Last night, I saw The Social Network for what is perhaps the fifteenth time. Before you ask: yes, I like rewatching films a lot more than the average person...I don't really tire of certain movies. And yes, The Social Network is currently in my top ten favourite movies of all time. Through each of these rewatches, I have realized one thing: The Social Network is one of the best films I've ever seen. I think it is perfect film-making, and one of the best modern films.
A lot of people might have trouble processing why I think that it is one of the best films I've ever seen. The main reason for this? It was made in 2010. It hasn't been around long enough to be the best of anything, has it? Here's the thing: a lot of people like to think that the only amazing movies were made at least 20-30 years ago. Even more people like to think that movies were only good back in the 1930s/40s. Now, I'm not slagging off the 30s/40s, or any movies from the past. If you look at my current top 100, a lot of the movies are from that particular period in time. I am a huge classic Hollywood fan. In fact, they are what kicked off my huge passion for movies. But between all of those black-and-white romance and cigarettes, I was still taking in the newer stuff. Some of which was just as good, if not better, than those older films.
I don't know whether I've been reading or writing to much, but I've had this idea drummed into my head that older films generally are better than the newer films. This, to a degree, is true, considering what a sorry state the film industry seems to be in when some of the highest grossing movies are ones like the Twilight series. Yes, back in the day films were very authentic as they didn't have the computers or technology that we have these days. They were more inventive, considering film-making was so young and they had so much to discover. But, believe it or not, they had bad films back in those days. And some of the films don't stand up so well now as they did back then. People get so darn protective over them, though. If I were to say that I didn't like Citizen Kane, people would probably get their pitchforks and fire and come to my house in the dead of night to kill me. Truth is, I don't like Citizen Kane an awful lot. So do whatever you please: report my blog and have it shut down or whatever. I am obviously what you would call an 'uneducated' person who pretends to like movies.
Here's where we have our problem: just because I didn't like Citizen Kane that much and yet I proclaim a new movie like The Social Network to be one of the best films I've ever seen, then I must be uneducated. Which is correct, if you take that term literally. I haven't been to film school. The closest I've had to a lesson on film is one I taught my music class over a year ago. Still, I know a thing or two about films, and probably a lot more than anyone else I know. How did I learn? By watching them. And I learnt just as much from new movies as I did from old movies.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that new movies never get enough credit. They come out, we say we either like them or don't, and then they fall out of the conversation. They get compared to older films, deemed unworthy, and that is the end. But those older films? They were once new. They once had lovers and haters. They aren't bulletproof. They're just the same, basically. We can keep looking back at what everything once was - which is fine. But just know that cinema is still happening. Just because every second movie is a sequel, remake, comic book movie, found footage movie etc doesn't mean that cinematic greatness doesn't still exist. Some of the movies released in the recent years will be perceived as classics soon. The Social Network should hopefully be one of them - unless Facebook goes under and it'll be extremely out-dated.
I'm someone who likes to look forward to the future. I'm someone who looks to embrace the new. I'm young, so therefore I have a different perspective on things. It is hard being young, because no-one takes you seriously, but I've learnt a lot. Let's just say this:
My name is Stevee Taylor. I'm 16 years old and I come from a small town in New Zealand called Dannevirke. I have had an interest in film for around five years. I'm good at English and I want to be a director. My directing idols are Christopher Nolan, Sofia Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher and Steven Spielberg. My acting idols are people like Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ralph Fiennes. I learnt everything I know about films watching new and old films. And I'm ambitious because of watching those films. And just because I really like new films, doesn't mean I'm any less of a film-lover.
