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As you read this, I am in the final days of a week-long globe-trotting vacation with my family. Toshi and Allen and I will be hang-gliding off George Washington’s nose all day.
While we enjoy that, I’d like to share the fourth of five special vacation articles, where I’ve reached out to a wide array of people I know to answer a different question every day. I sent out the fire questions as part of one big e-mail last week, and I asked people to send me as many of the five responses as they felt like. Some people did one, some people did a few, and several people answered all five.
I would love to hear your responses to these questions as well. When I get back to Los Angeles next weekend, I’m excited to dig in and read all the answers you guys leave, and I hope you end up enjoying this week’s articles in the meantime.
THURSDAY
People love to blame the movies for any number of social ills, but it seems to me that if you’re going to blame movies, you also have to credit them for doing good as well. Can you think of any example of movies having a tangible positive impact on the world?
JUDD APATOW (writer, “Raaaaaaaandy!”)
I thinks movies have helped the world. Richard Pryor spoke the truth about many issues and that had real impact. He spoke about race, and drug abuse and his struggles in a way that opened people’s hearts while making them laugh really hard. How can anyone be racist when faced with the smartest, coolest, most honest, funniest man who has ever lived?
Pryor was a genius. I wish his film career equalled the brilliance of his stand-up comedy, but I think Hollywood was afraid of just how raw the truth was that he shared. His stand-up films remain the greatest record of just how good he could be at character and comedy and drama.
JASON FLEMYNG (actor, “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Having been in one of the Chucky films (“Seed of Chucky”), I’m desperate to believe that movies can make a real change in people. I think all Michael Moore’s movies are real eye openers, “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko,” especially. “Super-Size Me” blew a lot of people away, and changed the way a generation ate fast food. But for pure joy that lasted longer than the end credits, “The Full Monty,” and I’ll admit begrudgingly, “Slumdog Millionaire,” which nicked 13 Oscars off “Benjamin Button”!
GERRY DUGGAN (podcaster, “Nerd Poker”)
One of my more memorable failed attempts at a getting a film off the ground came with Gianni Nunnari, who pointed out “Every movie that gets made is a miracle.” The shittiest movie in any given year changes the entire world for someone. Maybe it’s writer, the director, or some actor getting their big break. I realize I probably sound like Jiminy Cricket on Jim Beam, but it’s the truth. So few films are getting made, and so few of them are even watchable. I know that’s not the answer you asked for, but that’s what you’re getting. Movies used to be the products of dreams. Now they’re just products.
That’s an angle on this question that I never would have imagined, but it’s true. Getting a film made can change someone’s personal world completely, and I think one of the great privileges of being a filmmaker is knowing that your thoughts are being shared with people all over the world in an incredibly direct and persuasive manner.
PAUL SCHEER (actor, “Piranha 3DD)
Friendship. Think of how many amazing friends you made growing up simply because they liked the same movie as you. On the playground that was the only way to form a connection and still to this day, one of the best feelings is sitting down and talking about movies that you love, hate or just don’t know what to make of.
Another answer I didn’t anticipate, and another great point. So many of the people who are in my life are people who I initially bonded over because of films that we loved, and especially weird films that I loved. It’s one thing to run into someone who tells you that they loved “Star Wars” just as much as you did, but it’s quite another thing to run into someone who tells you that they love “Brazil” the same way you do.
DAVID MANDEL (writer, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
“Pay it Forward.”
ALBERT PYUN (director, “Cyborg”)
“Dr. Strangelove” for ending the nuclear war threat singlehandedly.
“2001: Space Odyssey” because it proved the existence of God and his name was Kubrick.
These are both acceptable answers.
DAVID HAYTER (screenwriter, “X2”)
I think movies like “42,” or (Lee Daniel’s) “The Butler” help Caucasian audiences relate to African American stories on a personal level, which ideally helps racism recede into historic obscurity. And I think mainstream films like “La Cage Aux Folles” provide the same positive perspective for sexual orientation issues. The purpose of war movies, on the whole, is to try to illustrate the utter tragedy, and ultimate futility, of war. And of course, documentaries like “Gasland” can bring the plight of helpless people to the forefront of the public’s mind.
That, to me, is the primary point of what we do as filmmakers. The adventures are fun, and the distractions are entertaining, but if you can bring a new perspective to an important issue, as we tried to do with the “X-Men” films vis a vis racism and bigotry, then I firmly believe that you are providing an invaluable public service.
Also, “District 9” made me nicer to bugs.
MARK DUPLASS (writer/director, “Cyrus”)
YES… THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE I KNOW WHO GAVE MONEY TO THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AFTER SEEING “WAITING FOR SUPERMAN”
SCOTT DERRICKSON (writer/director, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”)
The obvious answer is that the art and entertainment of cinema are an absolute good in and of themselves – for many people (like us), movies are are a major part of what makes life worth living. As for more tangible social influences, I think Alan Renais’ documentary “Night and Fog” was hugely influential – the graphic images from that film changed the way generations thought about the atrocities of the holocaust. And I can’t think of a single film that has raised more awareness of a critical issue than “An Inconvenient Truth.”
DEREK HAAS (co-creator, “Chicago Fire”)
I think “Tremors” did a great job of pretty much ridding the world of pogo sticks.
KEITH CALDER (producer, “The Wackness”)
Documentaries can and have changed the world. They have freed the wrongly imprisoned, launched the careers of the talented, revived the careers of the forgotten, reform education, changed consumption habits, and brought down the unjust. Even the smallest of documentaries can have a huge positive impact on the lives of the subjects, as I learned when I produced “Thunder Soul.” Years later I still get notes from the band members and Conrad Johnson’s family telling me how much the film changed their lives for the better.
I think there used to be far more of a hard line between filmmakers who worked on documentaries and filmmakers who made fiction, but that seems to have vanished, and Keith is a good example of a guy who will get involved with any story he finds worth telling, whether it’s true or scripted.
GEOFF LATULIPPE (director, “Yom Kippur At WME”)
Please reference my “Karate Kid” story. Also, I always thought it was crazy that Navy recruiters set up shop outside “Top Gun” screenings and Naval enrollment skyrocketed after the film in general. Can you imagine that shit happening today? The answer is no. You can’t.
Also also, I assume we’re excluding documentaries from this question.
Nope, and for many people, documentaries seem to be the go-to answer for this question.
SCOTT FRANK (screenwriter, “Minority Report”)
While I know that there are many movies that brought certain important “issues” to light, I think to find the single biggest impact is to go back to the Depression, when movie attendance was high. For me, moves are at their best when they make us forget the world we just stepped out of and mesmerize us with the new one we just walked into.
This is the one that lands closest to my feeling on the subject. In general, I think the good (and the bad) that films can do is fairly limited in terms of one individual film. But taken as a whole, film has absolutely transformed the world, and anyone who grumbles about how bad movies are today misses the larger point. Movies are a shared language that is spoken around the world. Any idea, feeling, emotion, or story you would ever want to convey to someone, you can do with film, and the idea that I can understand what life is like growing up in a favela in Rio or that I can empathize with someone who has nothing in common with me in any way or that I can feel real emotion for a gorilla that was created using stop-motion animation… all of that is magic. Film does that, and it’s the reason I happily gave my life over to the understanding, creation, and sharing of films.
TRAVIS STEVENS (producer, “A Horrible Way To Die”)
That’s a tough question. Because all the good that comes from a group of strangers sharing the communal experience of watching a great movie in a dark room together is probably off-set by the sheer number of awful cinematic atrocities that get made and released. This is a question for alien archeologists.
DAVID PRIOR (DVD producer, “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
It’s as hard to make the case for one as the other. Did any of the war movies in the 40s improve morale for us and our troops? Undoubtedly. But I don’t know if that’s quantifiable in any tangible way. The makers of “The China Syndrome” were awfully proud of themselves, and take a lot of credit for the “no nukes” movement, but I’m not even sure that’s a positive. Ultimately movies tend to fail when they become dogmatic, and outside dogma any positive net effects are subjective immeasurables, like an increase in joy. Movies are their own reward.
DOUG TENNAPEL (creator, “Earthworm Jim”)
I know of people who committed their life to Christ after seeing “The Passion of the Christ,” and that’s a pretty significant thing for a film to do. But I think “It’s A Wonderful Life” has cast a powerful spell across generations of viewers. It’s a grand positive message that doesn’t feel preachy yet judges suicide as bad, makes the average Joe seem irreplaceable, and even demonstrates that our lives have far reaching significance beyond what we might imagine on our worst days.
I am fascinated by the way people treat “It’s A Wonderful Life” like it’s some sort of feel-good movie, because that is one seriously dark-ass “feel-good” movie, a film that only could have been made by Capra and Stewart after returning from WWII, still grappling with the horrors they witnessed and participated in, and the power of it comes from the idea that each of us impacts the world in ways that we may never even understand.
LUCKY MCKEE (writer/director, “Sick Girl”)
Besides POOTIE TANG?
I joke.
Sorta.
Movies that bring laughter into our lives are critical in helping us through hard times.
GREG LONGSTREET (publicist)
The world as a whole or my world? I think of movies as a very personal experience and if I had to cite one that’s impacted mine it would have to be “Magnolia”. I find it very a brutally honest portrayal of individuals and all the good and bad they carry with them. It all comes down to accepting the idea that “we may be through with the past, but the past isn’t through with us”. A close close second is a documentary-ish film called “What The Bleep Do We Know?” – it’s a fascinating look at human behavior and what can ultimately be defined as our emotional addictions.
This one, more than any of the other questions this week, was not an easy one to tackle, and I appreciate all of the people who took the time to respond to it.
What I hope this does, more than anything, is spur you to share your own thoughts on the subject. I still feel like out of the literally millions of you who read our site every month, we only ever hear from a small percentage of you, and I would love to change that.
Hopefully they’ll be a movie that changes Doug Tennapel’s views on life.
What do you mean by that?
Yes, movies can change the world. It might not be on a philosophical level, but chanage the world they can. I recently watched The Wizard of Oz with my children for the first time and was amazed at just how many lines from that movie have made their way into the everyday vernacular. I could say the same thing about Star Wars, Star Trek and so many more. And a lot of the sentiments expressed in those movie lines are of a positive nature, so in a round about way you could say yes to your initial question. Movies can change the world for the better. Great question and I loved reading the responses above.
Movies save lives.
I don’t think that any particular movie can change societal perceptions (maybe challenge them, but that’s part of a long process with many interconnected factors) or dictate change in any meaningful way. But if you believe that “whoever saves a life saves the world” movies has definitively changed the world. Over and over.
Many times I’ve heard a story of a guy at the end of the rope, flipping channels in the middle of the night, who suddenly crosses “Return of the Jedi”, or “The Road Warior”, “Casablanca” or “The producers” and suddenly remembers that the good maybe doesen’t outweight the bad but it can make it feel really distant or very, very, very silly (thanks to Mel Brooks on that one). Or a kid that feels as far as possible to the center of the world hearing for the first time that Luke Skywalker feels exactly the same way. Those lives are saved, and suddenly the world has changed.
For me, as an atheist, is “The Last Temptation of Christ”; a movie so painful, genuine and human that made me feel the meaning and burden of God as if it were my own. I like to believe that thanks to that work, among others, I’ve experienced a kind of empathy that wouldn’t be possible in ay other way. And trough that, my world has certainly changed for the better.
I wish that they did, but when you look at the state of the world, it seems that the messages of films like Gandhi & Schindler’s List, have fallen on deaf ears.
Requiem for a Dream made me not wanna do drugs. So that’s good for my mom I guess!
In 8th grade, my buddy and I went opening day to see Star Trek V. We were massive trekkies. It was sold out, so we went to this other movie, where all we knew was it had Robin Williams in it, and he was funny.
Dead Poets Society changed my life. I fell in love with English (the subject), and literature. I discovered and devoured poetry. I knew at 14 I wanted to be an English teacher. And it all started with that movie.
I might have (and honestly, probably would have) become a teacher anyway, but I like to think in a small way I’ve been able to change the world a few kids at a time. And it all started, for me, with that movie.
Did you ever get around to Star Trek V?
Judging movie’s capacity for changing the world based solely on specifically observable external factors is like judging a cake for its icing. Internal change comes first, the rest manifests in terms of the individual.
Movies fill a mythological hole left by societal narratives that have grown ineffective in light of contemporary development. “Religion” and its associated rituals, catered to the localized environments, were designed not to answer questions on the meaning of life, but to harmonize with unanswerable questions we all have, and put us in accord with the experience of being alive.
At their best, regardless of genre, this is how movies can change us. By harmonizing with our unanswerable questions, putting us in accord with the chaos of being, piercing the curtain of duality to give us a taste of that eternal unity.
We can’t change the world before we change ourselves. If, in this age of continuity-addicted literalism, we can stop reading these movies literally and open ourselves to their metaphorical, thematically transcendent potential — we may have a chance of witnessing just how transformative these story experiences can be.
Anyone claiming Michael Moore does anything but distort reality to fit his narrow ideology, which is then lapped up by only those who agree with him, is in denial.
Michael Moore doesn’t change the world. Michael Moore puts change in his pocket from the deluded people who believe he makes documentaries, as opposed to carefully edited fiction.
Don’t believe me, take a closer look at the scene in Bowling for Columbine that has Charlton Heston walking away from the camera. I bet you don’t see the editing trick Moore used to make it seem as if Heston was an uncaring racist. But if you look closer, or you understand how that scene couldn’t have happened without two cameras when there was only one present, you’ll see it.
Charlton Heston… a man who marched with Dr. King for equal opportunity for all, painted by Moore as racist, or at the very least, unsympathetic to a victim who was a little African American girl.
Agree with his position on the 2nd Amendment or not, but that was a despicable act from a man who only acknowledges truth when he happens to agree with it.
And this is exactly why movies don’t change the world. Because ignorant people still can’t see the truth when it’s right in front of them.
Whether you like Michael Moore or not, Heston was a crazy gun nut who didn’t care about any of the unfortunate victims of gun violence of any race. What he did years before that is irrelevant, as he clearly changed as he got older and became a puppet of the NRA. His “cold dead hands” speech – now THAT was a despicable act.
Why do people like you always have to spew your hate every time Moore’s name comes up? What led you to believe this was the topic of this article? Why do you think anyone cares about your opinion of Michael Moore? Perhaps you’re the one in denial. Get over it already. He doesn’t even make documentaries any more, so why don’t you people stop bitching about him and get on with what you call your lives?
Your honor, I present to you “Exhibit A.”
I really think “Saving Private Ryan” lowered the number of enlistments in the military after it came out. It’s easy to make an anti-war film about an unpopular war or a battle that was a defeat. SPR showed that war is HELL even in a good war, and in a battle that was a victory. It’s still a horror show.
I absolutely think movies can make the world a better place! Aside from obviously making them laugh, forget about their worries, etc. I think there are a handful of movies that should be required viewing in high school.
Show Saving Private Ryan to every high schooler so that they truly understand the ugliness of war.
Show Goodnight and Good Luck to every high schooler so that they understand how the news media is supposed to actually function.
Show Requim For A Dream to every high schooler and watch drug use plummet overnight.
There’s a few more but those are the ones that spring to my mind immediately.
Of course movies can change the world for better. They provide inspiration and expose people to ideas they may not have had the opportunity to consider otherwise.
However, you can’t really have this conversation and agree that movies can change the world for better without also agreeing they can change the world for worse.
Need any proof of that, just look at Aurora, Colorado.
Though it is corny by today’s standards, I think Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner opened a lot of eyes.