The Amazing in Film

The film critic is in. Sort of. Driving to the airport, I began to think about why movies draw in the crowds they do. I had heard and parroted such explanations as "Movies allow us to escape reality" since high school. Tonight, I suggest that, while the statement is still true, more may be said as to why we want to escape reality.

It seems that most modern films can be placed into one of two categories: the average, and the surreal. The average is epitomized by the indie film revolution. Average people with average lives with average problems. What happens to them is amazing, and usually internal (reconciliation, love, etc). These are appealing to a wide audience for, I think, the audience is widely average. Not much more drama and tension exist in their lives if it be not at home.

The surreal twists the circumstances- supernatural (or at least super-talented) characters perform amazing feats which are external. Be it in a cape or a military uniform, the strength or courage is amazing. The escape from reality is most obvious in this category, as most audience members cannot, say, fly a plane (Top Gun) or fly to save a plane (Superman Returns).

As the audience watches these films, a silent part of them (or at least of me) connects to the idea of amazing. Perhaps some are infatuated with their reflection and equate themselves to the Man of Steel. Most, I think, when viewing the surreal view themselves a little above the common man, in talent, potential, or right. A driver in front of us may drift into another lane before noticing and we think, "How stupid"; yet if we had done that the day before, there certainly were circumstances which accounted for it. Few would consider one's self as distinctly separate from society as a superhero, yet the desire is to keep one above the sea of average (if only in one's mind).

The average also appeals to us at least because we all feel average (if not below average) often enough. And if average characters with no particular skills or advantages can have amazing things happen, why can't we hope likewise? The amazing, be it from inside or outside, causes us to hope, to wait on hope and think that we deserve the amazing. We want to be amazing, or think that if we are not, that something amazing will happen to us. I stop short of calling this an entitlement conspiracy, but I wonder what effects the films we watch have on society as a whole.

(I have left the realm of horror and grisly massacre to a third category for those who prefer to sup on the dredges of humanity- if you can call it that)