Guest Book - Responses to the Registration Question:
"How has a movie affected your life?"

Part II (August, 1997)

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I felt that learned something of this country's (the Civil War) history from watching "Gone With the Wind". - Morristown, USA

Movies are a chance to sit and relax. If you allow the movie to take you to a place that only a movie can, it can be very powerful. With a director's point of view and the power of music, movies can do only one thing: that is, make you sometimes feel like a human being. - Highland, United States

Not so much affected, but being there with someone can be very romantic (depending on the film, of course). I like all kinds of films, except when there is too much violence. But good action, humor or romance is fine. The best movies I try to get on video. Though prices in the Netherlands are too high at the moment. I generally buy them in the UK. - Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Good movies can evoke emotions in me that I don't ordinarily feel intensely. - LA, USA

Broadened my sense of history, culture, and human frailty. Particularly enjoyed "A Man for All Seasons," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The English Patient." On the level of pure entertainment, love almost anything with Gene Hackman. Especially Class Action, Narrow Margin, Night Moves, and of course, Hoosiers. - Reston, VA

Lowers stress. - Pittsburgh, PA

When the time comes for making decisions, movies affect me in doing so by reflecting how characters in the movies behaved and etc. To see and know how others have reacted sometimes influence me great deal in even changing my previous decisions. The beautiful images and words in a movie form a treasure box in times of hardship. - Seoul, Korea

So much that I started acting like the character. - Ontario Canada

Some movies really make you feel, really make you think, these are the movies I love. Of course a little Jim Carrey cheers you up once in a while too. Let's see, "Michael" made me less afraid of death, "The Net" got me into computers, "Clueless" changed the way I dress, "Twister" made me really want to live life, "A Time to Kill" made racism real to me. I couldn't list all the ways movies have changed my life. - New Jersey

"Dead Man Walking" helped support my opinion against the death penalty. - Mt. Holly, NJ USA

Movies inform you. I learned a lot from movies that I wouldn't have known otherwise. - Mt. Holly, NJ USA

When I was a kid growing up in Houston, TX my older brothers were avid filmgoers. They often took me along to see features such as "Exodus", "The Good the Bad the Ugly", all of the James Bond flics, "Serpico", "Midnight Cowboy" just to name a few. I can remember at the age of 15, my brother Mike telling a theatre cashier that he was my legal guardian and therefore approved of my seeing "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" in his presence. That changed my life! I never thought anyone could produce something so perverse and gory. I felt privileged to have been allowed to view what he called a masterpiece of work. I felt like I had reached adulthood. When I see that movie today, I think of how different my tastes in films have changed from that of my brothers. They see more films than I do monthly, but they will try to see almost anything that comes out (action, thrillers, etc.). This is where we differ. I limit my viewing to independent films and small budget films on video. I cannot support the so-called box office star-power movies. I do thank them for allowing me to be a part of their sometimes all-weekend movie-viewing adventures! Sometimes as a kid brother, you don't get that privilege. - Omaha, NE

I became a professional filmmaker and screenwriter, earning a BA in film, MA in English, and am working currently on an MBA in Media Management. - New York, NY

I am a actor... - Boucherville, Canada

There is no life without movies. - Parsons, KS

Just to go out with your friends and have a blast. - Manassas, VA, USA

A good movie illustrates cause and effect to me... every movie has some of that... an emotional movie romance or murder causes me to reassess what happened TODAY... can I do it better... can I love better... am I safe... can it happen to ME!... The above is if I'm reasonably in the saddle of life... if I have a day where I'm hanging on for dear life... I'm after escape... many of my favorite movies are watched over and over for a safe predictable escape... to drain away life's tension... And then there's that occasional movie... especially as you get older and have had some intense life experiences... the movie that has a turn of a phrase, an actor or actress, a song, or just the right lighting in a certain place... and...BAM... you're there again... sweat,fear, pride, joy! TERROR, LOVE... whatever... you'll come back to that movie again and again to relive and dissect, from a safe distance, that experience... - Cazenovia, New York, USA

I like it. - Holon, Israel

They give me a break from my everyday routine. It adds adventure, romance, suspense, and action to my life. - USA

It makes me happy. - USA

Yes. Constantly. Isn't that what it's all about? How about a performance by an actor or a script? Wasn't it Trudeau who said, "Film is life, xx frames per second." (Depends on 16, 35, 70 mm). - State College, USA

Ich finde "Independence Day" super geil. - Bludenz, Austria

Films are not made to be merely watched, they are made to envelop you. - Studio City, CA

I have always felt that the cinema was a fascinating and manipulative art form. I have studied drama, live and recorded, and currently I am writing stories to produce for the screen. - Seattle, USA

They are my life. - London, England

No. - Lake Worth, FL USA

I would imagine that the movie " THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM" was the one that affected me the most in my life. Of course there have been others but it gave me a feeling of seeking a much HIGHER POWER and brought me closer to it. - St. Petersburg, FL USA

Star Wars (which I saw when I was six years old) got me interested in Sc-Fi, and I am still a big fan today. - Oklahoma City, OK, U.S.

Made more fun. - Turtle Lake, USA

Broadens my perspective on different situations. Makes me step back and look at things slightly differently. - Richmond, USA

Several have provoked me to continue to have HOPE in the goals of my dreams... A few of those: Jerry McGuire and Shine are the most recent, the oldest is... Working Girl. - Atlanta, GA

Star Wars: I grew up with it, have been into science fiction fantasy since. - Sydney, Australia

None, it's just entertainment. - Long Beach, USA

Moved me to be a dreamer and believer in the possible. Keep reaching and learning every day... - Chicago, IL USA

I can't say any one movie has affected my life. The whole genre has been a fascination and a passion for so long... I have had the desire to act in movies since at the latest age 8 or 9. I have had the opportunity to be an extra in a couple of films (one of which I never found released in this country), and these experiences have only fueled the fire. Someday, I will live my dream, and become the actress I want - and have trained - to be. - Bakersfield, USA

"A Knife in the Head" was for me a perfect expression of both the random nature of violence and the results. Bruno Ganz broke my heart as a man who tried to reclaim the life that he had prior to being shot. Being able to hear Ousmane Sembene explain his work at the S.F. Film Fest in 1993. Both made wonder what it is I am doing with my life. - San Francisco, USA

Deeply. - Copenhagen, Denmark

"Brazil" (the movie) helped me see that I was living an impossible situation, and gave me the strength to leave the country I was living in. - Recife, Brazil

It has me to the point where I want to stop watching them and be in them. - Harrison NJ, USA

The Seven Samurai by Kurosawa made me realize the potential film has to express the gamut of the human condition. I love movies. They often serve as a catharsis - emotions are released, conflicting feelings are confronted via the film medium. - Austin, TX

Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, all Hitchcock's films... - Porto Alegre, Brazil

As with a book, it can remind one of experiences or emotions that one has had and perhaps forgotten. One re-experiences these events that are not a current part of one's life. - France Movies have proven to be a perfect break in the middle of the day. I can't think of doing anything better than ditching work at 2 in the afternoon to catch the matinee of say, Heavy, and then running back to do my job. Incidentally, when combined with an evening film after work, this strategy allows one to reach the 100-movies-in-a-year plateau fairly quickly. - St. Paul, MN USA

It allows me the time to relax. I have a very stressful job, and the movies allow me a place to escape to... - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina USA

It depends on what kind of movie if it could happen or not, but no movie has affected my life - they just make you think what would happen if that was reality. The world would sure be a different place. But who knows, we are coming to the turn of the century. I know something has to happen in the year 2000. - Seattle, USA

I just enjoyed it for passing the time. - Sharjah, UAE

To me it brings things to you 1-on-1. Your mind puts you there and then you go back to the real world. I love it! Thanks. - PA , USA

In every way since I am a writer!!! - Jakarta, Indonesia

I love to sit in the dark and watch the big screen. I am transported into another world, time, year, place, emotional state or person. I cannot imagine how the world would be without movies. They (directors, writers, actors) are what have imagined the world as it is and will be. - Columbus, Ohio

Make it seem easier. - Pittsburgh, PA

Mostly just being attracted to the males that star in the movies, primarily Matthew Lillard from "Scream", but I have been intelligent enough to make no "life changing" decisions based on media sources... not yet at least. - Beech Grove, USA

Movies give me time to imagine what life would be like if I were... It gives me a time to slip out of reality even if it is only for an hour and a half. It seems magical to me. All the different possibilities and stories to be told. I'd love to be an actress not for publicity but for the reason that you can be someone you could never be. - Monmouth, USA

Don't know. - Islamabad, Pakistan

Movies are the most complete art form. From the mute written word to the director's vision to the DTS system. It's amazing how one person's concept can change so many people. It's apparent that movies affect people - why else would audiences memorize sound bites to reiterate at parties even years after the movie has been made? - West Allis, WI USA

Some have taught me the good from the bad, others have brought bad things to my attention. On the other hand it's made me have many crushes on movie stars!!!! - Shrewsbury, USA

Never. - Middle Barton, England

"Schindler's List" deeply moved me, and it made the pain and occasional hope of the Holocaust come alive for me. Always a touchy subject for me, this film affected me like no other. - Powder Springs, GA

Being able to watch a movie is like getting in someone else's head and going on a journey for adventure, mystery, fright, and plain science fiction. When I am at these places the plights of the day are not worried over or thought about. - Tavernier, Conch Republic

Movies tell us that though we are all individuals, we are bonded by common interests and dreams. Good guys don't always win, and that's okay. But heroes are never forgotten... - Nashville, TN

Sort of... - Miami, FL USA

Good grief, I help make 'em! Every single one has made me see, as Obiwan Kenobi says, "a much larger world." - Tustin, CA USA

I got a job at a movie theater. - Westlake Village, CA, USA

Blade Runner Dune Fifth Element Star Wars Alien. - Spain

Funny movies make me laugh when I'm down. I'll need that. - Helsinki, Finland

The most memorable movie I've seen that changed my life: Phenomenon (with John Travolta) It taught me to always believe in what I do or think… even if no one else does... - Lake Wales, FL USA

I enjoy movies but they don't leave a permanent imprint. - Williamsburg, USA

Movies constantly affect my life. They are an essential part of it. - Melbourne, Australia

Seen to many to mention except one: Sleepless in Seattle - I lost my husband right after the movie came out. He died of a massive heart attack at age 52. - Oak Park, CA USA

Hi. Paths of Glory got me thinking about war and ambitious officers who would sacrifice troops for their own careers. King and Country has a similar effect. Life of Bryan encouraged a whimsical look at some delicate subjects that I've since tried to practice. Too many more (and recent ones!) to describe. - Los Angeles, USA

I don't want to give any comment for this topic. - Karachi, Pakistan