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Does watching a lot of movies mean you have a mental illness?

posted a year ago by BrandNewPoster (10996)
46 replies | jump to latest

This person on Reddit seems to think it does. They posted in the Letterboxd sub with the title:
"A lot of this sub is unchecked mental illness" and said:

"I’m sorry guys but far too many of you take this app insanely seriously and it’s hilarious. Obsessing over the quantity you log (gotta hit 500 this year, social life be damned!) and the try hard all lowercase one line reviews, paying $50 a year to change posters and make your profile “aesthetic” and caring about your ratings curve… wtf is this? Just watch movies.

I literally use it to keep a personal log but I think I might go back to boomer IMDB after seeing how seriously people take something so trivial.

I saw normalization over someone who had logged over 700 reviews so far this year. Sorry guys but that’s not okay. Watching a movie a day I can get behind, but logging 3 or more is having a serious affect on your social life whether you realize it or not."

Then this poster said it was off putting and odd that I watch so many movies and said I don't have a life and then called me an incel because I watch a lot of movies. Do you agree with this person that watching a lot of movies is some kind of mental illness?

[–] nyctc7 (44107) a year ago

Didn't Einstein say that the definition of insanity is watching too many movies?

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

That sounds like something Freud might say, not Einstein though.

[–] nyctc7 (44107) a year ago

One of the misattributed quotes of all time is “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein

Who knows who really said it, in any event no psychology textbook states that that is the definition of insanity!

[–] BillHicksFan (10716) a year ago

I've always disliked that quote. Sometimes doing the same thing works, and there's many examples. Sometimes the circumstances of others.

I think it's more insane when people say "I can't watch a movie" because they're looking at a phone 2,000 times. That seems to be more insane.

[–] Ticketsplease (4024) a year ago

Not mental illness, just that you either 1) are a cinephile
Or
2) have no life and use movies to escape your boring reality

[–] ur4196727 (110) a year ago

There are plenty of people who spend way more hours than that watching tv or on electronic devices.
And just because you are watching a film, doesn't mean you can't be doing something productive at the same time, e.g. exercise, cooking, housework, or actual paid work.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

Agreed.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78603) a year ago

That idiot probably has a partner that smokes the meth, gambles the rent on The NFL and runs around with some strange.
So you watch a lot of movies, ain't nothing wrong with that after a long work day! Forget that doofus.

You are one of our top men!

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

Thanks.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78603) a year ago

Any and every time Amigo.

[–] Kowalski (79128) a year ago

I WATCH A LOT OF MOVIES...I AM ALSO MENTALLY ILL...SOOOO...MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING TO THAT.🤔

[–] capuchin (3366) a year ago

I've seen these kinds of sentiments before. Quite why people get so hung up over the number of films rather than the number of hours spent watching them is beyond me. There's a reason 'film' isn't recognised by the ISO as a unit of time. They vary in length quite considerably.

However, the thing people who think 700+ films per year is weird or difficult don't ever seem to appreciate is that most cinephiles aren't watching very much of anything else.

You don't have to abandon your social life to watch a lot of films in a year. You just have to prioritise films over television or YouTube or whatever other media one may choose. I got so confused by these ideas once that I checked -- and my average daily time spent in front of a screen is well below the national average. I just happen to spend that time watching films instead of anything else.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

Good point.

[–] capuchin (3366) a year ago

I had a conversation a while back with someone who was a little surprised that I watched so many films -- although not nearly as disdainful as your guy. It was more of a 'Huh' than a 'Ewwww'.

And then the conversation moved on to stuff he liked, and he was equally surprised that, no, I hadn't seen Better Call Saul and, no, I hadn't seen Succession. And, no, I don't play video games.

Those things are connected.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Very true.

Some people watch television shows, sports, browse the internet for hours, play video games AND watch movies.

I'm someone who watches a lot of movies but the thing is I don't watch tv shows, I don't watch sports outside of the occassional MMA fight and I don't play video games.

Pretty much the entirity of my digital entertainment is dervied from movies (and internet browsing) hence why I can clock in 10-15 movies a week easily whilst other people may only watch 2 a week... I'm not dedicating hours of my time to football, basketball, Disney+ shows, Netflix series and video games.

[–] capuchin (3366) a year ago

Yup. Most people enjoy a more eclectic mix of media -- TV, video games, sports, YouTube videos, TikTok, whatever it may be. I mostly just watch films.

But I'm almost certainly not spending any more time in front of a screen than they are. As I say, it's well below the national average.

Admittedly, most people probably fall below that national average. Those figures are probably skewed by extreme outliers who have the TV on in the background all day every day or whatever... All the same, if something is well below average, it's not strange or difficult, is it?

[–] rootvegetables (1899) a year ago

Just because mentally ill people watch a lot of movies, and people who watch a lot of movies are mentally ill, doesn’t meant that there is a correlation between frequent movie watching and mental illness.
In any case, just wear your mask when you’re watching movies and you’ll be just fine.

[none]

[–] majaplaya (922) a year ago

I wouldn't say that. There is nothing harmful per se in watching a lot of movies.

In fact, it can be helpful. There was a period of time when I was suffering from major anxiety and re-watching certain movies was very comforting and helped me get to sleep.