I grew up with the big picture commercial films shown at every theater in town. By the time I was 10, I was a film buff who thought the picture of perfect film was Toy Story 3. I was introduced to independent films when I moved to Missouri and encountered a small little art house, Ragtag Cinema.
Ragtag was weird for me. The films shown there were so different than everything I had watched before. At that time, I didn’t realize those strange differences were probably the fact independent films have more focused points than commercial films.
When a big production company wants to make a lot of money, focusing on one small topic that might not please everyone will drive away potential customers. That’s why commercial films tend to aim to be crowd pleasers and are usually less inclined to try to make people think.
However, if a company is more concerned with the content of the film and its meaning and may not be as concerned as making money, than they usually make more pointed, unique films. This is usually independent film.
While the term independent film may seem vague and is definitely contested among avid movie go-ers, the best way to describe it is, in the words of former United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.”
Now don’t get me wrong; commercial film (film made by major production companies; Universal, etc.) is not (always) mindless dribble where its only point is to give the audience an adrenaline rush. It can be moments of amazing and compelling cinema that press you to think about life and inspire empathy. Black Swan, The King’s Speech, and The Social Network are all big picture films made by huge production companies and all met critical acclaim.
But, commercial film isn’t always these hard hitting, force-you-to-think movies. According to www.pixable.com, 2014 and 2015 has Hollywood on a downward slope. In 2014, the top 10 grossing films were all sequels or spin offs of previously successful franchises and none were Oscar nominated.
This is for several reasons. When money is tight people obviously prioritize spending and movies are considered a luxury that take a back seat.
This means that film studios are producing less movies and the movies they are producing are films they can count on to make a lot of money, usually very anticipated superhero sequels (The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, etc.) or spin offs of previously successful franchises that people go to see because they liked the first movie.
It’s times like these, where less films are being made by these huge production companies, and those that are, in my opinion, rely way too much on the thrill and adrenaline factor than good plot development, when I look to independent film.
The famed French film maker, Claude Chabrol, once said, “You make a film to distract people, to interest them, perhaps to make them think, perhaps to help them be a little less naive, a little better than they were.”
I can’t help but agree with that assessment. This doesn’t mean I think everyone walks away from an independent film a better person, but unlike commercial movies the thought and meaning put into independent cinema makes that empathy a lot more likely.
When times are tough, art can seem like a trivial luxury that comes second to basic needs. Art teachers will be the first to talk about budget cuts and how art programs are looked at as trim by school board officials.
I’m not saying we should get rid of all science and math classes and keep only art classes, but the problem with viewing art and independent film as the least important is that we lose that creative outlet and new observations that it offers. We lose that perspective of another life in another place seen through the eyes of another person.
Film has this magical ability to bring people together and make us think beyond ourselves. Empathy has never been so easy for me to conjure than after watching someone I’ve never met before deal with their own struggles on an elevated screen for an hour and a half.
Even though it’s all scripted.
How do you feel about independent films? Leave your comments below.
