I'm trying to find an essay, research, or any deeper analysis about why some people, most often conservatives, don't understand film. One of my FB friends posted this meme and it got me thinking about this phenomena.
Some people watch a film* and take the characters and the story completely at face value. They don't see any deeper message from the director. They don't understand that Goodfellas for example, is not a film about a couple of cool guys. Scorsese is not endorsing their behavior or their values.
Any help diving deeper into this topic is appreciated.
*By the way, you could say the same for literature, but since most people don't read past high school. I wanted to focus my question on film.
ETA: Thanks everyone for engaging with me. I've been a lurker and commenter since the early Reddit days, this was my first post.
Yeah. There is corner of twitter/reddit where people think that good film analysis is having moralistic positions on characters and their actions.
Thinking those cool guys are cool - dimwitted, incapable of film analysis. Thinking Tyler, Joker and Taxi driver represent nothing but toxic white masculinity - clever, incredibly deep analysis.
I watched Wolf of Wall Street for the first time recently. Ever since it came out people have been making fun of the idiots who thought it's a movie about cool guy doing cool things with cool friends. I watch it and lo and behold: it's a movie about a cool guy who flew too close to the the sun, got burned but still landed on his feet and continues to pursue his dream. All the shallow moralising I saw on film twitter just isn't there...