I cannot remember the very first movie I watched, but it must have been a Disney cult classic. Maybe Cinderella… or Fox and the Hound? Whether it was a glass slipper or two animal best friends, I loved sitting in front of the TV and watching a movie. Now, after thousands of movies have been made, I find it incredible that so much effort, dedication and time goes into creating content that carries intention. 

There are multiple purposes to film making: to entertain, distract, humor or reflect. These purposes often fall under movie genres: action, romance, slapstick, comedy, satirical or psychological. In my perspective, all movies are meant to entertain, but films that intend to make the audience inspired, reflect and learn are my favorite. 

I first began my journey of “making films” in eighth grade. I was in a S.T.E.A.M class, and one of our projects was to make a stop motion animation. I had already watched a multitude of stop motion, like Coraline, The Corpse Bride, Isle of the Dogs and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Even though my stop motion was merely a piece of clay eating a burger, I was thrilled to dabble in a process I admired so much. 

Later on in my sophomore year I received a camcorder for Christmas. Personally, I was influenced by the 2000’s trend occurring, but when I clicked the record button, I found something that I enjoyed. I was not directing a movie or creating a plot, but when I recorded moments with friends or mini blogs I enjoyed capturing raw moments within my daily life. This sense of honesty and accuracy within my videos urged me to look for those elements within films; films that could truthfully and accurately portray the human emotion and human reaction. 

Movies can oftentimes be unrealistic or “cringe” because the actions of the characters within the movie would never reflect on a situation that would occur in real life. When I was younger I did not care what movie came on, as long as it had a plot, I was distracted from reality and absorbed into a fictitious one. Over the years, my taste in movies has evolved. I choose to ignore the ones that serve no meaning, and gravitate to ones in which the directors, actors, producers, script writers and everyone else involved in the movie understand their purpose and the purpose in the film. A recent film I added to my favorites was Superman, which allowed me to realize the work that goes into production and that how much the audience understands the purpose is based on the team that created it.

Even though I have never participated in making a real film, as a fan, I admire the effort and collaboration it requires from a team of creators to make one. Overall, I think films’ purpose is to mirror humanity and showcase what we do within different parts of our lives. Films have the power to showcase different perspectives, upbringings, justify actions, call out immorality and allow audiences to react to these through emotions. Film as whole allows for humanity to interact with each other and understand different perspectives, cultures and ideas which is what makes film so crucial to today’s environment.