Have you ever stopped to wonder what the purpose of theatre and film is? Is it merely to entertain? Mankind has always thrived on stories. From Greek mythology to the Harry Potter series we find ourselves drawn in. Is it just the good action or the cinematography or the sound editing or the acting that make films so intriguing?
Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are good and we praise them when they are done with excellence. But there has to be something more. I believe that the reason theater captures our imaginations is because there is something deep that reaches out, in a way, that touches us at our cores. Film has a particular hold over us because we no longer just hear things that strike us deep down, but we can see them in action. We can see the courage we long to have played out by Miranda Otto as Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings. We can see the desire for justice in Christian Bale’s eyes as he dons the Dark Crusader’s cape. We can see the anguish of betrayal in Michelle William’s eyes during Brokeback Mountain. We can see ourselves. Perhaps that is the ultimate point of theater: to show us ourselves in a way that we have never seen ourselves, to open our eyes to the reality of the world and ourselves.
Becca
