This opinion piece was inspired by Internet trends and my own thoughts on what it is like to enjoy cinema in a perpetually judgmental world. In it, I consider the different contexts in which art can be perceived. Does art change people or do people change art? 

It has become commonplace to hear cinephiles being described as a group of pretentious and arrogant people who only enjoy obscure, foreign auteur films. This recent phenomenon is in full effect due to Internet trends, but also larger social and artistic shifts which are changing the industry and the art’s landscape. I see myself as a cinephile (check out my Letterboxd) even though many of my favorite pictures are very accessible and recent American movies (La La Land, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Superbad, The Matrix to name a few). 

Along my journey as a cinephile, I often ask myself “Which movie should I watch today?” but what I’m really wondering is “Will I enjoy this film?”, “Is this film considered good?” or even “What will my peers and other people think if I watch this film?”. As I reflect over these questions, I also think on the aforementioned “cinephile” debate. 

What is a cinephile? 

A cinephile is not necessarily someone who has watched every Kurosawa or Kubrick movie. Nor do they possess encyclopaedic knowledge on the industry since the pre-war era. A cinephile can be very simply defined as someone who enjoys watching movies a lot and who has a desire to discover more. 

When people enjoy an art, or have a passion in general, they tend to start exploring said field. No matter how far and wide someone has explored, regardless of their experience or expertise, once they are on this journey of discovery, they are a lover of the art. Many, especially online (including me), are still at the beginning of this journey. People will tend to compare themselves to others who’ve done more and seen more. I have at times had this feeling that I had not explored enough, or that I should’ve watched this movie at that moment instead of seeing Cars again. 

It is in our nature as a society to judge and feel judged. This leads, inevitably, to the existence of social status: wanting to be considered ahead of the curve, whatever that means. No matter what, people will criticize your tastes. My favorite film could be Twilight, Interstellar or The Godfather, there will always be a group of people ready to tell me my choices are bad for x or y reason. Yes, many cinephiles consider that they are socially and intellectually superior simply because they enjoy more “sophisticated” art.

These egocentric and superficial (and insecure) people have given a bad reputation to their peers and art enjoyers in general. Elitists create a feeling within the general population that enjoying mainstream, fun, relatable movies is bad or for the dim-witted. Shunning someone for enjoying movies risks stunting their motivation to explore and start their own journey into cinema, though perhaps this kind of gatekeeping is subconsciously intentional. 

Auteur cinema and mainstream cinema 

There has however been a very real shift within the past 25 years within cinema and blockbuster culture. This shift is perfectly illustrated when detractors of aforementioned elitists are asked to cite movies which they consider too high brow: most mention American classics such as Taxi Driver, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jaws or other pre-1980 movies. While yes, these films do have a distinct art direction and an authentic auteur feel, they were the most watched movies at their release, marketed and seen as mainstream, normal content by moviegoers at the time.

This is, in my opinion, one of the biggest issues with the film industry nowadays. The blockbusters, films meant to drive the most traffic to theaters are no longer films created by auteurs. Don’t get me wrong, they are still fun. They just lack a distinct identity. Pictures made by auteurs are still very much a thing and can be found easily by those who want to. My impression however is that there is now a disconnect between mainstream movies and more artistic ones, thus warping the public’s perception of cinema, both past and present. What was once seen as normal is now perceived as foreign and what was once seen as foreign is now flat out incomprehensible.  

This is a larger symptom of the way media in general has been treated since the 1980s, increasingly focusing on creating viewership, maximizing profit regardless of the content produced. Director Peter Watkins details this degradation in content quality among leading media around the world in his book Media Crisis (2007) which I highly recommend.  

Most forms of current day media require little to no critical thinking on the consumer’s part, aiming to drown them in fast-paced, colorful and harmless images. In that sense, the cinephile’s journey is made more difficult. Being fed low effort movies is satisfying, but it has become that much more difficult to want to diversify and discover new and different art.

On the other hand, thanks to the Internet, finding said art has been made infinitely easier to the delight of all those who keep marching forward on their journey. Streaming platforms (Netflix, Disney+, etc.), YouTube, the Internet Archive are all hubs to learn about and consume art we would’ve otherwise never encountered. Even illegal streaming websites offer a surprisingly large database of films (I DO NOT condone streaming films illegally as it is vital for the industry to consume films the intended way. I ALSO DO NOT recommend visiting websites such as https://gomovies.sx/ or https://hurawatch.art/ for their wide variety of content including subtitles in 20+ languages). 

Regardless of what you watch, where you watch it and how you enjoy it, it is your curiosity and love for the art form that defines you as a cinephile. While I think the entire debate mentioned in the introduction is often blown out of proportion and caricatural, it has at least helped me reflect on myself as a cinephile, and on the state of cinema as we know it today. Also no, my favorite movie isn’t Hungarian, old or 290 minutes long. It’s 2011 Oscar-for-best-animated-feature-winner Rango, you should check it out! 

Colin Lhernould