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It depends how far you dig. Let’s say there’s a movie you enjoy. First a person can describe how it made them feel overall. Then they can identify which charact

It depends how far you dig. Let’s say there’s a movie you enjoy. First a person can describe how it made them feel overall. Then they can identify which characteristics and components of the film made them feel a certain way. What was it about those various aspects that caused those feelings? Which parts of the experience were the result of the craftsmanship of the work in question and which parts come from the eye of the beholder? At that point you have to kind of stop digging. Repeatedly asking why will always lead to a psychological or biological explanation, which is too reductive to be relevant.

esperent 1y ago
My take on this is that I don't need to examine my taste in movies that deeply. Unless I find it problematic for some reason, I can just let my taste be as it wills, enjoy what I enjoy. I watch movies to relax, to escape, to connect with people. I don't watch them to deeply analyze either myself or the field of cinema. I do analyze other aspects of my life deeply. My diet, my fitness routines, my family, my relationships, my work, and other personal interests. But nobody has energy or time to analyze everything that they do, any thing that you do spend time analyzing is another thing that you don't. So of you ask me why I liked a particular movie, maybe I'm just gonna say "because explosions go boom", and you shouldn't take that answer to mean that I'm incapable of critical thought. Let's just chill and watch a movie, then save the deep discussions for something else like our work, families, or recent discoveries in physics and medicine (personal interests of mine which I find far more interesting to discuss than cinema). If you do like analyzing your taste in movies, that's great. And if you find other people who like it, that's great too. But it doesn't make you superior to or smarter than people who just watch the stories to relax and zone out for a bit.
- Apreche 1y ago
  It’s not about understanding something trivial like taste in movies. It’s about understanding yourself. People are out there trying to solve the great mysteries of the universe, but they don’t even know themselves.
  - esperent 1y ago
    There are many paths to understanding yourself. My personal opinion is that analyzing why I like certain movies is one of the less effective paths because movies are such a cultural thing - the movies I like say less about me as a person and more about the culture I grew up in. That in itself could be worth analyzing but honestly I rarely watch movies, they're just not an important part of my life. You're free to feel differently - maybe movies have a more important role in your life and upbringing, and genuinely are a good path towards understanding yourself. However, don't make the classic mistake of assuming that what is effective for you is effective for everyone. And don't make the even more classic mistake of assuming that people who don't respond deeply the way you want them to are not capable of deep thought.
    - Apreche 1y ago
      To know yourself isn’t a matter of choosing one of many paths to arrive at a singular answer. It’s a big puzzle and you must gather all the pieces.
      - esperent 1y ago
        No human in one lifetime can gather all the pieces. You have to make value judgements about what is and isn't worth spending time on.
- rixed 1y ago
  If it's Ok for you to claim that your taste in movies has no deep roots beyond what's immediately accessible to your consciousness, it's also Ok for us to derive from that claim that you are, indeed in this instance, incapable of critical examination. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Now, if what you wanted to say is that you believe that this domain is not worthy of critical examination, then there would be several difficulties still: - how to know what's worth of examination without examination? - How could such a culturally influential industry be not worthy of critical examination? - Aren't we naturally more resistant to examine what we suspect would yield unpleasant knowledge rather than what we suspect would be unworthy?
  - esperent 1y ago
    > If it's Ok for you to claim that your taste in movies has no deep roots beyond what's immediately accessible to your consciousness That's not what I claimed. Of course there are deep roots. My point is that there are deep roots for everything in your and my subconscious, and yet only very limited hours in the day for analysing them. I'm fully capable of analyzing my taste in movies, as is virtually everyone. However, I choose to spend that time analyzing other things that have more personal meaning to me. The issue I have here is that there's a certain group of people that will take that choice of mine, and use it to affirm a nonsensical belief that they're somehow superior, or more capable of critical thought tbecause they like analyzing movies (or art, poetry, books, whatever). > how to know what's worth of examination without examination? Everything is worthy of examination, of course. However, I am but one normal, busy human with only a few hours in a day. I spend my limited time in the things that have meaning to me, and analyzing movies is not on the list. I don't look down on anyone for choosing to analyze movies, and thereby better understand themselves. I just ask that you also don't look down on my because I'd rather spend that time analyzing something with more personal meaning. Like physics, mathematics, culture, mental health, fitness, books that I've read, and lots more. But not movies.
    - rixed 1y ago
      I have no doubt that "virtually everyone" think they know why they enjoy this or that movie, but I also believe that virtually everyone is wrong virtually all the times when it comes to explaining our own acts or opinions. Science, and especially social sciences, often give this impression of being looked down at. It's like, we lost being the center of the universe, we had to admit that we are just one species of ape, that we have unconscious thoughts, that some decisions can be predicted before we take them, that we can easily be manipulated in many ways, but at least can we not decide for ourself why we like some benign entertainment such as watching a movie or commenting on HN? :)

esperent 1y ago

My take on this is that I don't need to examine my taste in movies that deeply. Unless I find it problematic for some reason, I can just let my taste be as it wills, enjoy what I enjoy. I watch movies to relax, to escape, to connect with people. I don't watch them to deeply analyze either myself or the field of cinema. I do analyze other aspects of my life deeply. My diet, my fitness routines, my family, my relationships, my work, and other personal interests. But nobody has energy or time to analyze everything that they do, any thing that you do spend time analyzing is another thing that you don't. So of you ask me why I liked a particular movie, maybe I'm just gonna say "because explosions go boom", and you shouldn't take that answer to mean that I'm incapable of critical thought. Let's just chill and watch a movie, then save the deep discussions for something else like our work, families, or recent discoveries in physics and medicine (personal interests of mine which I find far more interesting to discuss than cinema). If you do like analyzing your taste in movies, that's great. And if you find other people who like it, that's great too. But it doesn't make you superior to or smarter than people who just watch the stories to relax and zone out for a bit.

Apreche 1y ago
It’s not about understanding something trivial like taste in movies. It’s about understanding yourself. People are out there trying to solve the great mysteries of the universe, but they don’t even know themselves.
- esperent 1y ago
  There are many paths to understanding yourself. My personal opinion is that analyzing why I like certain movies is one of the less effective paths because movies are such a cultural thing - the movies I like say less about me as a person and more about the culture I grew up in. That in itself could be worth analyzing but honestly I rarely watch movies, they're just not an important part of my life. You're free to feel differently - maybe movies have a more important role in your life and upbringing, and genuinely are a good path towards understanding yourself. However, don't make the classic mistake of assuming that what is effective for you is effective for everyone. And don't make the even more classic mistake of assuming that people who don't respond deeply the way you want them to are not capable of deep thought.
  - Apreche 1y ago
    To know yourself isn’t a matter of choosing one of many paths to arrive at a singular answer. It’s a big puzzle and you must gather all the pieces.
    - esperent 1y ago
      No human in one lifetime can gather all the pieces. You have to make value judgements about what is and isn't worth spending time on.
rixed 1y ago
If it's Ok for you to claim that your taste in movies has no deep roots beyond what's immediately accessible to your consciousness, it's also Ok for us to derive from that claim that you are, indeed in this instance, incapable of critical examination. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Now, if what you wanted to say is that you believe that this domain is not worthy of critical examination, then there would be several difficulties still: - how to know what's worth of examination without examination? - How could such a culturally influential industry be not worthy of critical examination? - Aren't we naturally more resistant to examine what we suspect would yield unpleasant knowledge rather than what we suspect would be unworthy?
- esperent 1y ago
  > If it's Ok for you to claim that your taste in movies has no deep roots beyond what's immediately accessible to your consciousness That's not what I claimed. Of course there are deep roots. My point is that there are deep roots for everything in your and my subconscious, and yet only very limited hours in the day for analysing them. I'm fully capable of analyzing my taste in movies, as is virtually everyone. However, I choose to spend that time analyzing other things that have more personal meaning to me. The issue I have here is that there's a certain group of people that will take that choice of mine, and use it to affirm a nonsensical belief that they're somehow superior, or more capable of critical thought tbecause they like analyzing movies (or art, poetry, books, whatever). > how to know what's worth of examination without examination? Everything is worthy of examination, of course. However, I am but one normal, busy human with only a few hours in a day. I spend my limited time in the things that have meaning to me, and analyzing movies is not on the list. I don't look down on anyone for choosing to analyze movies, and thereby better understand themselves. I just ask that you also don't look down on my because I'd rather spend that time analyzing something with more personal meaning. Like physics, mathematics, culture, mental health, fitness, books that I've read, and lots more. But not movies.
  - rixed 1y ago
    I have no doubt that "virtually everyone" think they know why they enjoy this or that movie, but I also believe that virtually everyone is wrong virtually all the times when it comes to explaining our own acts or opinions. Science, and especially social sciences, often give this impression of being looked down at. It's like, we lost being the center of the universe, we had to admit that we are just one species of ape, that we have unconscious thoughts, that some decisions can be predicted before we take them, that we can easily be manipulated in many ways, but at least can we not decide for ourself why we like some benign entertainment such as watching a movie or commenting on HN? :)