I've been pondering this:
Why is that, when walking out of the cinema, especially if the film just
watched was especially good, intriguing, and thoughtful -- why is it that
the world often seems dreamlike for a while?
I asked this question in a yahoo chat room, and people suggested the
following:
-- Perception of the screen differs from conception of space
-- Watching a film is living someone else's life -- you have to readjust to
your own.
-- Film is a form of escapism -- the dream ends and life begins again.
-- Voyeurism: you become a bystander on the street
-- The mental focus of watching a film differs from watching life.
-- You are *thinking* about the film afterwards -- not thinking about
reality
This was just some general brainstorming. But I would be very interested to
know what goes on in the brain while watching a film, versus what goes on in
the first 5 minutes or so of leaving the cinema. Is there a hypnotic effect
to the screen, akin to the brain-wave state change that accompanies TV
watching, due to the cathode rays?
Is it a communal experience -- a brief moment of collective consciouness
followed by reimmersion in solitatry life?
Is watching a good film similar, in important and actual ways, to dreaming?
Like David Lynch always tries to approach the quality of dream (or
nightmare) in his films . ..
Food for thought.
Thanks,
Robin Dunn
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