A minor social experiment

I went to go see The Wind Rises a few weeks back and as expected I enjoyed the film immensely. So much so that I actually wanted to go see it in theaters again before they stopped showing it. But more than that I wanted to share the experience with other people, and not just some of my friends who are animation buffs anyways. While I do love going to see movies with my friends, we all tend to have more or less the same opinion afterward. This is a somewhat intellectually challenging film and I felt it would be interesting to get the perspective of some who wouldn't normally go see this type of movie. My birthday is coming up this week and I thought it would be a neat idea to go with my family to the movies. Normally they would tell me no if I told them to come see an animated film with me even though thus far every single one that I have convinced them to watch they have enjoyed to some degree. I don't really ask for much for my birthday and by having this as my sole request I think they felt a little obligated and agreed. I'm just really curious to see how they will receive it as for the most part they tend to have a very ethnocentric view of the world. Not that this movie is 100% historically accurate, but it does provide a small glimpse into another culture during the time period of my great grandparents.

Predictions

I think my Grandpa and, to a slightly lesser degree, my Grandma will enjoy it at least somewhat due to their interest in wars that the US have been involved in. It will be really interesting to see how he reacts to a representation of WWII Japan that isn't overtly negative as I'm sure he has never seen anything of that nature. 

I think my Uncle will like the parts that deal with engineering as he is a general contractor and while his primary passion is cars, the technical look at planes will probably pique his interest.

I think my Step-mom might be able to get into it as she has minute, but positive interest in history. She also really likes all of those terrible Lifetime and Oxygen movies so the romantic subplot will probably be up her ally.

As for my Mom and my Dad, bless their souls, any film that requires an ounce of thought puts them straight to sleep. When I tried to explain to my dad what the movie was about, he tried to hide it, but I could tell that internally he was saying "God Damnit, this is going to be terrible." But I got up at 4am and went fishing with him last Sunday, so he owes me. I think in the last five years he's seen Avatar, one of the Transformers movies, and one of the Borne movies, he's just not that much of a movie goer to begin with. My Mom on the other hand is pretty eager to be included in anything I like, but I fear that for the most part the story will just be lost on her. I think she will probably enjoy the imagery if nothing else, it is a gorgeous film. 

My Sister has to work tomorrow so she won't be making it, but I don't think it would be her cup of tea anyway. 

I shall post the results tomorrow. If nothing else then I get to see the movie again, and who knows, they just might enjoy themselves a little.