Introduction

Abstract

It is difficult to underestimate the importance of film in contemporary society. Almost everybody likes to watch and discuss movies, and many people invest a good deal of time reading about them and following the careers of various film industry personalities. Of course, there is no one reason why people are drawn to cinema. There are as many motivations as there are types of films, but the fact that they serve as a form of entertainment is probably the most common. For a couple of hours, a movie transports us someplace else; we are completely caught up in the people and events depicted on the screen. Movies can take us on a thrill ride or involve us emotionally with the characters, and in these cases they serve as spectacle and amusement. Cinema can affect us for quite different reasons than these, however. Some films can make us think critically or appreciatively about our life or the world we live in. They can reach us at a deep level, perhaps even changing us in some small but fundamental way, because they show us something true and important about life. They might empower us, encouraging us to be the kind of person we have always wanted to be. Maybe a movie depicts a character that we recognize as our selves, in part, but living the life that we would have had we had more affirmation of our ambitions. Or it might show us the tragic limitations of human nature, as when a film depicts the failure of a character to overcome a spiritual crisis, and it then serves as a warning of a fate that might well be ours unless we make some changes.