> > Did I miss something here, or are you honestly saying that you disargee that... people watch movies to be entertained? Pray continue. Why, then, do people watch movies?
>
> i believe people watch movies because they are unable to enrich thier own lives by doing things out of the ordinary and feel the need to escape the self-inflicted boredom of reality.

Someone else pointed out that this IS a form of entertainment, so you're pretty much arguing the other side of this argument.

What I *think* you're saying is that people want their entertainment to take the form of escapism, rather than some other form. Why you are arguing this, I don't know.

What I *strenuously* object to is the downright laughable idea that watching movies for the purpose of escapism and being emotionally affected by movies is somehow not only a bad thing but a pathetic thing, or, as you put it, makes us "panzies" [sic].

What you are attacking is not just movies but all of storytelling, as it has existed in form and purpose at least as long as recorded history. Stories are so much an inherent component of the human psyche that it is impossible to imagine humanity without it -- without the stories, without how they affect us, teach us, enrich us, ennoble us, and, yes, move us. Jesus (whether you believe he was who he said he was or not) taught with parables (fictional stories, even! your "simulations" of real life!) that are teaching and moving people two thousand years later.

Now, movies ain't no teachings of Christ, but they have the power of storytelling. Just to take a few recent movies, "Crash" has made people think more deeply about the stereotypes they ascribe to and teaching that racism isn't just a neat line between good and bad. "In America" offers empathy for the grieving and understanding to the rest of us who may know people with that kind of burden.

Less obviously, a lot of those popcorn flicks people seek out for "escapism" have similar if usually more subtle power. "The Island" is an action movie, but it cautions us about where technology is headed and makes you think about the sanctity of life. "Star Wars" reminds us how easy it is to be corrupted by power. "Harry Potter" and any number of other everyman hero stories teach us that evil is repelled not by great people doing great deeds but by ordinary people doing what they can.

JUST like those escapist epics of Homer and Virgil did for the Greeks and Romans a skillion years ago. Were the seekers of those stories as pathetic as you see the moviegoers of today?

I'm not saying there aren't stupid movies and stupid moviegoers out there, but to dismiss all of both with a single backhanded blow is an absurdity I almost didn't even dignify with a serious response.