Bryan Curtis has a
nice mean essay about
AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time Not Counting the Future.
As to that second category—the pure inspirers—what exactly do the filmmakers think their movies will inspire a person to do? Read more Whitman? Call your mom and tell her you love her? It's just a hunch, but what I think inspiring movies do more than anything is inspire more inspirational movies. George Bailey begets Norma Rae who begets Forrest Gump who begets—well, whomever Russell Crowe is playing in the next Ron Howard film. It's a vicious cycle of inspiration, spanning decades. And it's enough to make anyone a cynic.
All true. I harken back to the
teacherrefpoet's take on the subject.
Maybe I just don't want to go along with any kind of manipulation. When Texas Western won the NCAA title in tonight's movie, people in the theater actually applauded. APPLAUDED! Like they were surprised! Give me a break.
But as I watch people around me feel inspired on cue while my wife and I snicker quietly to ourselves, I sometimes wonder if I'm missing out on something.
Then I snap out of it.
We eagerly await the
trp's dissection and deconstruction of the list.
3 comments:
I had blocked it out. But so rarely do I have blog work commissioned. I'll have something within a week-ish.
Besides "inspirational" I suggest you avoid any video advertised as "dark comedy." You can be pretty sure they'll be dark, but there's never anything comic about them. Basically "dark comedy" means "You would never see this movie if we didn't call it a comedy."
I also automatically distrust any movie described as a "thriller." Especially if it's French. There's nothing duller than a French thriller.
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