The Educational Value Of Movies

Finding Solace and Self-Discovery In Film

Image by L.E. Wilson from RedBubble based on work by Nikolay Georgiev on Pixabay

When your "education" limits your imagination it's called indoctrination. Those who cannot think for themselves are truly lost. Education should be a rewarding experience which allows you to think, imagine, question, doubt and solve problems.

— Richard Feynman

Something many people may not appreciate about movies is how much of an academic education one can get from them. This site, “moviewise: Life Lessons From Movies,” is an attempt at gathering wisdom, real practical truth, about life, about us, and about the universe. But beyond that, there are facts that some may only discover because they were mentioned in a movie. In other words, movies can inspire curiosity about real historical or scientific events, like the Apollo missions, and in so doing serve as teachers, great teachers, in fact. That spark, that light that makes someone seek more information is one of the greatest gifts a person can give another. And many movies gracefully deliver it for us all wrapped up in an intriguing story with stunning visuals and a soundtrack. How is that for a master class?

Life Lesson: It takes a lot of hard work to make a miracle happen.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

Moreover, these eye-opening nuggets of amazing findings can come from the unlikeliest of movies. Yes, Apollo 13 (1995) is an entry level introduction to NASA, to President Richard Nixon, to space travel, to understanding the orbit of the moon. It’s easy to see why one would be intellectually inspired by this movie, and it legitimately could be shown in full in any classroom or lecture hall anywhere around the world. It’s that educational.

Life Lesson: Life is a series of ups and downs.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

On the other hand, 24 Hour Party People (2002) is a fictionalized account about music promoter Tony Wilson, who was at the center of the drug-fueled rave music of the 1970’s -1990’s. It’s a gritty, bizarre movie about people behaving badly, but there is something beautiful in it. There is something precious and lovely, and that is the truth. This movie, like Apollo 13, is really about us. It’s about how our lives are a series of highs and lows, and some people have extreme highs only to have debilitating lows—famous musicians and influential CEOs come to mind. And we’ve always known that about life, but it’s never been verbalized as beautifully as is done in 24 Hour Party People:

I’m Boethius, author of The Consolation of Philosophy. It’s my belief that history is a wheel. “Inconstancy is my very essence,” says the wheel. “Rise up on my spokes if you like, but don’t complain when you’re cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it is also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away.

So who is this philosopher? His story is even more cinematic and grander. He is Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, and we should all read his writings. When revelation comes neatly bundled in a book written 1,500 years ago, one should at the very least take a few hours of our lives to thumb through it, right? Why? Didn’t you ever think that there was something more to life, that there was a purpose for all the suffering we have to endure, that it should mean something, that it should come to something? If you have, then perhaps you have arrived at the same conclusion as Boethius, that we are here to learn. Wisdom, reason, logic, the truth will save us.

Since men want happiness, and since happiness is in itself divinity, then it follows that men in the pursuit of happiness are actually in the pursuit of divinity. But as in their efforts to pursue justice they become just, and in the pursuit of wisdom they become wise, this logic would lead us to conclude that in the pursuit of divinity they would become gods. — Boethius (Book III)

So here’s your chance. Don’t waste it. Don’t waste your life. Look deeply into the abyss. What do you see? Tell us, please. Maybe make a movie out of it, please.

We don’t know what we haven’t yet learned, and we need guides (e.g. “Great Movies Based On Books,” “Great Fantasy Movies Based On Books”).

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Visit the moviewise catalogue—a searchable database of one sentence movie summaries, movie quotes, and movie wisdom—for movie recommendations.

Also visit the moviewise store. Get a t-shirt, bag, or pillow with your favorite #LifeLesson from a movie. Reply to this or leave a comment below to make a request.

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