Your favorite painter, movie-maker, musician, …Who you like and why you like them are easily defined by you. Depending on how fanatic you are, you are ready to argue the merits and reasons of your taste. And yet the argument is unlikely to have a winner.

Take my student advisor for instance. He is one of my favorite people and one of the few that I respect, and yet he was very skeptical when I told him about my intentions  about studying film. His reason? I don’t like Quentin Tarantino and therefore I do not belong there. I thought he was insane. I am skeptical of all authority when it comes to passion and dreams, and when a business T.A. condescends you about your dreams, you just want to punch him in the face.

The thing is, people don’t have to like Polanski or Tarantino. Or Spielberg or one of the Scott (Ridley Scott, Tony Scott) Brothers. You might think the Coen Brothers have got it all and some will remain unfazed by their efforts. And that’s completely alright.

You don’t have to follow all the festivals. It is OK to like a movie just for the sake of loving a low-budget, character-driven film,  just like loving a good old epic film  (in my case I love Braveheart) does not make you unworthy of applying to the MFA area of your choice.

Christian Bale is quoted to have said “I think there’s a kind of pretentiousness to the idea that serious work is only found in low-budget independent movies–I can’t stand that snobbery.”

I couldn’t agree more. He has proven himself in a variety of roles. I think only mentioning The Machinist and Batman in the same sentence will suffice to prove the point.

Some people loved Black Swan. Some people hated it. Some couldn’t see why many people adored The Social Network. Some people thing The Hangover is an awful movie, and some just laughed their butts off while watching it…

It is all relative. It depends from person to person, and that is all the whole point. That’s why it is so fun to share- you never know what the other person might think.