I have watched more than a thousand movies. I just remember a dozen or so that had a deep impact on me. People watch movies for different purposes, some to pass the time , some to feel scared, some want just the thrill, some for getting a new perspective on things, some to learn. I am someone who has previously sought all those paths. I would literally type on google “movies that give u a new perspective on life”. Reddit used to have the best recommendations.
But now things have changed.. movies don’t feel the same anymore. It’s not because the movies that come out today are bad, not all of them can be bad. It’s because as a human I am a pattern matching machine. I do it all day, I don’t even realize that I am doing it. All of us are pattern matchers. The only problem is when your brain learns enough patterns, it begins to successfully predict future. The future where what I would feel if the story line in the movie takes path A vs path B.
Before the movie finishes some people who have watched a decent number of movies would be able confidently tell you 3-5 different possible endings. The people who would be able to do that would not be able to feel the high that someone who just discovers the ending and gets a shock by it, feels.
Thinking about movies this way made me question, where else does this apply? Where else does this happen when you get enough experience and your brain can confidently predict a few future pathways and also feel the ending of the event before it actually happens? It’s unfortunate that this applies everywhere in life.
We prefer novel experiences over repetitive experiences, don’t we? Have you ever noticed the feeling when a new song came out in the past which made you completely mesmerized ? The first hit is euphoric. But then you play it on repeat a 100 times and then you begin to hate it. Everything in life has this arc of:
LOVE → NOT MUCH FUN → HATE ( relationships ? music ? concerts ? biking ? )
The happiness of all Novel Experiences spirals into the abyss after sometime.
SEX IS AN INSATIABLE DESIRE THOUGH SO IT’LL KEEP GIVING YOU PLEASURE TILL U DIE ( but not with the same person, EVOLUTION tricked us into that one, didn’t it ?)