The Importance of Good Media

I haven't made a post in a while, so I thought I would log on and talk to you about something that I feel very passionate about, and that is the importance of good media. I will mostly focus on art such as movies, television, and books. Most people never see the importance of these things and find this stuff to be simple things that don't have much to it. People can look at a peace of art such as a photograph, painting, or sculpture, and see a deeper meaning. This can be said for what is placed on screen also.

Movies and television is a visual medium for getting across emotions and ideas. Yet, there is still a confusion on what that means and most popular works today are just simple clichéd works that are nothing new. Movies are art, and art is a person expressing their view on life in their own unique way. This is not always life in general, but some movie do that, "Forest Gump" and "Big Fish" are examples of the study of life in general through a creative lens. Yet, most film makers focus on a single aspect of life, such as heartbreak, love, fear, self awareness and so on.

Film takes characters that have motives and challenges that audiences connect with, and shows how they play out in certain situations. What good movies do, is make people think. It can make them rethink their own life, relationships with people, or even just a punch line. Most fiction also has a sense of nonfiction in it or it models aspects of today. Fiction also tends to share a prediction on our future. An example would be the Galactic Empire from "Star Wars" mirroring the Nazi party of Germany, and "Terminator" conveying a dystopian concept to an audience and making them feel aware of how their choice can change the future. "The Matrix" makes you think about your own existence and "The Shining" makes you think about the paranormal and human sanity. Actors are paid millions of dollars to convey true emotion and characterization and to strive a story with thought provoking themes. "Les Miserables", one of my favorite stories, makes you think about love, life, freedom, and religion throughout a thought provoking series of events. If a story can keep me on the edge of my seat, it is good in my book.

Speaking of books, they are also a good, and arguably the best, medium of media. I want to write books and make films because they both have similar effects. I have a respect for film, because unlike books, they are a visual medium that is better at conveying an idea or emotion more specifically than books. I love books, but they can have descriptions and dialogue altered by the reader's imagination, and too specific detail can lead to what appears to be boring filler. Whenever a director makes a film adaptation of a book, he or she shows their view or version of the story and the themes they saw or thought were important from it.

Television is the most abundant visual medium since it is easier to make, and you have more freedom, and stories can be much longer. Everything said about movies can be applied here, but television is good at showing growth of a character or plot. It may start with a simple premise and then spiral out of control three seasons later. "Doctor Who" (which I plan on reviewing later) works so well because over its fifty year history, it has shown the change and growth of the main character and the show in general. The mood of the show and its main character, The Doctor, have seen many changes throughout the decades.

We must be surprised. Today, we see a movie that we like, so studios try milking as much out of what is liked that we cease to get new thought provoking ideas. Studios and production companies just keep showing what we liked and are too afraid to try something new or to shock us. Today, we have both good and bad movies, but good is mostly needed now. We need it now because today's generation is so distant from emotion and relationship, that they sometimes need to see life through a character's eyes. This is okay, if it also motivates audiences to experience life for themselves. If we narrow it down to the same old stuff, then we will just keep asking for the same old stuff, and nothing will change. Film can be a reflection of a generation, just as "The Breakfast Club" portrays the eighties. We need that today, and we need good people to share their thoughts. We need artists, opinions, ideas, and tolerance. These ideas in art must be approached with an open mind and we need to still respect ideas which contradict ours. With mediums such as YouTube, it seems like the people are now being put in charge of sharing ideas through art. This should encourage people with ideas to share them in their own artistic way. This is why I will review movies, TV, and such, because we need it, and we need it analyzed for what it is: art.

- Conner Wilson