Has pandemic changed the way you look at movies?
I am not happy anymore with happy endings.
Reel life is larger than real life. I know this. What happens in movies rarely happens in real life, and it is foolhardy to expect movie happenings in real life. I watched a movie-Knocked Up (2007)- and the movie was fun. But a part of the movie bugs me. Maybe, it’s the pandemic, lockdown, deaths in my country, economy slump- that is playing havoc with me. But a section of the movie bothers me.
The movie revolves around two characters Alison Scott and Ben Stone. They accidentally meet at a club one night, get wasted and end up sleeping together. After a few weeks, Alison realizes she is pregnant. They both never wanted this. It’s an unwanted pregnancy. Alison decides to have the baby, and Ben supports her decision. He’s a nice guy and doesn’t abandon the girl after knocking her up.
But the two are different personalities and are at different points in their careers. Ben is a schlub and slacker. He lives off funds received in compensation and sometimes works on a website- tracks scenes of mainstream movies where women’s nudity appears. He and his four other roommates are hoping to launch this website, but no one is serious about it. They do everything but work on the website. It reminds me of my childhood days when I was in school and had an exam coming up; I would do everything but study. To sum up, Ben doesn’t have any steady source of income. In contrast, Alison is responsible and works as a journalist with a media house. She has a job that pays her well.
The latter half of the movie brings out their contrasting personalities and the resulting differences between them because of their opposite personalities. Alison breaks up with Ben. They were trying to stay together, getting to know each other before the baby arrives, hoping that they could start a family. But Alison gives up. She tells Ben that he can be as involved as he wants with the child and wants him to stay in the child’s life, but they won’t be seeing each other anymore.
It hits Ben hard. And overnight, Ben is transformed- from slacker to hard worker. He finds a job and moves into his rented house. All his problems disappear. As if he had a guardian angel looking after him all this time and just before his life is about to hit rock bottom, she waves a magic wand-woosh! — and his life troubles vanish.
I just want directors to show a disclaimer when they show the transformation, in this case, Ben sitting at his office desk “this isn’t what happens in real life. You don’t get a job or success overnight. Your past actions, to an extent, determine your present situation. Sure, you can change your future, but it won’t happen overnight. It takes time.”
Movies do influence one’s thinking. We have studies concluding that exposing children to violence in the movies makes them aggressive, numb to violence, and likely to imitate violence. Especially teenagers watching a movie like Knocked up might think that they can screw up their life to any extent, and when they want to sort out their lives, it will happen overnight. I guess movies set unrealistic expectations in the viewers’ head. And when life doesn’t follow the movie path, it frustrates the person.
I understand most movies show what people want to see- unhindered imagination not reined in by reality. It’s not only about Knocked up, but that’s the movie I have seen last, so I have written about it. I know many movies have a similar storyline and have a far more incredible storyline.
The real world is a different ball game. You need to work your ass off, and even then, one cannot be sure whether they end up where they wanted to be when they started their journey. Perhaps, the pandemic has changed the way I look at movies. With everything so despairing, I have begun to dislike happy endings or movies far from reality. Maybe, I have stopped seeing movies as movies.
