Making Change: The Documentary Thrive - Challenging Ideas, Questions, Answers, Solutions

The documentary film Thrive was released a few weeks ago for free on Youtube.  Watch the trailer above and the full film below.  I really do hope you'll live 2 hours of your life watching this.  I think it's important.  And there are few things I find important.  Maybe it will change your life.  Or maybe you'll change your life.  Find out more about the Thrive movement on the website.

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The description of my blog in the top left corner there has stayed pretty consistent even though my blog itself is all about CHANGE.  Maybe that means CHANGE is a consistent process that is always CHANGING.

I don't know.

My blog description says, "It contains a variety of stuff I don't fully understand and probably never will..."  This is still very true.  But, I just lived 2 hours of my life to watch Thrive the documentary which provides some very good explanations for some of the questions I've been asking of both my life and life in general.

I sometimes find it really hard to identify or connect with humans and the world.  I sometimes feel crazy or alone with some of the ideas that swirl in my head.  I've been working on making positive change in my life but am always confused by how to make positive change in the world.  That step usually introduces concepts like politics, economics, or other things that get people so charged up... And the concept of politics and economics themselves do not make sense to me.

With American politics, I never understand why there are only 2 political parties or sets of major beliefs and why we have to vote on one or the other.  I cannot identify with either.  I also can never understand why people who choose to identify with a particular group hold onto those beliefs so rigidly as though it is necessary for their survival.  I do identify with Darwinism, evolution, adaptation, change, and survival of the fittest.  That makes sense to me.  It's a system that nature created.  Change is natural.  Everything changes.  But man created politics which is an unnatural and very complex system where the concept of "survival of the fittest" is distorted.

At times, it's also hard for me to understand beliefs just as a general concept.  It seems that when beliefs never change, people may attach a certain sense of pride to holding them.  And in many cases, this may work well.  It gives a sense of reliability, security, and predictability to actions that may be useful.  But what if you chose a wrong belief in the beginning but you didn't know better?  And the pride in holding that belief has now dug you into a big hole that will be tough to climb out of without 'losing face' among your peers.  What if it's not only your peers but your family?  I experienced an example of this:

Simply put:  Two close family members of mine were living their lives in a way that one older family member did not believe in.  It was a very strong belief associated to religion.  The belief was strong enough that it escalated to an argument with another close family member who was then "banned" from the believer's house and family.  The believer cited during their argument how many years they had stood up for what they believed in as though it was a justification.

But it never made sense to me.  I cannot justify supporting a belief or idea over a family member.  I could never understand religion, really.  I can understand the joy getting together once a week, singing, having a continental breakfast and planning community events.  But, I cannot understand how religion has created so much division, wars and killing among so many people in the history of mankind.  

I don't believe in religion, but I very much believe in spirituality and am on a path of exploring that.  I do believe in family.  I do believe in love.

Beliefs can be very powerful.  But to change your beliefs is even more powerful.

And the economy.  Wow!  That certainly does not make sense to me.  I got stiffed on one of the worst freelance jobs I ever did.  The company never paid me and after months of emails, I finally receive an explanation, "Due to the poor economy... we are unable to pay you at this time. "  What?  What do you mean?  What does the economy have to do with this?  How am I suppose to make sense of that?  Does that really work?  Can I just start telling people, bill collectors, banks, and the government that I simply cannot pay them back at the time due to the poor economy?

When it comes to the economy, I simply wish I didn't need to participate.  When I graduated from college, the one truth I did know was that I needed to pay off my loans right away so that I could be free.  Free from debt.  Free to choose what job I wanted and not have to worry about its pay.  Free to be in control of my own life and not have my choices be influenced by fear of not having enough money.  Free to explore a life worth living.  I've spent half of the past year doing work exchange: I don't receive any money, but I have a bed and healthy nourishing food, and I don't have many stresses of bills etc.  The only time I worry about money is when I need to get to the next place.  I've been much happier living this way.

Now that I've been taking control of my health and realize how important natural food and nutrition are to preventing and healing serious illnesses and cancers... I have even more questions:

Why is so much time, money, and resources spent on cancer research when I see so many personal witnesses come through these natural health centers and either make dramatic improvements or heal themselves completely of cancer and other illnesses?  What is all this find a cure talk about?  Why is little to no nutritional classes and education required for medical degrees?  Why are doctors telling my grandparents that they cannot eat too many greens because it will thicken their blood?  Why is organic produce more expensive?  Why are non-organic methods even used still when it's known that organic farming methods maximize nutrients while preserving and recycling natural resources?  Why do we spend so much water, produce, time, and resources to raise a mass amount of animal meat products that only give us derivative nutrition while severely polluting our natural resources?  Why do I only remember eating beef and cheese nachos everyday during middle school with a quarter cup of iceberg lettuce and tablespoons of italian dressing?  How is it possible for a large agricultural company to patent corn seeds and nature and sue other farmers for intellectual property theft when their seeds blow naturally in the wind onto their neighboring property?

If you wonder any of these same questions, or wonder what your doing with your life, or what you should do... maybe you should watch this film.  Ask questions about yourself, your life, and what you want life to be.  Don't accept it as it is because life is always changing and you have the power to make the change you want to see in the world.

A lot of my questions and developing ideas were aligned while watching this film.  There were also many ideas introduced that really challenged my ideas and understanding.  The end of the film does provides some positive directions and solutions for the future.  Check it out.  I'm curious to know what you think.

Change in Film: Purpose, Value, and Waste

[WARNING: The following may only interest filmmakers or critical thinkers.  Basically, I consumed a ridiculous number of awful films that made me seriously consider the production of my own films and others.  This is a long rant that is partly analytical, theoretical, critical, philosophical, and self-reflecting.]

This past week marked the end of my pre-screening process for the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Over the last two months, I have watched 320 films, narrative and documentary, that were submitted for consideration in the 48th AAFF which will take place March 23-28, 2010 at The Historic Michigan Theater. Of those 320 films, I recommended approximately 40 to the next round of screening with only five or six films that I really liked- thank you to those few filmmakers.

This long exhaustive process has changed some of my ideas about filmmaking and the types of films I want to make.

First off, I don’t think the majority of filmmakers ever intend to make a bad film. But let’s face it: bad films happen. It’s really hard to make a good film and it takes almost a miracle to make a great film.

Regardless if it awesome or god awful, a majority of films take a lot of time, money, and energy.

So before funds are raised and the camera starts rolling, filmmakers should ask themselves, “Why am I making this film?” It seems self-explanatory but I’m not so sure after watching hundreds of films made within the last year.

After some contemplative thought, I have devised a few main categories that describe the purpose of the filmmaker to participate in film production along with the purpose of the viewer or audience to participate in film consumption. [For this discussion, the filmmaker is the primary person responsible for the creation of the film. The categories can be extended to additional filmmakers and crew members necessary for film production but it is not the primary interest of the discussion.]

These categories are interchangeable in many cases and most filmmakers, films, and viewers have multiple purposes although there may be a primary purpose.  For example, the purpose of a film like Farenheit 9/11 may have been political, but it also made a ridiculous amount of money.  Who knows whether or not that was Michael Moore's purpose too or just an accidental end?


PURPOSES OF FILMMAKERS AND FILM PRODUCTION

1. Money. The purpose is to make money. The content of the film does not matter. The film can be Citizen Kane or really dirty pornography- as long as it makes money.

2. Entertainment. The purpose is to entertain an audience. The filmmaker may also experience pleasure and amusement in doing so and may experience similar pleasure in the making of the film itself. So there is entertaining the audience, and entertaining oneself. Entertainment can be commercial, artistic or both.

3. Art. The purpose is to explore film as an art form and push its boundaries.

4. Social. The purpose is to explore social issues. It may be the intention to raise audience awareness on the issues at hand. The content of the film can vary from private and personal to global matters. Social factors may also participate in film production and not just the film itself.

5. Political. The purpose is to explore, expose, or propagate political issues. It may be the intention to influence the political views of the audience.

6. Education and Experience. The purpose is to educate an audience. Also, the filmmaker will mostly likely gain knowledge and experience from the production of the film itself.


PURPOSES OF THE VIEWER, AUDIENCE AND FILM CONSUMPTION

1. Entertainment. The purpose is to entertain oneself. The kind of pleasure varies greatly from the type of film, the type of viewer, and the type of consumption. Pleasure may not even be dependent on the film itself, only the type of consumption. For example, teenagers may go to a movie theater to get away from their parents and make-out with their significant others. What is on the screen is insignificant.

2. Art. The purpose is to view film as an art form, see its boundaries being pushed, and enlighten one’s experience and understanding of film and art.

3. Social. The purpose is to gain insight, knowledge and/or understanding of the social issues the film addresses.

4. Political. The purpose is to gain insight, knowledge, and/or understanding of the political issues the film addresses.

5. Educational. The purpose is to gain general knowledge and insight of a particular interest.


VALUE

Each purpose for film production merits a particular value. Value describes the worth, importance, or usefulness of producing a film. Although value is somewhat subjective, most would agree that certain purposes have higher value than others. For example: a documentary may merit social value for raising awareness of a global concern. A simple comedy may merit value in its ability to entertain. Although the latter has an important function in society, one would not argue the greater value of the former.


FILMMAKER EXECUTION AND AUDIENCE RECEPTION

The purpose of filmmakers and film production should be distinguished from the purpose of the film itself. The purpose of the film itself is related to both the filmmaker and audience. If the filmmaker’s efforts are well executed, their purpose may continue with the film itself. For example, if a filmmaker’s primary purpose is to make an entertaining film, and the production of the film is well executed, then the film may be entertaining. There is then the possibility that the film, with its purpose to entertain, may entertain a viewer whose purpose for consuming the film is to be entertained. However, if the production of the film is not well executed, the film may not be entertaining and may not entertain the viewer. If the primary purpose for producing a film is not met by the film itself, it may have little to no value for existence or for an audience.


NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY

Based on quantity and not quality, it seems the primary purpose of most narrative film production is to entertain while the primary purpose of most documentary film is social, political, or educational.

A poorly executed narrative film that does not entertain yields little to no value for its primary purpose of production. However, a poorly executed documentary film that does not adequately engage its topic still seems to yield some value. Perhaps its because the original purpose could be considered of higher value and the act of partaking in a documentary film production raises awareness, however small, to its topic or cause.


VALUE VS. COST

A film’s value should be weighed against its cost. It takes a lot of time, energy, and resources to make a film. If the end product has little to no value, then the film and its production is waste and the filmmaker could be considered wasteful for that matter. Filmmakers with a primary purpose to make money understand this concept quite well: if the cost to produce a film is greater than its revenue, it has lost or wasted money and was not worth the effort.


CONCLUSION

I enjoy nearly all types of films for a variety of reasons. I see value in each purpose of film production and consumption. I do not necessarily think particular genres of films have more value than others. I think creativity determines that. Unfortunately, a majority of narrative films are unoriginal and a waste of time and resources. The only time a cliché melodrama makes me cry is during the end credits, knowing that a lot of money, people and energy were used to create a lot of waste.

I’ve begun to think that I, myself, may have a greater purpose by pursuing documentary filmmaking whereas I once thought I would become a director of narrative features. The lifestyle of a documentary filmmaker seems more engaging, active, and appealing right now.  Especially if there are some travel perks...

Who knows what I'll ultimately do or become.  I’ve labeled this last section “Conclusion” but I have yet to get to the bottom of anything...

If you bothered to read all of this, thank you!  I would appreciate any feedback.  If you think this blog post sucks, let me know.  I apologize and will try better next time.  At least the production of blogs post uses little resources and only wastes my time and yours.  If I had produced a film about this instead, I would have wasted several people's time, money, and resources and that would have been devastating.