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It's been over a year since I wrote my first column for Matchflick. Now there are new owners, new columns and a lot more members. I hope in some way I was able to help or assist in the website Matchflick is and has become. So, if you want, raise an invisible glass to my first year here, and to Matchflick. For it's a jolly good movie site. For this column, I'm gonna stray away from the horror, and just talk a bit about moving pictures.
Movies are important. Not just to me, or you, but in general. They are able to document sound and vision, and sometimes taste, touch and smell, but those were for 60s Vincent Price flicks mostly. They are able to have three of the major arts (Aural, Visual and Literal) combine into one huge sensation.
We, as the audience, are able to appreciate the sum and the parts. Sometimes just one or the other. How many times have you said, "The dialogue wasn't that great, but the CGI was CRAZY!" or "You know, the music was kinda 'eh', but some of the acting was magnificent." With books, paintings, and music, classifications that appeal to you that are specific and separate, are scarce.
Film is not only able to showcase art, but life, which sometimes is one and the same. The documentary genre demonstrates this time and time again. Our history seeps through our films without us knowing it. The screenplay, the scenery, the costumes, the acting, these all show us who we are, or were. It might even show us what we will become.
D.W. Griffith's 
"Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain." |
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epic THE BIRTH OF A NATION shows us racism through an almost deified account of the Ku Klux Klan. Thought he film might be entirely fiction, the feelings behind the creation are wholly true, and something not to be dismissed.
I love watching movies. I love the exhilaration I feel, the sadness that overcomes me. I relish in the emotions films suck out of my being. I cry more watching flicks than I do in my everyday life. THE GREEN MILE gets me every time. I am so happy I can feel these things through viewing movies; it makes me enjoy life that much more. They make me think afterwards too, about my life, the world, everything. Art has the ability to create after it's finished. No matter what a piece of art is, we interpret our own way.
Film...is life. It's as close as we can get to showing life. And to creating life that does not exist in "reality". We are able to create, out of thin air, monsters, creatures from fictitious galaxies, freaking WOOKIES! Film can band people together in triumph and in love. Movies are us, all of us. So the next time someone says you're a "fan-girl/boy" or "obsessed" or whatever, know that movies ARE precious. Brush off their foolishness and revel in the art that best imitates life.
I want to thank Gretchen, Bo, Alex, Awesome, Lizzy, Ken and most of all Stefanie (your proofreading is vital, little burrito) for helping and inspiring me. And don't worry reader(s?); I'll be back to the gore and gruesome in two weeks. Until then, be well.
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| The Lair of the Mad |
Every other Tuesday
'The Lair' discusses the many aspects and qualities of the horror genre. From actors, to make-up, to music, James Shafie explores everything the "cult" genre spews up.
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| James Shafie |
James Shafie is an avid watcher of movies of all sorts, but the horror genre is closest to his heart. He loves to read and is addicted to music, mostly metal and it’s thousands of sub-genres. He was once fired by Blockbuster, which we see as a strong character trait.
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