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Film students who can no longer sit through films

theatlantic.com

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Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#231

Post by sodapopcan »

tartoran wrote: post #90
sodapopcan wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just about one month into a flip phone. I still spend way too much time on my laptop when I'm home (and I'm home a lot) but I'm not missing my iPhone at all. When I am out, though, it's nice not having the option to look at the internet. Instead I pet my dog, talk to people, or just look around and think like I used to all those years ago.

Question, how do you fare with a flip phone and SPAM SMS/text messages? Smart phones can at least contain them, silence them, mark them as junk etc..

I'm actually a bit worried that I am not getting some texts in general so need to investigate that. But that's a good question... so far I have gotten no spam texts but ya. Good question! I'll report back if I figure it out.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#232

Post by y0eswddl »

perching_aix wrote: post #126
semilin wrote: post #35

If you really care about something, screen addiction does not interfere. A friend of mine has a terrible Instagram addiction, yet has developed for himself a certain degree of cinephilia lately -- we've watched long movies together in theaters and not once has he been on his phone during the screenings. When one has faith that sustained attention might hold more value than that gained by interruption, they tend to pr…

> But the article points out that the students here don't even watch movies themselves -- "students have struggled to name any film" they recently watched. Why are these people even studying film? The inattention is clearly caused by disinterest. There's a saying around here that roughly goes: few things are as successful in killing one's interest in something as pursuing a formal education about it. Being innately i…

it's not just a saying, literally anytime you introduce external rewards for a behavior, you kill any intrinsic motivation for doing the thing.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#233

Post by eudamoniac »

crazygringo wrote: post #33

Counterpoint from the article: > A handful of professors told me they hadn’t noticed any change. Some students have always found old movies to be slow, Lynn Spigel, a professor of screen cultures at Northwestern University, told me. “But the ones who are really dedicated to learning film always were into it, and they still are.” The article doesn't actually give any evidence attention spans are shortened. Many of the…

This comment is profoundly tragic to me, for as absurd as it sounds to us now, I imagine it will eventually become common sentiment. Our culture is changing so rapidly.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#234

Post by dredmorbius »

WalterBright wrote: post #68
crazygringo wrote: post #33

Counterpoint from the article: > A handful of professors told me they hadn’t noticed any change. Some students have always found old movies to be slow, Lynn Spigel, a professor of screen cultures at Northwestern University, told me. “But the ones who are really dedicated to learning film always were into it, and they still are.” The article doesn't actually give any evidence attention spans are shortened. Many of the…

Once you know about "Save The Cat!" it becomes boring to watch a movie that follows the formula. I noticed even back in the 80s that too many movies ended in the "chase through the darkened warehouse". The movie will be doing fine, until somehow the hero and villain wind up in a dark, abandoned warehouse, ship, factory, whatever. Then they have a long, drawn out fight. Then the bad guy gets killed. Movie over? Nope.…

For those unfamiliar, Save the Cat! The last book on screenwriting you'll ever need by Blake Snyder (2005):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Cat!:_The_Last_Book_o...>

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#235

Post by bccdee »

mym1990 wrote: post #191
bccdee wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screen "addiction" isn't a real thing. Addiction is a specific medical phenomenon, not just any bad habit. Go find me a study in a medical journal that quantifies the physiological effects of smartphone withdrawal. I do think people spend too much time on social media, but it's not helpful to frame this by analogy to something it simply is not. Bad habits are bad in their own right. We don't need to appropriate medic…

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12401922/ "In contrast[to drug withdrawal], smartphone dependence is driven by digital stimuli and psychological-behavioral mechanisms, with almost no physical dependence; withdrawal mainly causes psychological discomfort (such as restlessness) without severe physical reactions. Its health risks are mostly indirect (like vision loss, sleep disorders), and withdrawal can genera…

This is a study finding that physiological smartphone withdrawal doesn't exist. Smartphone dependence is merely "psychological-behavioural," and you can develop a psychologically dependent relationship with anything. Being dependant on your girlfriend doesn't make you "addicted" to her. Please, find 10 more studies—this is making my point for me.

Again, I'm not saying our relationship with smartphones is healthy. I'm saying addiction is a specific thing, and this isn't it. Getting strung out on heroin is not anything like using your phone too much.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#236

Post by nephihaha »

WalterBright wrote: post #184
nephihaha wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Game of Thrones" was interesting because it did not follow any formula I could discern" Introduction of character. Dialogue. Gratuitous sex scene. Machiavellian discussion. Reference to earlier episode. Cliffhanger.

You forgot: kill off the main character in the first episode!

:) I'd also forgotten battle/fight scenes.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#237

Post by beaugunderson »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #228
padjo wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started on the BFI 250 greatest films this year. It's been an incredible experience so far. Lots of overlap with that list anyway.

I started with the AFI100. Obviously US-centric. As you say though about the overlap—I can of course skip those when I get to the 1001.

worth noting that letterboxd will track progress on these and similar lists, which is how I know I'm 43 films into the AFI100 and 210 into the 1,001:

https://letterboxd.com/beaugunderson/stats/#:~:text=LIST%20P...

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#239

Post by robocat »

y0eswddl wrote: post #232
perching_aix wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the article points out that the students here don't even watch movies themselves -- "students have struggled to name any film" they recently watched. Why are these people even studying film? The inattention is clearly caused by disinterest. There's a saying around here that roughly goes: few things are as successful in killing one's interest in something as pursuing a formal education about it. Being innately i…

it's not just a saying, literally anytime you introduce external rewards for a behavior, you kill any intrinsic motivation for doing the thing.

Simply untrue.

Plenty of people have a job that gives them money, yet they also get pleasure and satisfaction from their job.

I think you are referring to studies that show that payment can paradoxically be demotivating. But that isn't always true.

Re: Film students who can no longer sit through films

#240

Post by mna_ »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #229
mna_ wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good list, but it's quite a western list. It's missing some great films from Socialist era Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, etc. If you'd like to know some of my favourites, just let me know.

Sure, please list. FWIW, the "1001" has introduced me to a number of Czech (Obchod na korze, Sedmikrásky, Ostře sledované vlaky, Hoří, má panenko, Marketa Lazarová, Ucho) and Polish (Popiól I Diament, The Saragossa Manuscript, Człowiek z marmuru, Człowiek z żelaza) films. I'm only up to the 1980's though, there may be a few more. I'm not aware of having seen any Hungarian films (yet).

>(Obchod na korze, Sedmikrásky, Ostře sledované vlaky, Hoří, má panenko, Marketa Lazarová, Ucho) and Polish (Popiól I Diament, The Saragossa Manuscript, Człowiek z marmuru, Człowiek z żelaza)

Excellent! You've watched some brilliant Slavic films already then, especially Marketa Lazarova and The Saragossa Manuscript. I have these two in my favourite films of all time list. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Here are some of my favs: Ziemia obiecana (1975), Sanatorium pod klepsydrą (1973), Pociąg (1959), Kanal (1957), Holubice (1960), Slnko v sieti (1962), Zlaté kapradí (1963), Údolí včel (1968), Csillagosok, katonák (1967), A Pál utcai fiúk (1968), A tanú (1969), Kárhozat (1988), Két félidő a pokolban (1961), Szindbád (1971), Szürkület (1990), Dacii (1967), Danton (1983), O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Pădurea spînzuraților (1965), Reconstituirea (1968), and Добро пожаловать, или Посторонним вход воспрещён (1964).

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