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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Do Our Movie Tastes Define Us?


I don't know how many Wavers saw DONNIE DARKO, but the Wave-inatrix loved that movie. And I loved ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and of course I could go on and on. But I can fully appreciate someone who didn't go nuts over either movie. Maybe you're not a Beatles fan. Or maybe you are and ATU was sacrilege. I don't care, I loved it. Maybe DD was just too weird. Okay, I'll grant you that - it was pretty weird. But oh so damn cool.

But when somebody I had newly met said to me that they hate Woody Allen, time slowed down for a few seconds and I thought - oh - okay, I don't think I can be friends with this person. I mean, if you don't get Woody, if you don't get the particularity of his humor, intelligence and world view, then...well...it's over between us. BROADWAY DANNY ROSE - really? This is not brilliance? THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO? How can you not love that movie? ZELIG? Okay I own the entire Woody Allen library, from BANANAS to HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. Later stuff, admittedly not so much.

But to not like Woody - to not get him - what kind of world are you living in??

I was talking to a friend yesterday who admitted to losing a potential friendship over SIDEWAYS. If you loved ATONEMENT, can you be friends with someone who hated that but loved HOSTEL?

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of friends, god knows, and we don't all share the exact taste in movies, but my friends can always appreciate something I loved - they may not be the biggest Julie Taymor fan, for example, but they see how I could be. I have friends who adored movies like DIE HARD and LETHAL WEAPON - movies I appreciate but that most certainly did not change my life or stick with me in any way. But that's okay. Whatever.

What would you do if a friend said they hated Alfred Hitchcock? For me - this is heresy and ultimately, a deal-breaker. For me, off the top of my head, I think the deal breaker list would have to include:

Woody Allen
Martin Scorsese
Alfred Hitchcock
Billy Wilder

Whereas, I am a huge fan of but would TRY to understand if someone wasn't as into:

PT Anderson
Wes Anderson
Jim Jarmusch

I mean, of course, I would try to convert them and show them the error of their ways, but I get it; those are film makers who are quirky and are not for everyone to adore the way I do.

Am I being shallow (okay yeah, probably) or can you draw conclusions about people from their movie tastes?

Have any Rouge Wavers ever faltered in a relationship because of disparate movie tastes? How important is that ephemeral, intellectual-entertainment quotient to you?


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10 comments:

This Space Blank said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Julie Gray said...

J.J. - Wavers have to have a sense or levity to get a cupcake. No cupcake for you today. :)

Not DUMP a friendship - god no - but would it make you hesitate just slightly? Of course it's a shallow thing to do!

Style Bard said...

Aw, I love Julie Taymor. Also, thanks for the IE post yesterday! I grinned through the whole thing.

A Who said...

Discussions about particular tastes in movies and books -- two more reasons I don't get along very well with my in-laws.

~P

p.s. I loved Donnie Darko.

Anonymous said...

I once had a first date that was already going downhill when "There's Something About Mary" came up. I had not seen it.
I followed by mentioning I watched the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour.
She never heard of it.
Should of ended the night there.

Some movies are better than others at giving a view into an individual's values core,
CRASH, RESERVOIR DOGS. It may not be the individual movie that defines us, but what the movie asks us to consider, accept and reject.

If you liked Hitchcock, but a friend liked Shutter, Prom Night, The Grudge. Makes you wonder about what holds the friendship together.

But then I finally watched LEON the PROFESSIONAL the other day.
I kept watching it over and over.
What's that say about me?

Christian H. said...

I like Woody Allen as storyteller perhaps but not so much as actor.

Anonymous said...

Julie, this being Easter weekend, could you please take a moment to explain your interpretation of the bunny in Danny Darko.
Another of your favorite films "Sexy Beast" has a simular Man-Bunny. Are you a bunny person?

Style Bard said...

Ooooh and I should mention having a friend who mentioned not liking movies where you think too much, or movies that are too heavy, because don't we go to movies to be ENTERTAINED? Who wants to watch American Beauty or Requiem for a Dream? And then I suddenly looked at our friendship differently, and always have since.

That very line of thought is why Broadway is suffering, and it makes me very angry.

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh because I feel this way all the time.

If someone tells me that they didn't like No Company For Old Men because it was depressing, but they loved The Bucket List because they found it uplifting.... I pause. I think to myself.... how is it that I have anything in common with this person.

I can't help myself. I'm very very opinionated when it comes to good movies and good books.

Julie Gray said...

To me, Donnie Darko always felt like an update on one of my other favorite movies - HARVEY :)