A funny thing happened while watching a movie

We watch old movies on our new high def 10' screen. While the marketing machine convinces us that the format and the size of the screen are what matters, what we found is that even with he best setup, we watch old movies.  We'd rather watch low def movies that are really funny than today's trash in the best quality picture.

A while back my family and I were watching the movie, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Zero Mostel.   It’s a hilarious musical and former Broadway hit.  My kids were rolling on the floor laughing.  They enjoyed it so much that they must have watched the movie at least a half dozen times.

And I got to thinking; here we were enjoying a low def movie made more than 40 years ago on a 10’ high def screen.  Imagine the irony.  Picture in your mind’s eye the grainy image of a decades old film projected on a state of the art high definition big screen.  But what did we enjoy more?  The image or the well-written and excellently performed story?  Judging from my kids’ reaction, the substance trumped the image.

I recalled this on another occasion while watching television when an ad for fiber optic service came on.  The announcer worked hard to convince the audience that once they saw every blade of artificial grass on screen they would appreciate the value high definition gave them.

But why should we care?  What value does the incremental image quality bring?  None.  I’d much rather watch a quality classic than a poor movie in high definition. 

It’s another example of how we have been fooled into believing old lies.  In this instance, we have been convinced to pass up our hard earned wealth for image quality, not experience.  We have been fooled into paying for the lipstick on the pig – not the pig, just the lipstick.

These lies are all around us.  We are bombarded with them and pressured into believing them.  Lies like this one – that lipstick on the pig matters; and lies like the Sunday / Monday Paradox, keep us living in a broken world.  Break out of the lies and break free.