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    Corrigan_Writing About the Movies

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    Corrigan - Writing About The Movies

    Uploaded by

    ali danish

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    of 11
    A Short Guide to Writing about Film TIMOTHY CORRIGAN wat c I Se WRITING ABOUT THE MOVIES After staying this chapter, you shoul be able to + Recognize and appreciate the pleasures and rewards ffl anabsis + Trace the movement from diseusions about nae to weting aut + Deserhe some of the diferent alas offi an ‘ean be determined by determining our auonce *+ Distinguish between a sereening report, a munie review theoretic say, and a anata es + Describe how tn balance personal opinion and etal evaluation in sisal hen they WHY WRITE ABOUT THE MOVIES? ‘Commenting some years ago on his experience a the sovies, the French ‘iter Christian Metz deseried a challenge that stl faces the stent ‘of movies today: We all understand the movies, but how do we expel them? As 4 measure of that common wnderstaniing, notice the extent to which movies are a part ofa ultra if tat we generally take for grinted, We all treasure and ently with certain nnies for thle ughs thee trl, or thei hasting images of terror_—-and movies and their stars regularly become part of our daly ives and conversions The 2019 release of British fmnaker Steve McQueen's 12 Years ¢ Slave became a cultural forum in the Uaited States sbowt the hoerig Drtality of shvery and ts US lege. In 2012, Acadeny Award winner Zero Dark Phir reigutesl public debates about the se of torture in Afghanistan and the extent to which I aisted in the llng of Osama bin Tan, and thre years previously Avatr brought homea War on a alien planet with a thee-dimensional (3D) technology that purparedy wal ies. Blue I the Warmest Color became tl sexo and nthe same year The Fifth oaverion abont O13) recounted the tials of Willeaks founder jin ASsange file Asing: was ail on the rn, Tn a sense, Erwin Prod’ 1984 than evr befor sally watch fms becuse we expect the Kind of pleasure seldom aso ath a inclination 2013), we might eit biel shout cera characters or scenes we pa cular enjoyed or dliked, but we arly want tooffer lengthy ans There soften an unspoken assumption thit any kind of anal ann. for instance, we watch a ora basketball nme, we may easy and happily discus some of their lntrcates and completes, real that our commentary adds to rther than subtracts our enjoyment of them. At these tines, our understanding of and pleasure in esperencing the event ae praduts of the ential awareness that our diewsion refines and elaborates on. The person who has mo inclination o abt to reflect on or analy: basketball or dance may level, but the person who i able o activate a ent ing and iting about fl fers the sme promises and rewards, For example wien pressured to explain cael why she liked Gray, tne sede fof the Bim, she began to th So enjyabi, but also ab hua vay to an abandoned space salon, Ryan nds a way fo navigate 3 ‘Sloped space capale back to earth Amit histone drama ot lees an ere the bond that develops betwen thew char stom the emergence ofa mothers memoria death ‘thr daughter andthe excrusaing drama oa woman acon Ising sal and pre winin the beau bat herring vam of spore Tis ot 0 much #88 even fim but fm about ‘porman overoming a aura pat and a toeiying prewot become a miraculous al igre rising trumphany Pom me avi ofthe ear IF the movies inform many parts of our hves, we should be abe to enjoy them In many ways, eluding the challenging pleasure of trying to think about, explain, and write shout ove experience watch nig them. We go to the moves for many reasons: to think or uot 10 think. to star at them, or to write about them, We may go toa movie to consume it ike cotton eandy; we may goto a film where that candy Ipecomes foe fr the ind, AS the fan of Gritty foun on, ana ‘response to ainovie doesnot rin the enjoyment of. Writing about {Tn ca allow iewors to enjoy it (and other fs) sn ways they ‘were iexpableof before, If watching and understanding i oe ofthe Pleasures ofthe movies, writing and explaining ean he another exing Pleasure tus keep in ind hat writing about the moves snot ofr from ‘what mest of us do already: When we leave a movie theater after 60 Tous of enforced silence, most of us discus or argue about he fn. Although the difference between talking and writing about a subject isa cricial one, writing about a fil i, in one sense, simply « more refined and measured Kid of communication, but with a reader. Our Comments ca be about the performance of an actor, the excitement ‘lied by specie scenes, or just common questions about what hap- pened, wis it happened, or why dhe fin made the answers to these "vestons inelea Te Frequeny thee conversations evolve from searching forthe right sword o finding a satisietony desenption of how sequence develops "prefer Keaton to Chaplin beemise Keaton fumiee Well, I mean. be tells Tunnier more complicated stores, Thatod-—no, {found much too preditable—the ending of Flight (2012)” While talking about movies, ven cal, we sear for word 40 match what we sav and how we reacted to it Writing about fn is eaofal and more caleulated step ‘beyond this fist impulse to discuss what we have cen. Given this nora ‘impulse we can even enjoy talling ad writing about a move that we did tot ke A fiend ofthe weiter who pase Grtity thus begins his essay ‘more negatively than the sient quote previous ile he 2D technology of Grit (2019 creates a dreamy sand on ascinatngexperionon oor sate, aloo demorstates—once ago that echnology has usurped the compleny usualy found good tories wih good charac tess Sandra Pllock and George Clooney portray the only 0

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