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Roma's Wounding Confession

churchlife.nd.edu

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Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#11

Post by trip9 »

dstroot wrote: post #7

I wonder what it is like to think that deeply about "entertainment"? I can think in code for hours but writing about the opening scene as done in this article would be much worse than just watching it. It's hard for me to even imagine spending that much thought to analyze a movie. I wonder how much time the author spent on the article? I can't even imagine. I probably need therapy...

Oftentimes it's a matter of "you get out what you put into it". Some people are content watching film and engaging with it only on the surface level (and that's fine!), but others enjoy really diving in and ruminating on the different aspects of the art.

I think there's immense value in being able to engage with something creative (whether it's music, film, poetry, performance) at this level, and I honestly feel sadness for people who never give it a chance.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#12

Post by trip9 »

4387rncfgm98 wrote: post #6

Roma is a terrible movie. Pretty sure the author - like me - turned it off after the first scene. Oh black and white? Stone and water splashing over it? Must be a real "artistic" "film." If only it had tried to be good.

I don't understand the condescension in this comment. Do you think cinema can't be art? You seem incredulous that people might actually get a ton of value out of engaging with something at this level.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#13

Post by _red »

todipa wrote: post #5
telesilla wrote: post #3

I spent time in Mexico City, and moved around a few houses. Each one came with a housekeeper, a woman either young or old - always with a family she was supported, or extended family. I came to love them too, quickly - in the same kind of relationship Cuarón portrayed in Roma - of the one with money who treated them well but wished there was a more equitable way of living together. It's a sad kind of thing, in one wa…

I grew up in South America, one parent Scandinavian and the other local. We had a housekeeper/nanny the same way in Roma. My Mother was adamant on having the nanny sit with us for every meal, all together. I was a kid back then so I didn't understand why my friends would find it weird when they ate dinner with us. It is a cultural thing that is probably left over from the colonization era. Things will change but it t…

A close friend of mine lived in Mexico for many years. I would visit him occasionally and spend the odd week or two with him. I got to know his home help.

He being an American of generally liberal persuasion tried, as your family did, to treat the cook and gardener as 'equals'.

Over time that changed though. One day the maid sat him down and politely explained that it was sort of insulting to be treated too familiar in this context. She was speaking of the gardener and said, "What you are doing makes him feel very uncomfortable". She explained, "the old man there is kneeling in your garden pulling weeds 8 hours a day, and you come home...breeze in in your 50K auto and ask him if he wants to share a beer with you..."

He realized she was right. These people were not "passionate about their career", in fact there was no career, nor even the semblance of it. They were just doing whatever possible work they could do to earn enough money to keep food on their families table. Treating them too familiar, or even implying they shared lots of things in common, was sort of demeaning.

In the end, he wound up treating them very formally. "Sr Veracruz" "Sra Sanchez" etc...always keeping a sort of respectful distance between them. Posting work schedules, etc and generally treating them like employees.

I'm not at all against what you said, nor implying you guys didn't do what was right, simply showing there are more than one interpretation of such situations.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#14

Post by DavidVoid »

trip9 wrote: post #12
4387rncfgm98 wrote: post #6

Roma is a terrible movie. Pretty sure the author - like me - turned it off after the first scene. Oh black and white? Stone and water splashing over it? Must be a real "artistic" "film." If only it had tried to be good.

I don't understand the condescension in this comment. Do you think cinema can't be art? You seem incredulous that people might actually get a ton of value out of engaging with something at this level.

Some people seem to think that a movie is automatically terrible if they're not in the movie's target audience.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#15

Post by jamesjyu »

dstroot wrote: post #7

I wonder what it is like to think that deeply about "entertainment"? I can think in code for hours but writing about the opening scene as done in this article would be much worse than just watching it. It's hard for me to even imagine spending that much thought to analyze a movie. I wonder how much time the author spent on the article? I can't even imagine. I probably need therapy...

It's similar to discovering a new code library that you admire and want to learn more about. You'd dive into the code, analyze it, pick it apart, try to understand the intent of the author and how you could learn from it to improve your craft.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#16

Post by yesenadam »

DavidVoid wrote: post #14
trip9 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the condescension in this comment. Do you think cinema can't be art? You seem incredulous that people might actually get a ton of value out of engaging with something at this level.

Some people seem to think that a movie is automatically terrible if they're not in the movie's target audience.

I tend more to think a movie is automatically terrible if it has a 'target audience'.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#17

Post by arrrg »

yesenadam wrote: post #16
DavidVoid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people seem to think that a movie is automatically terrible if they're not in the movie's target audience.

I tend more to think a movie is automatically terrible if it has a 'target audience'.

What do you mean by that?

Not all movies are liked by all people and that‘s ok, or why would it not be?

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#18

Post by danharaj »

yesenadam wrote: post #16
DavidVoid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people seem to think that a movie is automatically terrible if they're not in the movie's target audience.

I tend more to think a movie is automatically terrible if it has a 'target audience'.

There is always an implicit target audience.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#19

Post by wwarner »

dstroot wrote: post #7

I wonder what it is like to think that deeply about "entertainment"? I can think in code for hours but writing about the opening scene as done in this article would be much worse than just watching it. It's hard for me to even imagine spending that much thought to analyze a movie. I wonder how much time the author spent on the article? I can't even imagine. I probably need therapy...

It's about trying to find words for the reaction you have to a work of art.

Re: Roma's Wounding Confession

#20

Post by DavidVoid »

yesenadam wrote: post #16
DavidVoid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people seem to think that a movie is automatically terrible if they're not in the movie's target audience.

I tend more to think a movie is automatically terrible if it has a 'target audience'.

I guess target audience might be the wrong term since I'm not really thinking of a target audience in terms of "teenage guys who like sports" and stuff like that, but more along the lines of "people who like slow-paced movies about family drama and adolescence".

For example my favorite film, "A Brighter Summer Day" (1991), is four hours long. It's almost certainly not going to be your cup of tea if you dislike long and slow-paced movies, but that doesn't make it a bad film. It just means that it isn't for you.

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