Hey kids, how goes it all out there? I am going to write about a movie that for the love of god i hope you all have watched already. If you haven't go see it, NOW! The movie i am talking about is Inception, just in case you hadn't guessed.
Now if you happen to be one of the six people in this country who hasn't seen Inception yet then stop reading right now and go see it. By doing this you make life easier on me and harder on yourself.
Yes you will, why? Cause this movie is gonna fuck with your head. Why? I honestly have no clue, did it fuck with mine the first and only time i saw it? No. I found the movie uncomplicated and kinda simple. I know. Inception. Uncomplicated. WTF right?
It was the first movie i have seen in a long time where i called damn near everything. To be fair that's because normally i expect these movies to be a little more complicated than they actually are so Inception being predicted by me just means that it is more complex than the average movie.
Now why do i think Inception fucks with people's heads more than the average movie? Mainly because of the subject matter. See like the awesome movies of the past it deals with what is real and what is fiction? It begs the question that started oh so long ago with one of my least favorite philosophers Descartes which is how do we know it all isn't a dream?
When it comes down to it there have been many movies that express this idea, one of the first ones i heard of was The Matrix. Another one would be the lesser known but equally awesome movie Waking Life. A truly great example that in a way quite nicely paralleled Inception would be The Nines which stars Ryan Reynolds.
What makes Inception such a great example of this type of movie is that while the overall plot of the movie is great there is no giant jumps in the plot that completely shake things up. Instead each step is logically spelled out while the movie follows the same sort of settings as Jason Bourne movies or the number of different movies which have followed in its "globe trotting, exploding action fest" of different locations.
Inception takes this way of jumping from location to location and gives it a somewhat quasi logic to why it goes from place to place, and presents reasons for why things happen the way they do. At the same time Inception offers complete and total control of an area (the dream) where whatever idea you want to implement is possible. It also opens up the notion of becoming addicted to it (note the people who couldn't dream anymore). Now there are probably more things that it links into, common themes that most people can relate to which is why the movie draws people in so well. The final one of these that comes to my mind is the cliche of the distant father figure and the hope to be reunited.
As well look into where the entire fracking movie takes place. In a dream. Dreams continue to be one of the many mysteries which modern psychology cannot explain in a reasonable enough fashion and so it is like sailing into the Bermuda triangle or traveling to another planet. Anything becomes possible there.
Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing against the rules with using a number of different tools to manipulate the way that people act and think. There is nothing wrong with a movie manipulating your emotions. That's what they are there to do. But at the same time when you sit down and think about Inception, maybe read a little basic psych, you should be able to see most if not all of the twists and turns coming.
Showing posts with label Psych. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psych. Show all posts
26.8.10
26.6.10
How You See It
Tonight i want to type about world views. It is something i have been thinking about since i was reading a few blog posts about depression and how people deal with it as well as other emotions. You can probably tell that emotions in general have been on my mind lately as well. About how they affect writing and choices, about how people choose to deal with them and how i deal with them.
And in thinking about this, combined with my uber lack of sleep lead to me thinking about how the emotions a person experiences in a given moment can take one of three paths (yes, that's right, i avoided writing one of two paths). Those three different paths are joyful passion, painful passion, and indifference.
As it is said in this quote quite effectively:
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."
-Elie Wiesel
With each thing that life gives you can react passionately, burn in the moment like a fire, react together like... hmmm gunpowder and a flame, gas and a match, baking soda and vinegar.
When you react to it you can react positively and enjoy it just like fireworks or negatively like a bullet from a gun. See, each way is possible, both are easy to start but the more you do the easier one path goes.
To react with indifference is different. It means that simply put, something doesn't matter, no food on the table, doesn't matter, failed a lab for your class, doesn't matter. Your favorite TV show gets canceled because all the actors, writers, and staff dies in a plan crash? Doesn't matter, that's what it means to react with indifference. Yes, i know, this sounds like something that would only happen with a drug user or alcoholic... or possibly someone who is a sociopath.
Yet that is another possible action, and just like both the routes of passion with more use it grows. Now i am going to yank psychology into this, see the more you think about something or think in a certain way the more brain cells in that area you use, the more they become wired together and the easier it becomes to think like that or think that way again.
So the more you focus on that negative passion that a situation creates in you the strong it becomes, the stronger that structure of your brain becomes. But if there is one thing i have learned through all my psych classes and extra readings that i do for fun is that the brain is not carved from stone. Rather it is made from an ever changing structure that alters the more you think. (my current psych interest goes along with the changing in brain structure due meditation)
That means that you can alter the way that your thoughts travel. You can change it though it is hard, and not hard like lifting a heavy weight, but hard like running a marathon. You can do it, but it wont be easy, however speaking from the view of someone who enjoys more good passion than indifference and more indifference than bad.
And in thinking about this, combined with my uber lack of sleep lead to me thinking about how the emotions a person experiences in a given moment can take one of three paths (yes, that's right, i avoided writing one of two paths). Those three different paths are joyful passion, painful passion, and indifference.
As it is said in this quote quite effectively:
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."
-Elie Wiesel
With each thing that life gives you can react passionately, burn in the moment like a fire, react together like... hmmm gunpowder and a flame, gas and a match, baking soda and vinegar.
When you react to it you can react positively and enjoy it just like fireworks or negatively like a bullet from a gun. See, each way is possible, both are easy to start but the more you do the easier one path goes.
To react with indifference is different. It means that simply put, something doesn't matter, no food on the table, doesn't matter, failed a lab for your class, doesn't matter. Your favorite TV show gets canceled because all the actors, writers, and staff dies in a plan crash? Doesn't matter, that's what it means to react with indifference. Yes, i know, this sounds like something that would only happen with a drug user or alcoholic... or possibly someone who is a sociopath.
Yet that is another possible action, and just like both the routes of passion with more use it grows. Now i am going to yank psychology into this, see the more you think about something or think in a certain way the more brain cells in that area you use, the more they become wired together and the easier it becomes to think like that or think that way again.
So the more you focus on that negative passion that a situation creates in you the strong it becomes, the stronger that structure of your brain becomes. But if there is one thing i have learned through all my psych classes and extra readings that i do for fun is that the brain is not carved from stone. Rather it is made from an ever changing structure that alters the more you think. (my current psych interest goes along with the changing in brain structure due meditation)
That means that you can alter the way that your thoughts travel. You can change it though it is hard, and not hard like lifting a heavy weight, but hard like running a marathon. You can do it, but it wont be easy, however speaking from the view of someone who enjoys more good passion than indifference and more indifference than bad.
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