Why Do We Deny Ourselves What We Really Want?
There are still 85 films I Wanted To See last year.... (aka Reflections On Feeling Like A Completist)
If you haven’t noticed, I strive to see The Big Picture. Strive being the operative word, because I can’t of course. Who can? But I want to; I want to see it all. Yes: everything, everywhere. And yes: all at once, too. I want to see beyond the immediate, into the past and into the future. I want to see beyond my experience, and in a way that is real, truthful, and complete. I want to see US and I want to see The System that we inhabit. I want to see where we stand and how it influences our actions.
And then from there, there are so many repercussions. I want to see and understand those too. Dreaming of having that understanding is a pleasure, one that seems potentially graspable but also — alas — forever out of reach, a shimmering chimera: not here but also not not here.
Can we ever see clearly? Does it even matter?
Well, to me it does, and it matters a great deal.
And I think many of you feel the same way, or soon will -- once the bills are paid and some of the other boxes checked.
But is it enlightenment or just completion that I am seeking? And are both forever to be but a mirage out on the horizon?
Folks sometimes ask me how I can be so generative, and the answer is because I am trying to see The Big Picture; that process alone sparks so many ideas and considerations. For instance, ever since movies landed on top on my lists of things I most generally love, I consistently ponder why there aren’t more great movies, particularly when there are so many movies in general.
And let me be clear, there are many things I love, but I love a mediocre movie more than I love a mediocre book or music or food or experience. That’s also what I am talking about. And I recognize the reason why there aren’t more great films despite there being so many films overall, is – of course -- not reducible to a single set of answers. I differ from many others though; I think this is a somewhat solvable problem. And today, I want to take us a step further into identifying exactly what that problem is. Join me?
But it doesn’t just end there. Let me explain a wee bit further. If we can identify how many movies we SHOULD see each year, we can develop systems to achieve that goal. And the reason I think we should do this, is that by seeing the number of films we should see, it will help us make better movies which in turn will increase the capacity for audiences to screen more titles.
But also, if we look beyond ourselves and identify how many other audiences there are for other films, we can look at what the capacity of the ecosystem is for films, and then build a system that can provide for it, while also delivering the proper context each film needs to resonate to its fullest. I suspect we will recognize there is a better system we can build that will both increase the capacity of the viewer to consume titles and increase the capacity of the system to deliver those titles to the audience in the manner they deserve. To me that is a utopia, but a practical one that we can build. Let’s look at that closer, shall we?
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