the distracted movie watcher
I cannot say I’ve ever analyzed my media watching habits before!
Although I am not a big television watcher, I do have cable TV with all the film channels at home. When I’m living on campus during the school year, I barely ever watch TV. However, when I am at home with nothing to do, I will turn the TV on out of boredom to pass the time and occasionally watch TMC movies.
Once in a while, I will watch DVDs on my laptop on a long drive or something. As for the Ipod video watching….I don’t understand why anyone would want to watch films on a tiny little screen; but I guess it’s popular. The main way I watch films is with my friends, either at a sleepover or movies at the theatre for something to do, especially if there’s a really good movie we’ve been dying to see.
When it comes to Laura Mulvey’s psychoanalytic discussion on “the gaze,� and how it may affect the audience regarding how they understand the movie, I can definitely say that the way I “see� a film is affected by the way I am watching. Since the main way I watch films is with a large group of people or at the theatre, I am not able to catch things other people did, or even remember exactly how the plot proceeded! I can’t rewind the movie, ask questions (I am usually confused as to what’s going on) or anything when there’s a lot of people who are constantly talking and are noisy throughout the film. I have to say that this class is honestly the first opportunity that I have had to be able to critically understand the movie, and analyze it afterwards. It’s only been 4 days of class, and I’ve already been introduced to so many factors to consider when watching a movie.