Movies as a social influence

It’s not a question, it’s an affirmation: Movies influences society.

I can’t go back to writing on my blog just like that. Yeah, I’ve been away for a while. It’s been a long time since you read me but here I am.

I’ve been working on what you’ve seen: The audio. Podcast, interviews and talks. But, writing is so beautiful that I don’t plan to leave it aside. Therefore, today I put an affirmation on the table. Like a drunken sea captain who babbles into a harbor bar and suddenly, PLASH! He puts a four-meter tuna on the table. Right at the table where those smelly ones are sitting who make jokes at my expense every day every time I enter that bar.

Once that strange and at the same time funny part of my heart stops usurping my computer keyboard, I bring you this tuna: Movies influences society.

«Thanks, you just invented penicillin».

I want to give you a deep insight and analyze it: Movies influences society. And I love it.

We, filmmakers, have a responsibility towards people. Be careful with the message we send through our products. It can be the spark that lights the fuse of a social revolution or the incentive that someone who is on the verge of being corrupted for life lacks.

However, there are precious cases that have come about thanks to the influence of movies.

The animation studio «Pixar» is part of the childhood of many of us. The messages of love and family unity that many of his films broadcast have made us face our day to day in a different way.

Despite this, the misconception that “cartoon movies are for children” still exists. These films, which, at first sight, are for all audiences, send a very powerful and clear message. Sending an idea that you want to influence the audience is an art that “Walt Disney Pictures” and “Pixar Animation Studios” know how to do perfectly. This is why «Pixar» is the best or one of the best animation studios in history. Not only for its visual quality or intriguing stories, but for the ability to send messages that are morally beneficial to people and that they accept it in most cases.

Examples like this, make the role of movies more important than it seems. That’s why we have to respect it and take care of it as much as if we treat it as a profession or if we are part of the audience.

The other side of the coin, are those critical situations that happen by sending a wrong message through your film or that the viewer misunderstands it.

A war event happened in the Japanese subway in October 2021. A man dressed as “The Joker” stabbed several people in the subway and set several wagons on fire. This incident is not the fault of the people involved in the “Joker” movie (2019) nor of those who have worked with the character, whether in performances, comics… That this fictional character is based on totally warlike ideals is no justification enough to be taken as their own in real life.

See: «Japanese man in Joker costume injures 17 in knife attack on Tokyo train».

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59103664

Those involved in the fictional creation of a violent and bloodthirsty character, in this case, The Joker, are not to blame that certain people create and transform into him. For this reason, as an audience or viewers, we have a duty to understand and know the message that filmmakers, actors, studios, etc. send us through the movies. If we do not understand the message properly, it can lead to mistake and incidents such as the one on the subway end up happening. Obviously everyone has the possibility and the right to interpret the message of a film as they wish. That is one of the beauties of the plurality of thought. However, we must not take our thought to cross dark limits.

In conclusion, both filmmakers and audience have a duty to respect movies. Both to get benefits and to ward off harm. We must clearly understand the message we receive through a film and avoid misinterpretation.