It’s that time of the year again! Oscar season! Honestly, this was a period I never quite follow when I was growing up. It just so happened that I have been keeping up with much more movie news that I thought I would. I follow a couple of channels on Youtube that talks about movies; mainly AMC Theatres, Schmoes Know and Jeremy Jahn. These are all passionate movie enthusiasts. Almost everyday, I get a good daily dose of movie updates and know the in things of the movie industry such as Michael Keaton will probably will his first Oscar for his performance in Birdman or that Whiplash might actually win the best picture award.

The funny thing is I have not watched Birdman or Whiplash to know anything more than what I hear on the videos and podcasts. I guess it’s cause I haven’t had time to go to the cinemas lately to watch them and also, sometimes the movies that are up for Oscars are not my cup of tea. I actually started watching all these movie channels because I’m a huge fan of superhero and Star Wars movies. Inadvertently, I absorbed everything else that comes along with it but fascinatingly, I initially failed to understand how can people just talk about movies every second of every hour of every day whether they are on or off camera. How can one dedicate their lives to discuss about everything related to the effervescent and enigmatic Hollywood industry?

I actually do know why but it wasn’t until last Saturday where I saw the picture from another perspective again. I was watching a football match between Arsenal F.C. and noisy North London neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Now, people know I support Arsenal and every Arsenal fan hates (well dislike but hate will suffice) Tottenham Hotspur. Don’t ask why. Just go with it. I can’t believe we lost to them 2-1 and I was so angry that I probably could have smashed the television using a sofa. (I know I sound really violent but I was really upset.) I was talking to a friend and said dude, I am so opposite of calm right now I’m not even kidding. She then said, “Why do you like football so much?”. Therein lies the question isn’t it? After all, it’s just a match. Why do I like football so much to the point of emotional attachment?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been supporting them for ten years and hence, it’s normal to feel upset about it. Maybe it’s because my friends all watched it and I’m taken by it. It can’t be possibly the former because I felt upset when I initially started supporting them. The latter is possible but not really too. It hit me then. I realised every single time I watched an Arsenal match, it became my escape.

My friends know how passionate I am about the Lord of the Rings movies or superhero movies. Why is that? When I hear these movie enthusiasts talk, they mentioned they go to the cinemas to have fun. I mean come on, Guardians of the Galaxy was a fun movie but it really wasn’t THAT great in terms of plot development or the storyline. Also, some people actually have fun watching Michaebaxplosion Transformers! How is that even possible? Transformers… Really. Anyway, it’s the same reason I love watching football, the cinema becomes a platform of escape from the daily worries, struggles and family problems. For 120 minutes, the time is yours. If the movie is good, you worry about nothing else except for that which you are watching.

I think we easily judge people for having a passion for something when we don’t realise it is this passion that forms an escapade or break from hard-hitting realities of life. Of course, sometimes the passion is misplaced and people wonder into the wrong territories of drugs, sex and violence. It is one thing to escape from reality but it is another to escape to a harsher one and thinking it’s the same. We escape from reality not because we hate it but because a good escape helps us understand it better. We forget sometimes that fundamental of movies and football are human emotions. Any movie is build on that and always  has tangible connection to surreal experiences when done right and a football match is the perfect example to understand human dynamism. Of course, we don’t see that when watching them but we take them on without knowing we are. Understandably, the escape is just one aspect of the whole experience and there’s plenty of other things to talk about.

I remembered in my pubic speaking speech, I talked about football and at the end I quoted Bill Shankly. He said this, “Football is not a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s more than that.” Whether you’re a fan of movies or sport, don’t you just find that quote fascinating?