[Weekly Update] What is the purpose of cinema? (Patreon)

So, I bought Slay the Spire. Big mistake. It has destroyed my productivity.

Send help.

CHANNEL UPDATE

Due to a sponsorship hiccup, our next video is currently waiting for the final revision before it can go live. I'm sorry this one gets delayed for so long. I promise Slay the Spire has not affected this particular video. The next video, on the other hand... *cough*.

I've begun brainstorming what I'll call the 3.1 channel visual. Basically, a revision of the new graphics. That's the image you can see above the post. The gold is to add a bit more color and energy back into the current boxy visual. It is still in its early mockup stage. Feel free to suggest changes!

For this Christmas, I want to talk about Asian games like Mahjong and Shoji in Western (particularly Hollywood) movies. Kinda like that Go scene in Knives Out. It'll be a video briefly explaining the rules and cultural context, but not as in-depth as the one we did with Crazy Rich Asians. If you have any movie suggestions, leave a comment!

MEDIA TALK

So, Barbenheimer has a wikipedia entry now. It is a bona fide cultural moment. That leads me to ask a question I often contemplates on: Why do we go see movies?

To answer the question, we first have to define it. Going to see a movie isn't the same as just watching it. You can watch a film on your phone, but you can't really "see" it outside of a cinema. the action of "go" to see is an important part of the process, as it makes the audience an active participant in an otherwise passive entertainment.

That's why people show up in pink for Barbie. Dressing up is part of the going experience.

In a sense, seeing Barbie in the theatre is less about the film, and more about what the surrounding cultural phenomenon. The participants are simultaneously the ones who created the cultural impact, and also the ones most heavily affected by it. As to how they are affected, that remains to be seen for the future. Will it lead to something grand like increase anti-war and feminist thinking, or it be just another interesting looking Halloween?

That's the kind of reach and influence cinema has. We bestow this art form such great importance, that the process of seeing films became something ritualistic. I think most of us know about this. But it is a whole other thing to experience it first hand.

A good way to put it all into perspective, I find, is to imagine what was it like, when Charlie Chaplin released a movie back in the 30s and 40s. Or think about Gone with the Wind, the highest grossing film when adjusted for inflation. What was it like to be part of the crowd who went to see it?

From The Great Dictator, to the first issue of Captain America comic book, these art works primed the U.S. for WWII. We already talk about how a Korean movie changed the country's judicial system. And with Barbenheimer being such a massive thing, I wonder what foot print it'll leave in our world.

Anyway, that's my rambling of the week. Had this thought when I was waiting in the cinema. I saw a group of high school age young men and women walk in with suits on top and pink shorts on the bottom. A thought provoking sight, I have to say.

See you soon with our video!