Movies

Movies exist in a world apart with rules that are different from ours.

To enjoy truly enjoy a film, you must first forget your reality, forget what you believe. Only then can you fill your mind with the reality of the film and the beliefs of the characters.

You cannot hold Star Wars to physics from the here and now. It happened a long time ago...far far away.

Why then would you expect a film made in the thirties to have modern sensibilities?

Perhaps I'm starting in the middle.

When I watched 1939's "The Women" for the first time I laughed and giggled at the wit. I gloated when the worst of the women were overthrown. I cheered when the heroine threw away her pride to get back the man she loved.

I didn't think about what I would do if I was in the situation. I didn't think about how life was today or my reality. Women staying in abusive relationships because they were married and they gave back as much as they got was ok in their reality. The other woman was nicer than the wife so good job going to Reno... the only place to get a divorce.

After watching it and watching it with others I began to realize how odd my ability to suspend my disbelief of a reality so unlike my own was.

"How could any self respecting person of the modern age accept what happened?" "How could you be happy she went back to her cheating husband?" "How could you not notice there was not one man in the entire movie?"

Odd as it may be, I feel all movies are fantasies. Women not having rights or only being able to support themselves is just as fantastical as light sabers and millennium falcons existing. My question for those that question me is:

If you can suspend your disbelief and enjoy a film with siblings kissing and fathers chopping off their sons hands, why is it so hard to accept a reality that truly existed before your time?