Sell Me More than Passion

Some may say that years of writing and critiquing films have withdrawn the passion I once so vehemently displayed in everyday life. That in the place is a cooler, calculating, more analytical individual. And, on some minute (possibly calculable) level, they'd be right. Yet to anyone with eyes, and the indomitably to brave asking me to discuss the works of Kurosawa, the passion is still there. Just, like so many things in life, it has found a new mold in which to reside itself.

You see, I no longer respond much to impassioned remarks, hyperbolic characterization, or vile lambasting. There was a time when I found such acts to be among the most appreciable and entertaining resources for reading. However, these days I find solitude in satire, randomness (not much change there), and heartfelt remarks. I love reading about why someone loved or hated something. Hidden messages beneath the surface of the celluloid. A few off the wall jokes about films and why people place so much emphasis on their own 'correctness' with respect to them.

Unfortunately, these aren't the type posts that create a magnetic force to which readers are drawn. I get by on those of you who enjoy my writing well enough to visit once or twice a day, toss in the good ol' comment and then wait for me to inevitably comment on yours. And to each and everyone of those readers, I am quite grateful.

This does, however, create an odd disconnect between me and many of my fellow bloggers. You see, many of us have grown up in the age of reality TV and television show hosts who are ghostly reincarnations of Howard Beale. We believe that to be heard you must scream. To be understood you must be belligerent. To be opinionated you must be idealistic. That objectivity and sensibility are phrases reserved for the inept and weak minded. And so the mentality resonates throughout our writing like locus.

In my eyes, this is nothing but a farce. Being passionate about films is more than screaming their names on social networking sites, regardless of whether you do so in favor or disgust. To me, being passionate about film is the desire to understand them. Even the ones you hate. To learn about the process to which they came into life. The ripples throughout the years of cinema to which they affected, or will eventually affect. The study of who, why, and how certain films came to be loved and others hated is as equally captivating as my own personal feelings towards them.

This of course makes Oscar season my most and least favorite time of the year. The ways in which people react to the arbitrary winning and losing of certain films in relation to other films is a gripping roller coaster ride of emotion. So please, forgive me if I don't do a hundred posts on here about why this film should have won over that or why this all matters. I'll do my top 10 films in the next week or two, but it'll be just that. Another top 10 film list from someone with his own viewpoint on cinema likely impacted by his various dealings with the world. Nothing more, nothing less. Is it too apathetic? Perhaps on the surface. But passion is far more than what you see.