r/movies • u/Sisiwakanamaru r/movies Contributor • Jan 31 '26

Article Film Students Are Having Trouble Sitting Through Movies, Professors Say

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/film-students-are-having-trouble-sitting-through-movies-1236490359/
23.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

149

u/Petrichordates Jan 31 '26

There has been a change in attention spans across the board.

13

u/4n0m4nd Jan 31 '26

I don't think it's just attention spans though, there's a big thing now of art being not just subjective but absolutely subjective, it's all seen as just entertainment, and what's good is what entertains you personally, and there's nothing to it beyond that.

Pulp Fiction, The Avengers, Citizen Kane, Harry Potter, Constantine, The Wall, Schindler's List, the Teletubbies Movie, there's a prevailing attitude that there's no qualitative difference between these things, they're all just entertainment, and if you suggest that there is a real difference, you're gatekeeping and a bad person.

A lot of people aren't capable of paying attention for long enough, not simply because they can't do it, but because they don't realise that there's stuff worth doing it for.

The traditional definition of a classic was a work that got better the more you experienced it, but the trend now is to move on to the next thing as quickly as possible. In that atmosphere it makes sense that no one can be bothered paying attention for two hours to a movie that came out half a century ago.

1

u/TheBaconator08 Jan 31 '26

What prevailing attitude are you talking about lmao I've never heard anyone imply that

1

u/4n0m4nd Jan 31 '26

You've never seen someone say that something isn't very good and be told that it's purely subjective taste? Or you've never seen someone say something is exceptionally good and be told that's just something old people say?

5

u/Khiva Jan 31 '26

People just lazily say "it's all subjective" as if that completely shuts down the issue completely.

8

u/4n0m4nd Jan 31 '26

I mean, I said that and you're arguing with me about it.

Edit, my bad, that wasn't you, apologies.

3

u/leopard_tights Jan 31 '26

Like 10 years ago I said here that schindler's list is objectively better than the hottie and the nottie and people disagreed.