"Part of me mourns the sophisticated cineaste I might never become; part of me is grateful for all the time I’ll save now that I am a bit more choosy about the aspirational viewing in which I engage." (Kois "Eating Your Cultural Vegetables" 2011)
For the past two weeks, I've found myself immersed inside the world of commercial fantasy films. This is something I hadn't experienced since high school. Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed these kinds of movies and I often slide in one or two RomComs a month. However, as I grow older I now lean towards heavy pretentious dramas because for some reason, studying Film sometimes makes you forget that it's okay to watch movies purely for the sake of entertainment. So every time I have two to three hours to spend, I tend to go for the ones that fall into the library of films a professional in the industry should have seen or should see (whatever that means). I do enjoy these kinds of movies, it's even safe to say that this is my favorite type of movie to watch. It's just that sometimes it's not all that I want to watch...and I feel guilty about it.
I remember being at the university and hearing my peers engage in discourse about the works of Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard and Wong Kar-wai to name a few. Although I've seen a lot of their films, there were others that I've never even heard of. "Outrageous!" were some of the types of reactions I got from people when they found out I was about to graduate with a Film Theory degree without having seen Breathless (1960). I would go home and try to keep up with those in my domain. It was also in one of my liberal arts classes where I read Dan Kois' article from The New York Times titled Eating Your Cultural Vegetables. It was a fun read and it made me feel somewhat satisfied that my fastina lente motto is as equally valid as my classmates' when it comes to watching classic movies. I never really relate to it until a couple of years later. In fact, we can fast-forward to the exact moment the words "cultural vegetables" re-entered my head. It was last week when I was laying in bed watching The Incredibles 2 (2018) at 10 pm. I kept scrolling through my Netflix list of "important" films that I've yet to see and nothing grabbed my attention except this animated film. Lately, I've been reaching out to films that fill me with joie de vivre. As a recent graduate from Film school and a professional in the field, I have the film side of Twitter to remind me of the latest Cannes buzz and the important additions to my cultural vocabulary. But what about classics? What about the pioneers? What about my daily dose of cultural vegetables? Kois writes:
"I feel guilty to be still reaching, as an adult, for culture that remains stubbornly above my grasp. My guilt isn’t unique, even if my particular aspirational viewing is my own. (...) As I get older, I find I’m suffering from a kind of culture fatigue and have less interest in eating my cultural vegetables, no matter how good they may be for me. I don’t fool myself that aspirational viewing no longer has anything left to offer." (Kois 2011)
This fragment of the article perfectly summarizes how I feel sometimes when I'm trying to pick a movie. It's like a self-inflicted pressure. As I settle down with a snack before bed, do I want to finish the last season of Santa Clarita Diet or do I watch The English Patient (1996), which has been on my list for a little over a year now? While I'm childless and way younger than Kois, I do feel this fatigue. There is a myriad of options to choose from and I sometimes struggle between a light feel-good and a heavy drama. Perhaps because I value time and I want to make sure those two hours are well spent and if I'm tired, I want to avoid even the slightest form of tediousness. I may not be like other cinephiles, but I still find my choices to be exquisite and I do make sure I am in the right state of mind to make something good out of what I'm about to watch, heavy or not. Believe me, I can be enthusiastic about Stan Brakhage when I'm truly feeling it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
With that being said, I have to remind myself that I'm allowed to invest some time watching movies that make me smile and make me not want to think, study or write a research paper. I don't always have to be moved or watch films that are hard to understand in order to satisfy a certain domain expectation. This doesn't mean I will fall behind or below my colleagues. I will get to The Cider House Rules (1999) and Schindler's List (1993) when the times comes. I still eat my cultural vegetables.
For the past two weeks, I've found myself immersed inside the world of commercial fantasy films. This is something I hadn't experienced since high school. Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed these kinds of movies and I often slide in one or two RomComs a month. However, as I grow older I now lean towards heavy pretentious dramas because for some reason, studying Film sometimes makes you forget that it's okay to watch movies purely for the sake of entertainment. So every time I have two to three hours to spend, I tend to go for the ones that fall into the library of films a professional in the industry should have seen or should see (whatever that means). I do enjoy these kinds of movies, it's even safe to say that this is my favorite type of movie to watch. It's just that sometimes it's not all that I want to watch...and I feel guilty about it.
I remember being at the university and hearing my peers engage in discourse about the works of Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard and Wong Kar-wai to name a few. Although I've seen a lot of their films, there were others that I've never even heard of. "Outrageous!" were some of the types of reactions I got from people when they found out I was about to graduate with a Film Theory degree without having seen Breathless (1960). I would go home and try to keep up with those in my domain. It was also in one of my liberal arts classes where I read Dan Kois' article from The New York Times titled Eating Your Cultural Vegetables. It was a fun read and it made me feel somewhat satisfied that my fastina lente motto is as equally valid as my classmates' when it comes to watching classic movies. I never really relate to it until a couple of years later. In fact, we can fast-forward to the exact moment the words "cultural vegetables" re-entered my head. It was last week when I was laying in bed watching The Incredibles 2 (2018) at 10 pm. I kept scrolling through my Netflix list of "important" films that I've yet to see and nothing grabbed my attention except this animated film. Lately, I've been reaching out to films that fill me with joie de vivre. As a recent graduate from Film school and a professional in the field, I have the film side of Twitter to remind me of the latest Cannes buzz and the important additions to my cultural vocabulary. But what about classics? What about the pioneers? What about my daily dose of cultural vegetables? Kois writes:
"I feel guilty to be still reaching, as an adult, for culture that remains stubbornly above my grasp. My guilt isn’t unique, even if my particular aspirational viewing is my own. (...) As I get older, I find I’m suffering from a kind of culture fatigue and have less interest in eating my cultural vegetables, no matter how good they may be for me. I don’t fool myself that aspirational viewing no longer has anything left to offer." (Kois 2011)
This fragment of the article perfectly summarizes how I feel sometimes when I'm trying to pick a movie. It's like a self-inflicted pressure. As I settle down with a snack before bed, do I want to finish the last season of Santa Clarita Diet or do I watch The English Patient (1996), which has been on my list for a little over a year now? While I'm childless and way younger than Kois, I do feel this fatigue. There is a myriad of options to choose from and I sometimes struggle between a light feel-good and a heavy drama. Perhaps because I value time and I want to make sure those two hours are well spent and if I'm tired, I want to avoid even the slightest form of tediousness. I may not be like other cinephiles, but I still find my choices to be exquisite and I do make sure I am in the right state of mind to make something good out of what I'm about to watch, heavy or not. Believe me, I can be enthusiastic about Stan Brakhage when I'm truly feeling it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
With that being said, I have to remind myself that I'm allowed to invest some time watching movies that make me smile and make me not want to think, study or write a research paper. I don't always have to be moved or watch films that are hard to understand in order to satisfy a certain domain expectation. This doesn't mean I will fall behind or below my colleagues. I will get to The Cider House Rules (1999) and Schindler's List (1993) when the times comes. I still eat my cultural vegetables.