A few weeks ago, I was feeling like I needed to watch something optimistic, so I went on Netflix and put on Sing Street, a quasi-musical about a group of adolescents in 1980s Ireland who start a rock band. I had seen it once before at a friend’s house, and it was overall a very fun experience. I wanted to have that experience again with a film which I knew would deliver.
When I asked one of my friends who lived a few doors down from me to watch it, she responded with, “No thanks, I’ve already seen it.” That was fine with me; I just went back to my own dorm and watched the movie, and it was even better the second time.
In the 2012 Ridley Scott film Prometheus, there’s an android character (played by Michael Fassbender) whose favorite thing to do is watch Lawrence of Arabia, again and again, and again until he can quote the film word for word. Upon reading some analysis of this character (hi, it’s your resident Sci-Fi geek speaking) people saw this sort of behavior as very childish and, well, robotic: a non-human character learning human mannerisms from a movie character.
David the android styling his hair like Lawrence of Arabia
This behavior is seen as odd and more than a little unsettling—David’s not going to Comic-Con, after all—and while it definitely sets David apart from the rest of the human cast, it also gives him character. A classic Ridley Scott move is to make his androids more human than the human characters, and this is no exception. While I’m not a huge fan overall of Prometheus, I do appreciate what Ridley Scott did here by trying to create a relatable character.
Is there something wrong with watching the same films over and over? People have routines about watching films during a certain time of year—for example, V for Vendetta is best when it’s watched on November 5, and I’ve even made arguments that Iron Man 3 is most enjoyable during the holiday season since the movie is set around Christmastime. Movies like the Harry Potter films are played often on weekends for that sweet taste of childhood nostalgia.
So, then, if that’s acceptable, then why do I still feel the need to laugh in an almost ashamed manner about my watching Spider-Man Homecoming three times in as many weeks? Can I not just be casual about my being a Spider-Man fan and appreciate the fact that the MCU is actually changing up their style from self-serious to self-deprecating, almost? In a webcomic by The Oatmeal, he drew an image of him watching a film as a reward for a long run:
(Hey, after running 20 miles, this guy deserves to do whatever he wants.)
Maybe I’m just overly sensitive, and maybe I’m seeing subtext where there isn’t any. Maybe I take things too seriously—no, I know I take things too seriously, especially when it comes to film. When I watched Prometheus on TV for the first time, I couldn’t help but grin at David’s repeated viewings of Lawrence of Arabia because that’s something that I do. Well, not with Lawrence of Arabia given that it’s close to 4 hours long, but I’ve done it with 3-hour films like The Lord of the Rings and Watchmen, to the point where, like David, I can quote lines off the top of my head.
The big question is: why? Why would I waste three hours getting caught up in a fantasy world that I’ve already seen? In movies, nothing ever changes, so technically, there’s really only a need to see a film once and that’s it. The thing is, I love analyzing films, and the more I watch something, the more I get out of it. The best films make it a necessity to come back to them if you’re truly dedicated to the art and to that film’s universe.
I see no reason to be ashamed for having a handful of movies to come back to again and again: whether it’s uncovering information or just having a piece of familiarity when everything feels out of control, there’s no need to feel weird about returning back to a cinematic universe and quoting along with the characters.