My Media Habits
I am a senior with an internship so I barely have time to study let alone go to the theater or watch cable television. When I do have a spare moment to watch a movie, I pick from my collection of DVDs, VHS, and tv show box sets. Or if I want to see a new movie, I rent it from a local video store.
I like a wide variety of movie genres. When I rent movies, I usually pick one from the Independent, Foreign, or GLBT section. I find those to be more interesting and entertaining than feature films. I also love documentaries.
I do watch the occasional “Hollywood” movie, usually when I want to zone out and watch something mindless. If I’m going to watch a “Hollywood” movie, it will probably be action. I love action movies, which most people find strange. I’ve probably watched Terminator 2 over one hundred times.
I think the connection between who I am and what I watch is that my interests in life influence some of my tastes, and the others are just for entertainment.
Comments
I also feel that who I am and what I watch affect my taste in media, but sometimes it just doesn't click, and can only be explained by the need for mindless entertainment. For example, when I am watching cable, I immediately click to channel 40 for HGTV, because I like home renevation and the idea of making tons of money flipping a house. The same with movies, I reach for romantic comedies because I want to see a movie that will make me feel all cozy at the end. If I watch anything different it was probably by accident and is purely for entertainment or a means of hanging out with friends.
Posted by: Sarah Welsch | September 19, 2007 07:20 AM
I used to work at Blockbuster, and this has been a long-standing pet-peeve of mine, so please forgive me if it feels like I'm jumping down your throat. I'm not, I swear. Your post just seems like a good venting spot.
One thing I would always hate at Blockbuster is when people approached me asking "what's a good movie?" Honestly, I could rattle off a handful of movies that I like, but that doesn't mean that other people necessarily would. The genre signposts are just an extension of that, in my mind. It's like asking "what's a good indie/foreign/GLBT movie?"
I guess what I'm trying to express is my apprehension of a culture that is getting more and more compartmentalized. Rather than buying into a system that tells you what an "indie" or a "GLBT movie" is, just rent whatever looks good from anywhere in the store, "Hollywood" or not. Sometimes, you can even be inspired by a movie in spite of itself (much like the instructor's relationship with "Training Day").
Posted by: Christopher Kehoe | September 19, 2007 09:32 AM