Real Life and the Movies: in 3D?

Have you ever seen a movie in 3D? What was your impression of it? I’ve not seen a movie in 3D since I was six years old. It’s not because of a lack of opportunity or interest. Coraline and Up were great movies in 2D. Toy Story 1 & 2 are coming to theaters in a special 3D double feature. I love Toy Story! I’ve not seen a movie in 3D recently because I’m legally blind in one eye. Turns out you need two properly working eyes to see in three dimensions.

I’d consider myself a pretty big fan of the movies. My wife and I see a movie in the theater on average of two or three times a month. I feel a bit discriminated against when a really interesting movie hits theaters in only 3D. There are 2D options eventually, but not until after the movie is released for home viewing or at a second run theater.

Film has traditionally been a two dimensional method of presentation. The three dimensional aspect of story telling has, to my knowledge, only hit the main stream in the last couple of years. I see real life in the same two dimensional way that used to be confined to film.

As a kid I was outside playing by myself in the driveway of our family’s town home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I was pulling the antenna on my dad’s car down and watching it spring back and forth. One last time I pulled the antenna back as far as I could, to watch it go back and forth with maximum ferocity. I leaned over the edge of the car (I wasn’t a freakishly tall child, the side of the driveway I was standing on had a a support wall a few feet high)  and let go of the antenna. The tip of it flew directly into my eye. A few surgeries later I have a fairly damaged left eye that I am legally blind in.

All that having been said, I’m excited about film moving forward into the future with new technologies. I am however, a big supporter of the classic 2D way of making movies. Perhaps one day I’ll be able see in 3D again. Until then I’ll see both movies and real life in just two dimensions.

Always Learning,
-joel