I did not have much time to watch (new) movies lately, so for August let's start with something different as I have been planning to do more posts driven by general thoughts on film, news or theoretical discussions anyway. To start off lightly, this is my own definition of the five major types of moviegoers from the average guy to the arthouse fanatic. An important side note: This is meant to be not a ranking but a value-free categorization. Tell me what you think.
The Guest: The Guest has no real interest in movies at all and only watches films sporadically and usually without real motivation or ambition. His indifference and the resultant lack of information about films and about his personal taste are the reason for him watching commercial films most of the time but he may also stumble across some less well known films while not being aware of that of course. He usually doesn't know much about what he sees or what he has seen in the past and therefore can't classify his films. Occasionally he will visit a theater as a special event to spend some spare time with friends. Going to the movies or watching films in general is for him first and foremost a collective experience that is more about what happens off screen than what happens in the film itself. Rarely will he talk about movies unless he is just coming right out of the screening room.
The Fan: The Fan is someone who enjoys watching films and does so regularly but his knowledge about films and his own preferences is rather limited. Among his favorites you'll usually find big blockbusters and general commercial stuff made for mainstream audiences, preferably popular franchises and recent box-office hits. The Fan is not overly critical towards films, hence his taste is erratic and not well defined. He will regularly update his favorites with what he has just seen and what he was impressed by lately while forgetting about the stuff he had liked before ... and he is impressed rather easily. Some Fans occasionally show love for a few popular cult classics (presumably "Fight Club"). The Fan usually has a distaste for movies that are "old" in this case meaning something like films produced before the 1990s (this is also depending on when you were born, of course). Foreign cinema, particularly asian (which is mainly associated with japanese films and martial arts type of stuff), silent films or movies in black and white usually tend to alienate or bore him. Most people - so my assumption - belong into this category.
The Educated: The Educated is well informed about the movies. He has a good basic knowledge of movie history and is also trying to learn as much as he can about aspects beyond the movie-going experience itself like theory, criticism, culture, craftsmanship and so forth. The Educated has a well defined, consistent taste and is aware of that. He chooses his films selectively and judges them critically. Although he is still strongly influenced by commercial cinema (predominantly from Hollywood) the Educated is less interested in blockbusters and will regularly look for foreign films, arthouse films and classics to broaden his horizons. For that reason this is the most balanced of the groups. The Educated may still not be able to embrace some films, though; those are left for the Artist.
The Artist: The Artist usually does not care about commercial cinema at all. Besides classic movies he is mostly attracted by the unconventional. Art movies, foreign films and independently produced low budget flicks (also from local areas), that noone in the other categories might have heard of, will catch his attention. While the Educated relies rather strongly on information prior to a screening the Artist is also more likely to experiment and take more risks with his choices. The Artist is an equally or probably more educated film buff than the Educated but aside of his huge knowledge and sophisticated taste the Artist might also suffer from his ignorance towards popular cinema and thus he is not quite as flexible in his choices as the Educated is.
The Freak: Freaks are dedicated entirely to a specific genre or type of film. They have a very distinct taste and identify with a very special group of dispersed followers. They have an encyclopedic knowledge about the particular subject and besides some common classics also absorb films that noone outside of the community has ever heard of. Freaks are less interested in commercial cinema and due to their specificness they have to spend a lot more time and money to search, find and purchase the films they want to see and people who want to join them.
Now you might be able to assign yourself to one of the five groups above. However the big question is not which group you belong to - which is not an absolute thing anyways, of course - but which group you want to be in. As you grow up you will automatically access either group 1 or group 2. If you are part of groups 4 or 5 you have already chosen your way and shaped your moviegoing-self. But most of us start as Fans and most of us will stay Fans throughout their lives.
Considering myself to have arrived in group 3 I can tell that if you are passionate about the movies you should definately start to make up your mind, sharpen your senses and deepen your knowledge about film and films alike. You might have to think harder about your choices, be more critical about things. But that doesn't mean you are reducing the fun-factor, not at all. It is rewarding to draw connections between what you see, what you saw, what you read, what you know. It is rewarding to make your own distinguished choices based on your own experience and find out that you picked the right thing. It is rewarding to be surprised about new stuff that you might once have been sceptical about. And it is very rewarding to be aware of why you liked something or why you didn't.
To clarify again, this is not a ranking but a value-free categorization. I don't want to say by any means that the Educate is superior to the Fan. There is nothing wrong with being a Fan. It is about the standards you wanna set for yourself. But I think there is an opportunity to boost yourself to the next level. It has nothing to do with movies. No matter what you do, if you are a musician, a painter, an athlete, you will grow with new experiences and the more you know the better the results.
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