It Is Not About Neo-Dystopian Outlaws

Have you ever seen a movie with a friend and gotten into a hot debate about what the movie was actually about? Is your friend one of those people who over-analyzes every scene in a way that makes it nearly impossible to enjoy said movie? Welcome to my life. A life full of watching movies alone, because I have more than one friend like this. Long gone are the days of simply enjoying a movie for what it is. Unfortunately, I have a friend group that actively try to get their rotten tomato basket full as they decide what movies are actually about. The Barbie movie was a woman empowerment movie that spelled out how bad it can get if we ignore the signs of sexism. The Rise of Skywalker was about overcoming inner darkness and how we choose our identity. I remember one time trying to have a conversation about what a great movie The Fifth Element was, only to be told that the movie was actually a view on a dystopian future where the female has become a true object of sex and the only real masculine character was Bruce Willis as Corben Dallas. Now don’t misunderstand me, some of this is probably true. Moreover, what is a great movie without a little subtext of one theme or another, but does every movie have to be analyzed to death. What is wrong with just enjoying a movie for what it is, a piece of cinema. We are not in English class folks. We can watch a movie, enjoy what we saw and heard, and move on. What’s worse is when you have a friend who clearly has a bias and tries to make their bias seem correct for every film they see. The inequality of people of different race, gender, faith, and social class is something that everyone should be aware of, but if you expect me to feel this sense of inequality in The Secret Life of Pets, you are crazy. I am a movie buff. It brings me great pleasure to sit for a solid 2 or 3 hours and gnaw a bucket of popcorn, but I refuse to have a lengthy discussion about how deep Meet Dave gets. For me, I just like any movie Eddie Murphy plays in. In the end, I guess the aliens in control of my body need to learn how to overanalyze movies instead of just having opinions about random subjects. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.