Monday, January 27, 2020

Once upon a time when we watched movies

A few weeks ago, I read a headline in the local paper that was along the lines of "Deleted scene shows that Thanos may not be dead". Now, there are all sorts of problems with this. First, it's a deleted scene, so basically it didn't happen. Second, is this really news? That belongs in an actual newspaper? And it's the second one I've been thinking about. Because once upon a time, I think the movie experience must have been different. You couldn't go online and read what every fan or TV station or radio station or podcast or so on had to say about the movie, or asked the stars in an interview, or hypothesized. You couldn't read about everything the directors said or didn't say, or whether the cast got along or not (although, I imagine that has always been a subject of speculation, even in the good old days of no internet).

Sometimes it's nice that there's all that commentary because it gives you insight into a movie and that can really increase your appreciation. But sometimes, it's just annoying, like whether or not Thanos lives on, or all the scenes that they thought about doing that aren't actually in the movie, in which case--again--it didn't happen. So it's just a distraction.

I don't know if it is better now or worse. In all likelihood, it is just different but I do think that the movie viewing experience in the digital age must be altered. And it's just an interesting thing to contemplate.

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