don't go to the movies to have their views altered they go to be stimulated emotionally and/or intellectually. This is reflected in the film industry by the fact that all major motion films are made for entertainment purposes and not knowledge purposes. Amelie is a perfect example of this. On the outside the movie is hilarious, stimulating enough of our brains to make us think while still keeping us laughing. But if someone attempted to Amelie influence their thoughts on the world by say imitating her they could end up with a very strange view of the world. I would argue that it is more often then not discouraged for people to imitate or let there views be influenced by movies. No parents would want their kids imitating the actions of a teen in a teenage movie, and no one would like to see their friend turn into a murdering psychopath. This I believe stems from the fact that the majority of movies today are made for entertainment purposes. People are bored by movies of reality because they don't want to see something they could easily see by walking out their front door. I completely agree with Benjamin in his analysis of film existing not for the use of religion or cult value but for its working value in entertainment.

Going back to my point on the effects of movies, while I do not believe people want to be influenced long term by movies they very often do want to be influenced short term. For instance someone going to a horror movie wants to be scared to experience the full effect of that movie. People all the time want to have their exterior emotions influenced by movies so that they can be entertained. And even while they may not be trying to, or want to be influenced by movies, movies definitely play a major role in establishing our culture and I believe slowly influence people who watch them. An easy way to see this is if we look at the evolution of a movies. Fifty years ago their was very little blood and gore in movies compared to now. Some people might argue that this is because it was difficult to make realistic gore and that recent advances in technology have enabled this to be done. While this is true it is hard to argue against the fact that if someone from the fifties were to see one of today's thrillers they would be disgusted and probably very scared by the intensity of the movie. This shows that while both technology and culture may be a limiting factors in what movies are made, culture and what people will except as reasonable in movies changes as people become less sensitized to the current movies. We are as individuals also influenced by movies over time. Little children are often times very scared of some things in movies. As they grow older they watch more and more intense movies developing less sensitivity to the topics in movies. While many things can influence a persons sensitivity to issues like sex and violence, movies play a part in this desensitization. A child that has grown up watching violent movies is more likely to take in stride seeing violence and gore in real life.

To sum up what I have said I believe that people like being, and try to be, influenced short term by movies. And while people may not want to be, or try to be, influenced long term by movies they are slowly over time influenced by the movies they watch. Also our culture is over time influenced by the movies we watch. What is interesting to note that because movies are made for entertainment purposes it is our culture that determines what is acceptable in movies. This forms almost a circle as our culture, plus film directors and producers willing to push the line a little, create movies that influence out culture and thereby set up for the next set of movies.