Of course I believe every film or even piece of art whether it is a book, painting, sculpture or anything else not only deserves critical thought, but also requires it. However, if you had seen the forums you would get confused by what I was saying as I said two different things in a couple of threads in the forum.
On one hand, I was complaining about lack of discussion about films, while we get ridiculous comments such as “this movie was awesome”, “all I can say is wow, he’s a master” or my most hated comment ever, “this movie. this fucking movie”. On the other hand, I mentioned in a The Expendables thread I didn’t understand why critical thought was put into the film which seemed to have none put in by its creator.
In the case of The Expendables, my comment was completely off base because it was in regards to a specific article that was not the topic of the thread. However, my comment was taken as a generalization in that I was saying that certain films shouldn’t receive critical analysis. That is not true. I believe all films should have critical analysis. My specific case was with something completely off the topic at hand and I ended up venting in the thread. That was my mistake.
I do think we have to be very focused and careful with any critical analysis or we begin fishing for things that are non-existent. Critical analysis is more than just watching a film and than trying to create ideas in your mind about what something means. It really does mean looking at themes, motifs, metaphors and allegories and how they relate not only to history but also to current cultural feelings and beliefs. Also, how these ideas and their execution relate to other films that have tried the same or similar things.
The reason we do this is to understand why and what is being said and how it relates to us as human beings. If we don’t offer any type of critical thought, than the products we view will become less and less substantive, not feeding our intellectual cores. Not only that, but critical thought gives us insight into the film creators and where they are coming from, how they feel about certain issues, and the way they see the current world we live in.