Up Is Higher Than Up in the Air and Why You Watch a Film

The 82^nd Academy Awards is now behind us. Needless to say James Cameron’s Avatar took quite the spotlight but, was painfully beaten against The Hurt Locker. Even still, that doesn’t mean the society sees James Cameron’s Avatar any differently than before. Up in the Air wasn’t anywhere near cloud 9, but was as good as being 6 feet under compared to Up. A Pixar animation flew higher than George Clooney; I’m having hard time believing it, but that’s because I don’t really look up to anything Pixar or Disney related… no matter how high they go up.

Putting all the award talk and puns aside, lately, I’ve been thinking about why people go watch a film. Is it to get away from reality or is it something simple as feeling the joy of watching something blowing up? Perhaps it’s really different from person to person, but there is something just about everyone has in common when it comes to watching a film; what the film makes everyone feel.

I remember reading something along that line back in high school, “People go to theatres not to enjoy the film, but to feel.” If you think about it, it does make sense. Take the film District 9 for example. In case you weren’t forced to watch it as I was, I’ll fill you in the details. Basically a guy gets infected by some alien oil and starts transforming into the alien race that crash landed floated on Earth. I’m sure I don’t need to explain the rest (and spoil it) at this point. Despite not winning any awards, people loved the film. Hold on, let me rephrase that. People loved what they felt while watching the film.

As you probably and accurately guessed by this point, when the main character starts turning into one of the aliens, the humans simply run rather painful and inhuman experiments on him until he realizes he is strong enough to beat people up and run away, later establishing somewhat of a friendship with other aliens so that they can go back to the ship (in not so friendly road up ahead). Feared by humans and hated by aliens is the situation the main character seems to face most of the time, which at that point, to you fellow audience of the film, you will feel sorry and rather sympathize with him. We like how that feels when we feel it, because unlike the human race presented in the film, we, who sympathize with the main character are understanding and kind. In short, District 9 made us feel like we’re better human beings compared to before we watched the film. Whether we realize it or not, that feeling puts somewhat of a "rush" in our minds. You can call it a form of an ego-boost, if you will.

Whenever I try to explain that to a friend or something, it somehow gives the impression as if I’m saying, “Shame on you!” but it’s not anything like that (I swear!). There’s absolutely no reason why anyone should feel on the lines of being an idiot if they didn’t notice it either. And who knows? Maybe without realizing any of this, a person can enjoy a film to its fullest potential. But ask yourself the question: What makes you watch films and/or what are you looking for in a film? And don’t say the classic “good looking, funny, and non-smoking” =P