Ask HN: Films that made you see the world differently?
Hello all. There are nice frequent Ask HN threads where people share books that made a large impact on them and how they saw the world, and I was just thinking it would be good if there were a similar thread about movies.
339 comments
[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 360 ms ] threadI show people Samsara to demonstrate how a movie can have an incredibly powerful message without saying a single word.
I wonder why they never made any sequels
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/movies/ma...
Survivors Guide To Prison - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_Guide_to_Prison
Invisible War - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_War
QUOTES:
"This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time."
“Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need."
"You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
"Getting fired is the best thing that could happen to any of us. That way, we’d quit treading water and do something with our lives."
:)
But I can't believe how many people watch Fight Club and miss the real message: that Tyler Durden's philosophy is not one to live by, because it doesn't bring you any joy or fulfillment. Too many people watch the movie and see a tour de force of machismo and stick-it-to-the-man ideology, but the movie is really about the negatives of extreme, prolonged toxic masculinity. The Narrator conjures Tyler Durden out of a misplaced idea of what he's "missing" in life, and he suffers greatly for it. Durden is a false prophet, and shouldn't be idolized in the slightest. But tons of people watch the movie and come away wanting to start their own fight clubs, or otherwise emulate the masculine charisma of Durden without ever understanding what it was really all about.
Also ironic that the modern use of "snowflake" (at least in America) originated with Fight Club but has become completely divorced from its intended semantics.
[0] https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fight-club-1999
Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the book the movie is based on would disagree with you. For one, he has said he doesn't believe in the term toxic masculinity. He has said that Fight Club is "about empowering the individual and allowing the individual to make what they see as the best choice" and "about the terror that you were going to live or die without understanding anything important about yourself".
He has also remarked about how few cultural narratives there are for young men today, "I feel a little frustrated that our culture hasn’t given these men a wider selection of narratives to choose from. Really, the only narratives they go to are The Matrix and Fight Club".
As for the snowflake term being co-opted, he says, "once that material passes on to an audience, the audience adopts it. It will become the child of the audience and will serve whatever purpose the audience has for it. It would be insane to think that the author could control every iteration or every interpretation of their work."
For me, Fight Club was a very nihilistic (Chuck Palahniuk admits to being somewhat of a nihilist) and also very hopeful book (and movie), which is a tough combination to pull off.
> Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the book the movie is based on would disagree with you.
Palahniuk: “Throughout childhood, people tell you to be less sensitive. Adulthood begins the moment someone tells you that you need to be more sensitive.”
> For one, he has said he doesn't believe in the term toxic masculinity.
He criticized the term, for being poorly defined, not the concept:
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/a-conversation-with-chuc...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fight-club-2-chuck-palahniuk_...
In your first link, he is asked, "We hear the term “toxic masculinity” a lot these days. As someone who writes a lot about manhood, what does it mean to you?". He answers, "Oh boy, I’m not sure if I really believe in it".
Sounds to me like he doesn't believe in the term toxic masculinity.
In your Huffington Post link, the interviewer claims "It’s a book about consumerism, and an expressive, violent response to the cold fact of it. It’s also a book about toxic masculinity, even if its author never deigns to expressly critique or uphold controlled violence". I don't know why we would consider the interviewer the authority on the text in question here. Here is Palahniuk's take in the same interview:
Q: Would you say Fight Club is more of a critique of violent masculinity, a celebration of it, or both?
A: Boy. I wouldn’t say it’s a critique. I think that because it’s consensual, it’s OK. It’s a mutually agreed-upon thing which people can discover their ability to sustain violence or survive violence as well as their ability to inflict it. So, in a way, it’s kind of a mutually agreed-upon therapy. I don’t see it as condoning violence ― because in the story it is consensual ― or as ridiculing it, because in this case it does have a use.
Thanks for the HuffPo link though, here is another quote where he gives what he thinks the message of Fight Club is that seems to be in agreement with the other ones I read, "The central message of Fight Club was always about the empowerment of the individual through small, escalating challenges". It also has this quote about killing the father, "In a way, it’s like everyone rebelling against dad, and discovering their own power by killing the father, as the Buddhists would say". I've seen interpretations of Fight Club as a Buddhist allegory (https://web.archive.org/web/20090423020258/http://www.unomah...), interesting to hear him bring that up.
>We hear the term “toxic masculinity” a lot these days. As someone who writes a lot about manhood, what does it mean to you? >Oh boy, I’m not sure if I really believe in it. >Why? >It seems like a label put on a certain type of behavior from the outside. It’s just such a vague term that it’s hard to address.
Two great quotes came from it:
"Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel's life."
"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
I randomly saw it one night on PBS. I thought I had caught it in the middle of the movie, not realizing I turned it on the moment it started. I was pretty young and had no real interest in literature, the arts, whatever. But it looked neat "hey a dude in a castle" ... and I realized ... I kinda understood it. I couldn't explain it word for word in plain English, but I got the metaphors and the story enough hand was hooked. It opened up a world to me that I didn't think was within reach.
Certainly doesn't hurt that the film is absolutely packed with great actors.
Dead Poets Society (1989 film)
Bunch of kids find inspiration at a stuffy school from a special teacher and some poetry that they might have otherwise found to be stuffy and simply passed over had they not looked at it differently.
Good call. I saw that one so long ago that I'd almost forgotten about it, but it was very good. In fact, now that you have mentioned it, I think I'm going to go back and watch it again. Don't think I've seen it since I was in high-school.
Possibly Branagh's finest work delivering Sheakspeare's most rousing words.
A great movie about an impressive commander. Key takeaways for me were:
1. Don't assume that because someone isn't very personable that they are bad at their job.
2. Have the courage to have a strong sense of duty.
3. Lead from the front.
4. Be willing to learn from people you dislike (Patton read Rommel's book on tank tactics, to his great advantage).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJsC-buIkSE
(German intelligence found it literally incredible that Patton was relieved for slapping a couple of GIs for "malingering.")
The Germans learned mechanized warfare from an English book, the Americans learned stealth from a Russian paper, and the Stuka was copied from an American airplane.
The USA was blessed with some of the greatest military leaders of all time in WW2, natural-born killer OG's. The only incompetents I know of were Lieutenant General Mark Clark in Italy who killed over 10,000 GIs with 3 bungled amphibious landings, and the Mark 14 torpedo mgmt. (a decade of refusal to test.)
WW2 Battle of Anzio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzio
4 years of filming in locations from 25 countries using 70mm cameras. No narration, just spectacular captures of life. They say it's a form of guided meditation.
I can't really explain how it affects me in detail. Certainly in a very positive way though. I feel humble.
"If you can't think on your feet, you should keep your mouth closed."
I was a somewhat lost teenager when I saw it, who saw no value in working hard for something and at the same time was terrified of living a life that was irrelevant in the big picture.
After watching it, it somehow all clicked for me. Both the pride and pleasure that can be taken out of perfecting a craft, and the idea that even the most apparently irrelevant aspect of life can be perfected and improved.
I am not exaggerating if I say that without watching it I might not have got my shit together in time to be who I am now.
That only ever struck me as extremely pretentious, to be perfectly honest.
The chef in question needing 10 years of experience before they would let him do the egg sushi strikes me as essentially the same harmful mentality the Japanese have toward productivity, thinking that clocking in as many hours as possible equals productivity (regardless of what you got done in said hours).
like all of the best wuxia, the fight scenes are dances that metaphorically relate interpersonal conflict and resolution. also, raw ambition and talent without vision and principle leads to (self-)destruction.
bonus edit: spirited away
a young girl comes of age by bridging the spirit world. a child apprehensive of change, an ethereal melancholy, ancestral and karmic deference for life. it’s a masterpiece.
https://jpninfo.com/29501
you can take prostitution specifically out of it, and still see lots of instances of children being burdened with the idiosyncracies of ancestors and environment. a child overcoming an unspecified gluttony of parents and society, if you will.
Loss is an integral part of life. Acquiring material goods fools us into thinking that as life goes on, we have more things. But if you make it into old age, you will lose everything. Things go broke, your friends and family die, your health and mind fade, and finally you will lose your life. Being aware of this will help you lead a happier life. It seems contradictory. But somehow it isn't.
As to why, Roger Ebert said it best[1].
[1]https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/synecdoche-new-york-2008
It can be a hard watch, if you're not in the right headspace, but it's so totally worthwhile.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
I felt so moved by how the movie showed time passing by, especially as the main character started to lose control of how quickly time went by. I visualized myself being in the same situation as the main character at the end of the movie -- his entire life having passed by, and this sensation of guilt and regret he must be feeling for not having spent his time in a meaningful way and for having missed things like the last conversation with his father. I imagined the despair the character must have felt at having wasted his life, and then the incredible relief he must have felt when he got a chance to do it over and do it right.
Ever since seeing that movie, I've made an extra effort to remain present in my life, prioritize my family and close friends, and always question whether the way I'm spending my time is meaningful, or if I'm doing things that I'll one day look back on and feel regret. This movie made me confront what it would feel like to look back on my life and evaluate my choices, and consequently it helped me see what's important to me in life.
Meanwhile actual horror movies rarely bother me. Go figure.
I was surprised to find out how low rated this movie is, because it's wonderful.
I think this movie killed my videogame addiction. I was refusing to go on trips with my family so I could play games. After this movie I could no longer find satisfaction in hour long game playing.
Fando Y Lis
The Decline Of Western Civilization