RE: glimpsing movies
1) Sideways is a terrible movie.
2) The metaphor of art as fractal is flawed in this case, I think. The idea of a fractal is dependent, like Josh/Alan said, on the complete form's containment in its component parts. This works in a number of things, and is particularly beautiful mathematically. It's probably true for movies to a more limited extent, but it doesn't hold up as justification for quickly judging a movie. You can't watch 2 minutes of a movie and expect to be given an adequate representation of the involved themes, because you can only break the movie down so far. You have the movie in its entirety, and then can break it into themes, or scenes, or character interactions, or individual moments. As you view more limited chunks, you're getting a smaller sample size and thus have less of an understanding of the movie. The themes may still be present, ala the fractal model, but I think there's a greater chance of misunderstanding what's put in front of you. Limited pool of information equals less context, and you might have just seen one of the outliers.
Example: Texas Chainsaw Massacre had a beautiful shot through a screen door. If I had just watched that scene, I would have thought it was some artsy horror film, and I would have been way off. I think you watched the movie for about that long, heard the title, and made your judgment.
Statements such as "I don't have interest in this movie" or "it looks like shit" are perfectly justifiable; you've made a judgment based upon your viewing, however limited it might be. But I don't think you can reasonably argue that you have a good impression of a movie's themes from such a limited viewing. It's perfectly fine to be disinterested by what you've seen, but fractal or no fractal, there isn't enough room to grasp the movie's overarching narrative.
3) I really don't like Sideways.
*NOTE* It has been brought to my attention that points 1 and 3 negate point 2. I would like to add that I have justifications for not liking Sideways. I found the characters alienating, unsympathetic, and unrealistic. The movie might still have been a fractal, I just didn't care.
2) The metaphor of art as fractal is flawed in this case, I think. The idea of a fractal is dependent, like Josh/Alan said, on the complete form's containment in its component parts. This works in a number of things, and is particularly beautiful mathematically. It's probably true for movies to a more limited extent, but it doesn't hold up as justification for quickly judging a movie. You can't watch 2 minutes of a movie and expect to be given an adequate representation of the involved themes, because you can only break the movie down so far. You have the movie in its entirety, and then can break it into themes, or scenes, or character interactions, or individual moments. As you view more limited chunks, you're getting a smaller sample size and thus have less of an understanding of the movie. The themes may still be present, ala the fractal model, but I think there's a greater chance of misunderstanding what's put in front of you. Limited pool of information equals less context, and you might have just seen one of the outliers.
Example: Texas Chainsaw Massacre had a beautiful shot through a screen door. If I had just watched that scene, I would have thought it was some artsy horror film, and I would have been way off. I think you watched the movie for about that long, heard the title, and made your judgment.
Statements such as "I don't have interest in this movie" or "it looks like shit" are perfectly justifiable; you've made a judgment based upon your viewing, however limited it might be. But I don't think you can reasonably argue that you have a good impression of a movie's themes from such a limited viewing. It's perfectly fine to be disinterested by what you've seen, but fractal or no fractal, there isn't enough room to grasp the movie's overarching narrative.
3) I really don't like Sideways.
*NOTE* It has been brought to my attention that points 1 and 3 negate point 2. I would like to add that I have justifications for not liking Sideways. I found the characters alienating, unsympathetic, and unrealistic. The movie might still have been a fractal, I just didn't care.
