Why Empaths Don’t Find Some Supposedly “Great” Films So Great
I recently saw Martin Scorsese interviewed by David Letterman. Dave went on for a bit about how Raging Bull may be the most classic film in American cinema, or something to that effect. I had recently noticed that Raging Bull had been added to the “Watch Instantly” section of Netflix, so I decided I’d give it a shot.
Although I previously thought that a black and white film about a boxer wouldn’t be particularly interesting to me, I was curious to see why it was considered such a classic. By the time I was twenty minutes into the film, I lost interest and started playing a game on my phone in order to amuse myself. My intuition told me that I could probably stop watching at any point and not miss out on anything important. However, I watched it until the end, waiting to see why it was supposedly so great.
As far as I could tell, the film was largely about domestic abuse and bloody pugilism. I didn’t see much character development or growth, and there were no aspects of the story that grabbed my attention on any level. I was reminded of something Eckhart Tolle said on a DVD about violent films being popular because they “feed the pain-body.” Basically, the pain-body wants drama, and looks to conflict-oriented “entertainment” to perpetuate itself. This made a lot of sense to me as I watched Raging Bull.
I had a similar experience during this past year when I finally watched The Godfather. For decades I’d heard how wonderful it was, but when I saw it I was unimpressed. Perhaps if I was more energetically armored then I would be glad to feel “anything” even if it’s repulsion from violence and ego-identification with power over others. If you’re numb, and you don’t feel much…then feeling “something” at least reminds you that you are alive. As an empath, I already know I am alive, and I feel so much that the important question becomes: Does this make me experience emotions that I want to experience?
I’m increasingly finding that I avoided a lot of the “classic” films that so many people love because my intuition is pretty accurate…and just because a film is highly rated on RottenTomatoes.com doesn’t mean that it’s meant for me. I’m not going to avoid all films with violence, and I fairly enjoyed the series Breaking Bad as well as the first 3 seasons of Homeland. However, I felt that the most appealing aspects of these programs were the characters…not the periodic violence.
After I watched Raging Bull I felt somewhat empty, hollow. Because I strongly feelwhatever I witness through my senses, the discontent and aggression from the film somewhat permeated my body. I decided that it was time for me to start trusting my intuition, and accept that if I’ve never wanted to see some supposedly great film, it’s probably for a good reason.
Peace,
Chris
Check out Chris’s (pen name, Mystic Life’s) book Spiritual Polyamory
Intuitive Guidance — Ethical Sites at LiveReaders.com
