Diary 307

Tuesday, January 19th

A colleague of mine mentioned today that she has started to watch movies at home — but she makes sure she watches them at the same time as a select group of zoom friends. Then they discuss them on zoom.

I was struck by this, because ever since Covid descended upon us going out to a movie and then talking about it with friends at a coffee place/bar/ice cream stand has become impossible. It used to be that the conversation would reveal to me aspects of the movie I hadn’t noticed, and opened my eyes on many occasions. We can’t do that now.

These days I, and millions like me, probably watch a movie at home with one other person. Sometimes that means one doesn’t stop to process what one’s seen, or think about it at all.  Binge watching is the antithesis of being critically aware; it’s the consumption of one screen item after another without paying too much attention to any one episode. It’s about as aware and alert as consuming candies is to tasting individual chocolates.

I admired my colleague’s sense of focus and desire to consider art as more than just another bland ‘event’. Considerate, thoughtful assessment, based in intelligence and discussion: it’s time for more of that in this country.