Aesop's Flickers

So now I learn that a commenter thinks I watch too many movies. Hmmpf. Anyone who subscribes to Netflix watches a lot of movies of course. Some people watch their Netflix movies instead of watching boob toob sitcoms, soaps, "news", etc.

Actually the case could be made that I watch few movies if "watching" refers to paying attention to a story. The stories are usually pretty uninteresting. If you've seen one adulterous love triangle, with its psycho-sexual obsessions, you've seen them all. Then there's rags to riches, revenge, who dunnit, poor boy meets rich girl, honest poor guy versus evil pol/priest/businessman, etc. I'll bet that a discriminating movie junkie could count on his fingers the movies that had good scripts, such as Network, All About Eve, Twelve Angry Men, Bridge over the River Kwai, Ikiru, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Shakespeare in Love, The Mission, and Traitor.

In addition to good soundtracks and cinematography, the real reason for watching movies is to mine them for metaphors. Classic movies provide metaphors in the same way as Aesop's Fables, the Bible, Shakespeare, Boswell's Johnson, and Star Trek episodes. In the movies the metaphors are situational and visual, which can be impressive. 

You'd think that the recent commenter, visual sybarite (grin) that he is, would appreciate the mind-painting that comes from shopping around in the movies for images.