These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

As most people do, I frequently shoot the shit with friends about favourite movies. It quickly becomes apparent that my friends and I have different opinions on what constitutes a favourite movie.

I’m of the opinion that a favourite movie is likely to be one that you can watch repeatedly, ad nauseum, and still enjoy each and every time. It might not be the best movie you’ve seen, but it’s the one you enjoy most. Hence my favourite movie list is often filled with flicks like Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, Star Wars and Groundhog Day.

James is of the opposite opinion – his favourite movie is the movie that he thinks is the best movie he’s seen (though the exactly criteria on which that choice is made is undefined). Consequently, he plumps for flicks like Taxi Driver, and movies of that ilk.

I’ll readily admit that whilst Ghostbusters is one of my favourite movies of all time, it’s certainly not the best movie I’ve seen. Possibly not even in the top ten. I know Lord Of The Rings is a more impressive set of movies. I know Casablanca is class, and Godfather is genius. But these are movies that should be used sparingly. They don’t allow repeated viewings like, say, Shaun Of The Dead. And besides, I don’t even like Taxi Driver.

So does this dichotomy apply to other media? What about a favourite book? I’m not sure. I don’t think I can choose what my favourite book is. My favourite movie metric doesn’t apply here. Whilst I chomped through the Dan Brown novels for the second or third time, barely coming up for air, I knew, whilst I was enjoying them, that they were terrible pieces of literature.

But what’s the equivalent of Citizen Kane in the literature world? I dunno. I’m not into books as much as I’m into movies. Whilst I can spot a good director or a good screenplay or even, to a lesser extent, whether a scene is lit particularly well, I have no real idea what makes a good book. Is it a highly descriptive text, spelling out scenes in great detail, or is it a book that only delivers the bare minimum of description, allowing the reader to construct the world themselves? Does a good book have plenty of dialogue to forward the plot, or is the story pushed forward by by a first- or third-person narration? I have no idea.

I don’t know the literature rules. But I do know what makes a bad book. Dan Brown can’t really write for shit, and I realise that when I’m reading him, fortunately, so I know not to apply my Ghostbusters logic to books. I can’t choose a favourite book, especially given that I can pick out subtexts from books with even less efficacy than I can in movies, which is close to zero, anyway. I fear I’m missing out on vast swathes of awesomeness in literature due to not being quite in the zone enough to peel back the layers and decipher the allegory. Fortunately, Dan Brown doesn’t do allegories.

So, to summarise, Ghostbusters is one of my favourite movies and I could watch it all day. Irreversible, on the other hand, is a very, very good movie that I don’t think I ever want to see again. Ever. Sorry, Gaspar.