Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , movie 5 of the series released this Friday the 13th all over. Being a HUGE Potter fan I was mighty excited and my excitement doubled when it was announced that as a part of our Friday fun activity at work , our boss is taking the entire team out for the movie. Well originally we were going for Die Hard but due to ticket unavailability, Harry Potter won :-)
As expected there was excitement around to match mine and lots of .. "Oh no I dont like Potter"... "Its a kid film"( yeah like you're 90 !!) These are the kind of people that really annoy me. From the time it was announced that we would be watching Harry Potter, emails were shot across to bring everyone up-to speed with the story, but those who never attempted to discover the magic of Harry Potter were obviously not going to start now! So what followed was a lot of people cribbing, people can be so ungrateful at times its just sickening, I mean here we are going for a movie funded entirely by the management.. all we had to do was get our butts to the movie hall... but No! I will crib .. its part of who I am... If I dont crib, I wont be able to digest the popcorn and pepsi... sheesh!! Well anyway I decided I would not sit next to someone who was hell bent on spoiling the fun.. and thankfully that part went well. I sat next to a friend who just recently discovered the magic of Potter! Ah! well not all is lost in this world!
Post the movie, when everyone were exchanging notes, the cribbers were on a roll again.. . going on and on and on and on about how bad a film it was, and how much they dint like it (like they are experts on movie making ) One thing I dont understand... Isn't it obvious that if you haven't been following a story you wont understand it? This is something that I've noticed, that a lot of Non potter fans I know have not thought about. Just recently a friend of mine commented that he saw Harry Potter and he dint quite like it and that he just wanted to give me feedback!! Sheesh.. and this from a person like many others who haven't even read a single word of any of the Harry Potter books and who doesn't even know whats happened so far in the story.WoW! Some authority eh?. Like a wise man said "Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise" [Hey! Spare me the shoe for that comment! ;-)]
Okay, here's the real thing that ticks me off- zero tolerance. I have observed that a lot of people I know have a bizarre idea of what movies are about. They expect that a movie should be as close to reality as possible and if it strays away even for a second, its bad or silly or kiddish. Its just impossible to convince them to watch just ANY movie with you. They would at the beginning of the year make a list of the movies they wanna watch and religiously stick to that list, or they would browse for hours over various newspapers for movie reviews or if someone who saw the film says its bad, will refuse to watch it. I mean get a life! Dont you have your own Brain? Aren't you capable enough to decide on your own whats good or not ? These people should not even attempt to watch commercial cinema and stick to them Arty films or better still Documentaries. I have even come across people who believe that you should watch movies suitable for your age!! So nothing in the world could persuade them to watch a Shrek, or a Ice-age or even a Spider-man at the age of 25, coz God forbid, that might tar their image!
Honestly when people say " Thats a Kid's film or its not my age to watch this" I feel sorry for them, coz they have no imagination and Movies are all about imagination. They are meant to be soaked the way they are. You can have your preferences but to demean a film just coz its based on fantasy and coz your teeny little brain has no room to understand it.. is a pity! When Spidey 3 released. some were like, it wasn't that great, the characters were illogical (sandman and the alien goo thingy), there was no story and blah blah. Right! And a man bit by a spider, who gets super spider powers is so realistic na? It happens all the time doesn't it?!!
Same goes for books, I know some who would read a short story and at the end say, I dint like it much, the ending wasn't good. I mean, a story is someone's imagination. It is for the reader to decide whether the pace is right, is it captivating enough .. rather than comment on how the story should progress and eventually end. For instance, when you ask someone who's just read a story, as to how it was and they go, "oh well, I dint like it much, it shouldnt have ended the way it did. It should have progressed into a murder, horror or love story... etc!!" Is it so hard to see things the way they are without having to always want to change it?
So to all of you out there, go beyond the ordinary, open your mind to the possibilities and free your imagination.
"I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel." - Peter Nivio Zarlenga
PS: This article isn't meant to offend anyone. These are general observations I have made and besides I was just blowing off some steam.. and I feel soo much better!! Phew!!! ;-)
2 comments:
hahahaha you did blow off some steam !!!! but lots of things made sense. Watching a summer blockbuster or some movie based on a cartoon or comic character and sayinf it wasnt realistic is just plain dumb. Movies were invented as a way to escape reality and the farther away it is the more fun it is !!
Wonderful observation, I must say! All the symptoms mentioned by you are accurate and they do occur, especially, in people who love cribbing or criticizing.
I would also like to draw attention towards a third kind, who would go and watch Ice Age in PVR (fully paid!) and would wait for the second part to be released, yet wont like the sight of Harry Potter. You know why? Probably because they do not relate to the set up. They can imagine animals speaking and interacting in Ice Age and intelligently trying to track the parents of a human kid because the thought would excite their imagination. Sitting on a broom stick and playing with the magic ball would not excite them. I must say this is personal liking. Some would like to watch romance, while others may prefer thriller.
Okay... okay.. alright.. Yes, I confess... I belong to this third kind. And I strongly believe that may it be Shrek, Cars or Ice Age, they are all piece of art in a way. Harry Potter is nothing but a fairy tale that we used to listen as a kid (maybe I have grown 90!). I have seen all the parts except the latest one, which I am yet to see. The plot is designed to be interesting and catchy, but it is not, for me atleast. I go to watch HP series because my wife loves it. But it has failed to mesmerize me except for the good special effects, which I feel are over-used in the movie. Maybe the novel / story demands that. However it doesn't appeal me. And yes, I confess, I haven't read a word of it. Maybe the book is a piece of art which the makers are unable to convert into a motion picture.
No offence here Nam :) I just could not stop myself from expressing what I feel, which is quite different from what I read in your blog. :)
However, I really appreciate the observation in general. And the way you express, I am a fan of yours! :)
BTW, if I had been a part of the team, I would never crib about a movie show which comes free of cost ;)
Cheers!
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