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A friend recently asked me what movies I watch the most. I thought it was an interesting question to pose to my fellow Outposters.
You might think it’s another way of asking what your favourite movies are, but it isn’t, at least for me. It turns out that the movies I watch the most aren’t the same ones that I would put on my all-time favourites list, and I wondered why.
Is it just me? Tell me it’s not just me?
Here’s a selection of my favourite movies in no particular order: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Jaws, The Terminator, Terminator 2, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Back to the Future, Predator, The Matrix, The Lost Boys, and Die Hard.
Now here’s a selection of movies I watch the most: Tremors, The Running Man, Holes, Better off Dead, Rapid Fire, Romancing the Stone, The Princess Bride, Grease, and Die Hard.
Die Hard is the only movie that appears on both lists, but that doesn’t mean it’s my favourite movie ever. It’s among them, sure, but the only reason I watch it so often is because it’s an ‘occasion’ movie. That occasion is Christmas. I watch it every year, along with other Christmas staples, Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
I watch them because I have an appointment to watch them. I don’t have a set occasion to watch Aliens, for example, so it doesn’t occur to me to watch it as often.
But that reasoning doesn’t explain the rest of my most-watched list. I don’t have an appointment for them either, but I still end up putting them on time and again.
Why didn’t you list them among your favourites in the first place?
Why am I like this?
I’ve come up with several possible reasons to explain this inconsistency:
Appointment/occasion movies: You’re more likely to watch a movie that reminds you of a certain occasion or time of year.
You don’t want to wear out your favourites by watching them too much.
You’ve worn out your favourites by watching them too much. They’re still on the list, but they don’t give you the same buzz they used to. The battery is drained, so you rest them and hope they recharge.
Your most-watched movies are fun, undemanding, and easy to watch. Like fast food.
Snobbery: in the same way the Academy regards certain genres and subject matter as more important, perhaps we do the same, even though our actions speak louder than our words when it comes to viewing time.
You don’t want to seem uncool by admitting to watching Grease every year.
I’m sure there are more, but that’s all I got so far.
By the way, I’m not including movies where viewing is enforced, like when your kid throws on Madagascar 2 for the 150th time. It only counts if you stay awake the whole time and actually enjoy it.
So what about you? Assuming I’m not the only one guilty of this, what movies do you watch often that aren’t on your all-time favourites list? And why? Shall we just resolve to add them and be done with it?
The post The Movies I Watch The Most appeared first on Last Movie Outpost.
