The other day, I was telling my girlfriend that The Big Lebowski is the best movie ever made (yeah, there are other “bests”…we Americans tend to do that, I’m told). Well, I don’t know if TBL ever came out in Taiwan, needless to say, the ladyfriend has never heard of it.
When she asked me why it was the best movie ever made, I…um…Donny…“I mean, say what you will about the tennants of national socialism”…the Nihilists…
This was even harder in French.
I came to the realize that I have no idea why I like the movie, but it’s not just that. There are tons of things I like and I don’t know why: Le fils de l’homme, Punch Drunk Love, La Habañera, and the list goes on. I mean, I read Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 three times before I knew why.
Why is this, psychologically? Does anyone else have this?
Yep, particularly when I don’t like most examples of a genre but one or two really resonate.
And it can also depend on where you are in life when you experience it; some things are universal but others may catch you at the right point.
And I think there are a lot of subconscious things in us that resonate with something in the art and for you, and maybe only you, it will mean something unique or remind you of something only you know.
I usually just end up saying, you just have to see/read/hear it and see for yourself.
Could this be the principle of Gestalt? Any one element, by itself, would be amusing but nothing special. But all of the elements, put together, fit so well with each other that they make a whole movie of greater impact than one might think.
That, or when you originally saw the films you were young and stupid. That’s the excuse that I use.
A few possibilities (and I don’t mean these to be judgmental):
You’re not a very introspective person in general; haven’t developed the habit of being in touch with your thought processes and emotions.
You tend toward hyperbole and over-simplification, e.g. “that’s the best movie ever made,” ignoring the fact that you probably haven’t seen all the movies ever made, and by what criteria is something “best” or even “good.”
You evaluate things emotionally rather than intellectually, e.g. “I like it” = “It’s the best.”
You find it easier to express yourself emotionally than verbally (you know why you like something, but can’t find the right words to express it).
You’re young; you may or may not grow out of it.
You’re full of crap. (ok, this one’s a little judgmental)
I honestly don’t think that’s the case. Not only am I constantly trying to figure out what I’m thinking, I’m trying to figure out why I’m thinking those things.
I’ll admit that one to certain extent. I have several “best” films/bands/etc. Though, that doesn’t mean that I don’t honestly feel that they’re exceptional, and it doesn’t explain why I feel that way.
That would have to be the case for the things which I find no reason to like, but it doesn’t apply to the things that I like for purely intellectual reasons, like all the philosophy I study or Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife.
(You know, just as I said that, I thought about one of the main reasons I’m drawn to that painting is the symbolism. I’ve always been facinated by symbolism, but I don’t know why. I think that’s what this comes down to. As I search for why I like anything, the deeper I go, the more likely I am to run up against the question why.)
That’s exactly the case. Is there a word or a psychological term for that? Neurosis?
Yes. I hope.
If I am, I’ve even got myself fooled. Not to mention that I wouldn’t bother posting it on SDMB if I was lying. If I start lying to the Dopers, I’m lost. Here, I can ask my stupid questions and still respect myself in the real world.
There are many things that make a person. One key fact that people constantly forget is that the mind is constantly subject to operant and pavlovian conditioning. Regardless of how introspective one is, it requires a special perspective to see your own conditioning and most of the time you simply do not notice it. The simple explanation is that the concept of The Big Lebowski is associated and conditioned with positive emotions and other thoughts that are related to positive emotions.
A reason is a very complex neural process in your brain, it is a concept, that can be expressed in language, compared, re-evaluated, extrapolated, etc. It is quite an intensive task as compared to say, simply liking something. Which can be, in of itself, an end result of some complex process, the actual liking part is relatively simple compared to knowing a reason. You like millions of little things, you do millions of little things, most of these are some combinations of instinct, reflex, conditioning, memory and conscious thought. Naturally you can’t expect to actually know the exact details of any of your thought processes, nor can you expect to know anything about even a small fraction of them.
It’s one of those if you learn something about how you think you will change the way you think by definition type of problems.
I fail to see why someone would be wired so that they had to know the reason for everything they thought or did. You don’t know why you do anything you do, though you can often come up with very promising theories.