> > people should stop letting themselves be so affected by entertainment.
>
> No. No, no, no, no. Well, actually I think I agree with what you were trying to say, but I think people *should* let themselves be affected -- but just be judicious and discerning about what to accept and what not to. Movies aren't just entertainment. The best movies have something to say and say it in a novel, artistic way. If you come out of "Schindler's List" unaffected, you've completely missed the point. Even escapism, like "The Matrix" and "The Negotiator" and dark thrillers like "Dark City" and "A Simple Plan" contain a kind of thoughtful visual eloquence that is more than worth deliberating upon. One of the most valuable powers of movies is that they allow experiences we would never otherwise experience to become totally real to us. "Saving Private Ryan" did that for what it must have been like to fight in World War II. It's a poor substitute for actually fighting in it, but can you think of a way to experience that more accurately and more accessibly if you hadn't? That's an important thing for Americans to understand as best as we possibly can.
>

to redeem myself, i do think that movies, such as the afore-mentioned should affect people, but i think that some movies (such as TPM) are just for fun, and those are the ones that shouldn't be affecting people in such a large way. i didn't mean to generalize so much with my original statement. so here it is written again...

TPM IS JUST A MOVIE! WATCH IT, LAUGH AT IT, AND THEN GO GET SOME ICE CREAM.

fam"went a little crazy there didn't i?"ous