Film is immortal but it’s turmoil time. Pandemic is settling in and long term impact of enforced isolation is beginning to show its impact upon the already deteriorating human psyche, both on an individual and collective level, our fundamental ways of being are going through a dynamic shift and it’s a radical time to be alive.
Even though most of it is, utterly confusing, most of us are dealing with it in our own ways. Peeling the onion, one layer at a time, this time consuming process of discovery is slowly becoming the bane of our civilisation. By civilisation, I am of course referring to the human race.
So much information exists about everything imaginable that a systemic overload was inevitable. We now live in the era of information overdose, categorically filtered through smart algorithms which tailor make it so it suits our individual fantasies.
So we only see more of what we like. More like, so we are only “shown” more of what we like. So dies the absolute truth. Today, everything is relative, including truth. This is the beginning of our tragedy.
It is the primary job of any storytelling medium to reflect what is going on in the collective by giving it a cohesive voice, by structuring around it, a spine, through which ascends the meaning of the traumatic event, around which the story is built.
It is a transformation machine, a vehicle of change, that has existed since man first learned to communicate and it’s not going anywhere. This need of communication has given birth to language, and therefore all forms of critical , analytical and creative thought processes originate from this primal need of man, to be heard, understood.
That’s what stories are all about, that’s what films are all about; change, lessons and the need to be heard. Usually the lessons and the need to be heard is carried out by the protagonist of the story for demonstration purposes. We call them heroes. That’s the person you care about, whether you know it or not, as the story is unfolding, that’s the person you are rooting for and by the end, if the filmmaker has done his job, that’s the person you are hoping will win.
It is this pursuit of meaning which drives any art form, film included. It will stay alive as long as humanity exists. Will it change? It must! It absolutely has to, otherwise it will surely die.
Because stasis equals death.