Pull up a Chair and Shut up

I can tell if I am going to like a movie or not within the first five minutes. Five minutes into “Superbad’ and I said to myself “Taylor, you’re in for a good time.” Five minutes into “Date Movie” and I said to myself “Taylor, I wonder how painful it would be to rip your eyes out and bleed to death.”

To this day, I regret not ripping my eyes out and bleeding to death in that seat. A little of me died in that seat that day anyways.

Some movies have introductions that are so powerful you find yourself stapled to your seat for the next two hours; a perfect example would have to be the “Star Wars” films, which forced me to ignore my bodily needs and everyone around me for the entire two hours. The first ten minutes of any piece of video, or literature are crucial; trust me I’m a director.

Books and movies are like babies, if they don’t come out swinging, they’re dead to me.

What makes the “Star Wars” introductions so great is the fore-shadowing, action, and wonder that is so strong you feel like if you leave your seat, you could miss something ever better then the already amazing introduction. The first minutes of “A New Hope” grabs you by the nose and kicks you in the ass. You are introduced to the main players of the movie, and already you feel like you know how they act, talk, and even think. If anyone reading this blog (All 3 of you) did not feel utter fear when they saw Darth Vader for the first time then you must have lost your humanity a long long time ago, in a place far far away(see what I did there?). From the intro alone, you saw fore-shadowing of a great battle, motifs of Good vs. Evil, and images so powerful you will never forget them, no matter how hard you try.

I could spend hours on “Star Wars”, but I’m sure you here for something much more “school-mandated.”

This brings me to “Macbeth,” which I think had a solid intro. We see the witches, get some fore-shadowing, meet the main players and even get a feeling for how they act and think. Was it action packed? No. Does that make it a bad intro? Not Really. The intro to “Macbeth” gives us a lot of information, a lot of fore-shadowing, motifs, and images. Such Motifs as betrayal, violence, and witchcraft, which I’m sure will come into play sooner rather then later.