Movies are one of the pivots of popular culture and play an influential role in the fabric of any culture. Due to their huge influence on the people who consume them, they have been on the receiving as well as presenting end of intense scrutinisation of the society.
The influence of movies on the populace is massive and obvious. This has led to two narratives, both of which acknowledge the impact of movies. However they both differ in the way they view relevancy of movies in culture. For the first group of people, movies are at most, just a piece of entertainment. They do not hold any other relevance in the society than to just give a few laughs and small bursts of adrenaline to their fans. Life, according to these people, deserves to be spent on more important things like education and family. Furthermore, they also accuse cinema of giving people delusions about love, fame and self, and so movies are thus, not just a waste of time but also a wrong use of time.
The second group of people are more optimistic with their opinions and believe that movies can be an important tool to educate the populace on variety of social issues. It can also inspire people to do better things.
I personally believe both of these fail to understand the actual idea of movies and judge cinema on a very shallow term. Cinema is one of the aspects of society that literally CREATES and ALTERS culture. Along with other forms of arts and religions, it is an intricate part of the social and cultural fabric that tells stories that not only influence but SHAPE human psyche. Cinema can voice a generation, showcase an event in surreal ways, reflect the complex ideas of a particular timeline- its an EXPERIENCE that can only be imparted by a few forms of expressions. Its an inevitable force that can dictate how people dress, think and speak – even those who claim to not watch it cause its waste of time.
My conclusion is that both views judge cinema at a face value and miserably fail to comprehend its depth and grandeur. One of the viewpoint reduces it as a tool of education while the other group has an even more naive take of seeing it as nothing more than entertainment. This should not even be a debate since both the opinions have a very superficial understanding of one of the humanity’s greatest inventions.