1.
You really should watch more movies.
You see, someone who watches a lot of movies lives with a pervasive sense of optimism that comes from always believing in happy endings. The awful coincidence of spilling hazelnut latte on the boss’s white work shirt on your first day will be reduced to nothing more than exposition, a temporary plot twist that will doubtlessly be resolved by the time the day’s credits roll.
Watch more movies because those who do know how to tell a story. That adorable thing your cat does when given a hairbrush? Even this unexciting anecdote can be convincingly unfurled in the minds of others with all the action of a Michael Bay director’s cut. And Monday morning’s “How was your weekend?” routine? The movie lover can trump all watercooler conversation with an answer filled with more twists and surprises than the numerous bits of crumpled paper scattered around M Night Shyamalan’s dustbin.
People who watch more movies appreciate the importance of the right soundtrack. They are swept away to uplifting training montages every time they hear “Eye of the Tiger”. Their skin tingles as they’re held close and kissed in the rain with every sweeping orchestral score. They have yet to tell a joke not met with a perfectly timed drum roll.
Watch more movies because the movie lover has had their heart broken a thousand times and lived to love again. They feel the excitement of a story beginning in that stolen glance across the bar. Tense arguments are punctuated with the tell-tale flicker of the cigarette burn when they crave a change of scene. They have wept, and hurt, and felt loss, but will never feel alone; a fallen hero simply makes way for another. They have been crushed and felt defeat, but will never feel defeated; they know that the underdog is just a champion waiting for the finale.
Watch more movies because those who do appreciate their supporting cast. The extras who have justified their wars, and made their universes worth fighting evil for. Someone who watches a lot of movies is a protagonist who has coloured their own script with people who make them matter, a lifetime-long list of credits of those who give them presence and warmth and life.
So yes, fill that gap in your day with a long lunch and a quick flick. Concede to rain and thunder and nostalgia, and stay in to marathon your favourite box set. Cling tight to the Sunday night blockbuster and the weekend’s final, fleeting hours.
Or you can really watch more movies.
A lot more movies.
Infinite movies.
2.
You really should watch more car chase movies.
That’s because those who do will always have a place to savour the particular smell and palpable excitement of spilt petrol. They can take a drive the equivalent of a road trip from Jo’burg to Durban and back (twice) but with a few more bullets and a lot more slow-motion. They know beyond real life’s speed bumps and potholes lie handbrake turns, burnouts and redlines.
You see, those who watch more car chases will trundle happily through their rush hour roadblocks without anxiety or the urge to invent new swear words. Hawkers, no matter how impractical their wares, are always greeted with a smile. Traffic to the watcher of car chases is a time for reflection, and both their speeds and their stress are negligible. And they know all this because they’ve learned to whiten their knuckles around the remote, and not the wheel.
So watch more fruit stands get toppled. Watch more cop cars get totalled.
Watch…
Infinite car chases.
3.
You really should watch more superhero movies.
You see, someone who does will never be able to shake the feeling that the good guys will always win in the end. They know that there’s hope, even after planets have been lost forever. They’ve said goodbye to a hundred legends, and welcomed a thousand more. They have fallen, and always gotten back up.
Those who have yet to watch more superhero movies have entire galaxies yet to explore. They can still reacquaint themselves with curiosity and wonder. And those who are no strangers to the cape and cowl, the crime-fighting and the Kryptonite? They can call themselves the true fans, those who know passion and dedication from years of make-believe; their heroes have lived a lifetime in their hearts, across their walls and atop their bedspreads.
So watch more sidekicks, superpowers and secret identities. Watch more saving of worlds and saving of girls.
Watch…
Infinite superheroes.