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Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

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Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#161

Post by d--b »

bruce511 wrote: post #146

Groundhog Day. It's such a subtle movie, that it works on multiple levels at the same time. I got to level 2 on the first viewing, but only years later assimilated level 3. At level 1 it's a simple Romcom movie - boy stuck in a time loop needs to earn girl's love. Level 2 is that we are all stuck in a time loop. Everyone is functionally living the same day over and over. Same job, same relationships, same everything.…

Virtually all films follow that pattern. Read any textbook about screenwriting, and they'll tell you that 1 any movie has an overarching theme (here is routine life), and 2 all characters need to follow some kind of evolution arc (Phil goes from being the worst cynist to actually becoming a good guy). It's quite hardwired in how hollywood makes movies.

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#163

Post by w1nst0nsm1th »

- The Thin Red Line.

The narative structure is hard to get the first time you watch the movie, but once you get it, it can change the way you see (the/our) nature.

- The Secret of NIMH.

Saw it the first time at 4 or 5 and was in awe, but it tooks several more years to understand it fully.

- The Truman Show.

It's basically my life.

- Akira.

No particular reason, except it's the first Manga which gets international recognition and propulsed the industry in the grown-up domain.

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#164

Post by throwaway741991 »

screye wrote: post #142
willsmith72 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> offering support in a manner that only a fellow man can I guess I get the idea, but in what ways can only a fellow man provide support?

I knew this line would get scrutinized. My bad, I didn't phrase it well. It's the difference between letting grief out and letting grief in. I owe many women close to me, who've helped me process complex emotions. But they've primarily focused on helping let emotions out. I suspect women don't struggle with letting grief in as often. It is more common for this to be a male experience. Helping a man feel safe enough t…

This idea of 'letting grief in' is a really interesting way to put it and captures something I've struggled with, and would love to learn about. Do you have any resources you could send me? (I've used a throwaway account and have a temporary email in my bio.)

Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#165

Post by jesterson »

notaigenerated wrote: post #59

"Come and see" and "20 Days in Mariupol". Both are about wars and both affect you the way nothing else does. The last one is a documentary about the war in Ukraine. The actual raw uninterpreted reality of things that we read about in history books or in the news changes your perspective on many things, from politics to simple things in life that we often take for granted. News stories force an agenda on you. History…

> News stories force an agenda on you.

This "documentary" does the same - force the agenda - perhaps even more so.

History books can potentially teach how to avoid this kind of conflicts. They are not emotionally appealing - unlike "documentaries", and likely less interesting, but we need to read one to avoid making another

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#166

Post by phemoai »

csin wrote: post #130
coolThingsFirst wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you understand from the matrix?

This one's a deep rabbit hole: https://.reddit.com/r/matrix/comments/11vfp8p/npwas_the_matr... TLDR: The Wachowskis who wrote and directed the film, later became trans. There's a lot of closet trans themes hidden in the film (closet gays/lesbians can relate as well).

The rabbit hole goes even deeper than that:

https://twitter.com/genericeddie/status/1659081857793769472

https://web.archive.org/web/20060115061830/http://www.rollin...

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#169

Post by maxerickson »

lll-o-lll wrote: post #147
maxerickson wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does she decide to do those things? I like the story, but I find it profoundly sad that she has to live through her marriage and birth of her child with the knowing of what is coming.

It’s the central theme of the story. Children, marriage, life brings both joy and grief ; can you still embrace it, knowing the grief that will come? I can’t find the article, but there was a HN post sometime ago that was a beautifully written memorial to the death of a pet dog. Why do we invest in loving pets that we know we will outlive? Particularly as adults, when we know the end from the beginning. Does the whol…

You are replacing the OPs "decide" with "embrace". I tend to not use them interchangeably.

Re: Ask HN: What movies changed your perception of reality or life?

#170

Post by koziserek »

Earthlings (2005)

as we are born into a civilisation taking for granted that exploitation of other live beings is something natural and ethically acceptable / neutral.

Unfortunately, our lifestyle decisions tend to support a machninery of suffering only comparable to nazi concentration camps.

oh, and speaking of, if you lived far enough (temporarily / culturally / geographically) it's good to recall once in a while what atrocites humans are capable of, even in regards to other humans:

"Zone of Interest" - fresh movie about everyday life in proximity of death camps

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