I’ve been a big movie goer for most of my life. But something has changed a lot since I was a kid. As the technology has continued to evolve, it seems as if all movies are shifting their attention away from good acting and more onto how many amazing special effects can be pumped into a film. The result of this is that I’ve been enjoying my movie going experiences less and less.
This year has already dealt with many big budget films bombing at the box office. Some of those have included Jack the Giant Slayer, A Good Day To Die Hard, After Earth, The Lone Ranger, and White House Down, all of which I got to see at the theater. In each of those films, the emphasis seemed to be more on how much the director was able to give the audience a “wow” factor using special effects and less on the quality of the script and acting. This is contrary to the main reason why I have always loved attending movies.
I have always felt the best movies are when I can put myself in the actor’s or actress’s shoes and feel as if I’m living the movie as them. Lately, that hasn’t been the case in many movies where all of that green screen technology and computer animation is being used. While I may be having those jaw dropping moments with how realistic the special effects are becoming, the fact remains that I’m not connecting anymore to the characters. In other words, my heart isn’t being moved much anymore.
Movies like The Notebook, Ghost, and The Shawshank Redemption are a few of the ones that come to mind that have inspired me over time and had greatly moved my heart. While each of those may have had some special effects, the emphasis was less upon that as it was with their heart warming plots and incredible acting. Sadly, the film industry has been moving away from making movies like this and instead are pumping more and more money into making these huge blockbusters that are often bombing lately when they don’t make their budgets back.
Could it be possible that these movies like this summer’s The Lone Ranger are performing poorly because the emphasis was placed less upon giving heart to the movie and more upon its special effects? My most recent experience of a movie like this was when I saw Pacific Rim the other day in 3D. Easily it had the greatest special effects of all the movies I’ve seen so far this year but I just couldn’t connect to any of the actors or actresses in the movie and felt my heart stayed detached throughout the entire film.
Here’s a little secret about me. What I love best about a film is when I can leave the theater, get in my car, break down in tears, and end up praying to God about something in my life. This happened when I saw “42” this year, which was the Jackie Robinson story. I was so extremely moved by what he went through in his fight against racism that when I got in my car, I cried and asked God to help me to continue to have the strength to keep going in my quest to heal.
I guess what I’m trying to say in all of this is that I simply just want my heart to be moved when I see a movie. But with the focus becoming more and more on the special effects in films these days, that seems to be happening less and less. For a guy like me who is spending a lot of time lately connecting to God, seeing two hour long films that are lacking in warm feelings are leading me to spending less of my money on films with no heart. Who knows, maybe if the film industry could go back to making more films that are intended to move the audience’s heart and not their brains, they might start making back their budgets and then some…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson