I love movies. I went to see Matrix: Reloaded the first four days it was out at the theaters, then T3 for four days as well (Ryan, was it three or four? I'm not sure). I also love watching movies at home, either when broadcast or on DVD. My parents had HBO while I was growing up, so I always had plenty of movies to watch.
Fast forward to this past weekend. I was channel surfing, looking for something to watch while organizing my stuff. I couldn't find a good TV show, but "Office Space" was on (TBS or TNT or one of those networks did a big blitz of that movie lately). I have the Office Space DVD, and so I thought "Hey, why don't I throw the DVD in so I don't have any commercials or editing?" But I couldn't bring myself to. Somehow watching a movie that's on TV is better than watching a DVD. What is wrong with me?
I realized this has been true my whole life. I have a standing rule: if Top Gun is on TV, I must watch it. Yet I don't even own the DVD! I've seen Independence Day twice in the theaters and like 50 times on TNT. I haven't even unwrapped my DVD of Happy Gilmore, yet I've seen it on USA every other week it seems.
I'm a glutton for advertisements and built-in breaks, I guess. Actually, I think I prefer it because if a movie is on TV, watching it is more "Oh look, The Fugitive, haven't seen that in a while. I guess I'll leave it on in the background," whereas throwing in a DVD is more "OK I'm watching The Wedding Singer, so I have to sit here and watch it." I'm a slave to my own perceptions.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The Truth? I can't handle the Truth!
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2 comments:
Interesting. I'm more in line with thinking the TV-presented film is a slave to advert culture, what with most broadcast renditions of films being minced here and there to allow for commercial breaks and/or suitability for evening family viewing. In some cases (you mentioned casual fun flicks Happy Gilmore and Office Space) it amounts to nothing. But I seldom watch casually. I too feel the "investment" needed when sitting down to watch something out of the home collection, but at the same time I feel utter control over my film experience. I can invest as much or as little as I please, with no poor sound/video quality (barring HD) or corporately-minded edits to keep the running time down . Just me and the all-powerful Pause button at my fingertips, the phone unplugged and the lights dimmed.
Basically, if I up and go use the restroom it's because I made the call rather than take a cue from a commercial break. Er... yes.
Jesse, you do have a point. If I were to find "Apollo 13", "The Truman Show", or other serious movies on TV, I would not watch them or leave them on as background. But with slapstick comedies, I'm really just waiting to hear Milton mumble "I-I'll set the building on fire."
I used to go to the theaters almost every week because of theater-effect. In fact, I refuse to watch cheesy action movies like "Doom" or "Terminator 2" without the lights off and my 5.1 sound system engaged.
So basically, I'm agreeing with you... I think.
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