Wednesday

My first reaction to theguardian's 1000 films to see before you die (200 issued every day this week) was 'why?'. I mean, what are we supposed to do with this list? No explanation is given. Clearly it took a lot of effort, thought, and previous knowledge to put together. Was this only so they could sell more papers, as in my case they are? The only thing they seem to vaguely advocate is going to their website to discuss the list. Do they really care about our opinions that much? That seems a rather strange outcome. Perhaps we are expected to read the whole thing and make sure we've seen all of them, literally, before we die? More probable, of course, is that it was an exercise in attracting, and keeping, readers - in building an image of themselves as an artistic, left-wing newspaper. Personally, I'm going to collect them all and keep them on a bookshelf somewhere. Then, on a day when I feel like watching a film but can't decide what, I might look through it. Their list isn't necessary, there are other ways of doing this, and it's claim to be 'unique' is annoying, but it's good enough.