Movie buffs are tough

Why people hate movies

By Savis Irandoost, Contributor

My love of movies is so grand that I find it hard to explain. I love movies so much that I can’t begin to fathom how somebody could not. I try to rationalize it. We can’t all love everything; there are certain things that will never resonate with us, and others that always will. Yet no matter how I think about it, I come to this conclusion: there are movies and genres for everyone. You can’t say you don’t like movies when there are so many options available. You either haven’t watched any good movies or you haven’t watched enough.

Still, I hear of people who are indifferent to or simply hate movies. I didn’t want to believe it, but there it was, eating away at me. These people are out there and I had to find them: as a self-proclaimed movie buff, I figured I owed it to the world of movies and all it had done for me as a person. I would try to understand where these aliens posing as people were coming from.

The first thing that came to my attention when I dove into this subject was impatient people or people with attention deficit disorders would be key candidates in my movie-hater research. All across the board, the answers were the same.

“I like to spend my time with interactive things. I find it difficult to sit still and be quiet for a certain amount of time, and I don’t feel that I connect with the characters onscreen. I’m okay with some kinds of TV shows as they are shorter and I love musicals and live theatre, where I can feel the emotion of the actors,” said Stephanie Hendy, student. “I get my escape from music.”

“They’re too long, it takes patience and you actually have to think about and follow the movie. And in my cousin’s case, it really has to spark his interest. Bottom line: it’s got to be pretty simple because he has no attention span,” said Aida Abboud, SFU student.

As research got more extensive, however, truths became harsher and more cutthroat. “To be quite honest, the major reason why I don’t like movies is because I tend to dislike most movie buffs,” said Hendy. “I got sick and tired of people telling me that I couldn’t like Happy Gilmore. I would get cut down for my taste in movies. My favourite is Fast Times at Ridgemont High and people would take it personally. They would think my life was inadequate because I refused to see something that they were in love with. For example, I’m 30-years-old and I’ve never seen the original Star Wars series. There are several of my friends who think there is something wrong with me, that I outright refuse to see. I haven’t encountered this sort of attitude with any other form of entertainment. Movie buffs are fanatics in the worst way possible; one step slightly above people who become fanatic about professional sports teams.”

When asked about his indifference, Matthew Kinnear said, “Some of them become far too predictable and I could think of better plot lines. I like movies that take me to a whole other reality.”

”I don’t think [movie lovers] like their lives very much. I’m assuming that people like movies for the same reason they like to watch TV or drink; they want something they can mindlessly enjoy. I don’t like that. I need to connect with my medium of entertainment,” said Hendy.

I get it. I would be mad too if people were judging me—heck, I do get mad. Therefore, I sincerely apologize on behalf of all my aggressive counterparts. Still, it’s important to remember that people may give you a lot of sass for something that they’re passionate about, but you can’t say that they’re being 100 per cent serious. I know I’ve opposed people on their particular movie tastes, but I never judged their character on it. It’s a personal taste. Maybe I’ll be less excited to talk about movies if you’re not dripping with excitement, but I’m sure we have other things in common. But there’s a lot of truth about that particular breed of enthusiasm which is only attached to movie buffs that Hendy mentioned. I had a girlfriend who dated some dud that wanted to watch movies every time she went over to see him. “Dating movie buffs is easier than a room full of them,” said Hendy. Regardless, I try not to be one of those annoying people. Like I mentioned earlier, different things resonate with different people.

After all of my research, I worried I hadn’t come to a set conclusion. Movies might not be enjoyable to people who can’t sit still, people who feel they have been snubbed by us movie buffs, or even those who take it upon themselves to snub the band of movie brothers and sisters. I guess there’s always a coalition somewhere. I could say that I sympathize with these aliens more than I did yesteryear, but no, the conclusion remains the same. In the movie world, there is—without a shadow of a doubt—something for each and every one of us. I’m not saying one should force themselves to take an interest, but please, movie-haters, make