Is the sole purpose of films Entertainment?
Is the sole purpose of films Entertainment?
[dropcap]If[/dropcap] the sole purpose of marriage is companionship then like Tom Hanks in ‘Cast Away’ you could have a companion who is a beach ball.
So yes the lowest common denominator or the lowest possible thing you can get from marriage is companionship but 99% of humanity looks for way more than that. Similarly for films, the least, absolute least you can get from films is entertainment. This is true even of friendships, you can get so so much more than just company from a friend.[pullquote_right]Watching a Munnabhai is crazily entertaining but the message that get ingrained is that you cannot FAKE being anything in life as there will come a point where you won’t be able to take it forward and will end up risking someone else’s or your own life because of this lie of a life.[/pullquote_right]
There used to be a time when people used Mythologies to learn things about how an ideal life should be lead. Those STORIES became like the word of god for many as they looked up to inter-relations between people in myths and tried to emmulate the inter-relations from myths when it came to their personal lives. Many people still look to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the story of Christ as stories from which to be able to glean how to live.
But in modern times films have taken up this mantle as much as mythologies which then explains why stars get exhalted to the status of demi-gods and in south india there are hundreds of temples built in their names. A good film like a Lagaan fills the average human being with hope even if it’s not consciously, it does work sub consciously and make that person get healed a bit to be able to go back and face his own tough life with more hope the next day.
Deeper themes from films end up not only healing us in terms of hope but also leaving behind a bit of a message deep within us. Watching a Dil Chahta Hai not only entertains us but it will leave us with the theme that friendships only last when people grow in similar directions, they only last when there is a certain maturity of experience that comes into each one’s lives. And they fall apart if its the end of the line in terms of deeper maturity for any one of the friends in a group. We experience this all the time when we meet a friend from school and the guy’s still the same as he was then ans we can’t relate to him anymore. These deeper themes are further reinforced in our sub conscious minds thanks to GOOD CINEMA.
Watching a Munnabhai is crazily entertaining but the message that get ingrained is that you cannot FAKE being anything in life as there will come a point where you won’t be able to take it forward and will end up risking someone else’s or your own life because of this lie of a life. When Munnabhai finally gets off the inquisition where the whole college is conspiring to make him pass, he does so because he realizes that he cannot fake being a doctor and that he cannot fake saving someone’s life.
Watching a DDLJ will make you feel all romantic but the theme that in India if you’re able to get the blessings and love of the entire family of the person you’re marrying instead of going against their wishes you actually end up getting a full new family as you marry, is its deeper theme. That those parents have been this person’s family, life givers, caretakers for so long that if you now try to go ahead with marriage against their wishes without even trying earnestly to convince them, there will always be a broken part to your life which is unhealed. This is something that is left with us from the film beyond the entertainment. of course sometimes this doesn’t work out, but what the film promotes is an earnest attempt.
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So the LEAST you can get from a film is entertainment and the least you can get from a Marriage or a friendship is companionship.
The MOST you can get is that you’re actually healed at a much deeper level to be able to fight your own battles and some deeper themes are left with you, helping you understand how to live life.
Since the choice is ours, Id go with trying to get more than entertainment. And since its something we do day in and day out maybe expecting a bit more wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.
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