In today’s time -and even in decades before- people have found mainstream Hollywood movies one toned and inclined to repeat the same small list of basic storylines. This is how Indie movies became a popular alternative to those movies found in theatres. It filled a gap in the filmmaking industry that many people were searching for. However, there is a subsection of indie film consumers that tend to over-praise these movies.
An indie movie is defined as a film that was not produced by a major movie production company (Disney, Paramount, Universal etc.) Some key characteristics of these movies include: a more subtle story structure, smaller scale locations, and characters that aim to imitate real life people with unconventional stories. This deviation from the norm indie movies bring to the industry, has appeared to influence the film enthusiast to look deeper into the film than they would a mainstream movie.
Many self-proclaimed indie film connoisseurs are known to spend their time thinking over the deeper meaning of these obscure films. This may result in the enthusiast developing a superiority complex over the common movie consumer. They feel more “cultured” than the rest of the public because of their in-depth movie reviews and watching habits. Indie films
prioritizing subtlety creates an open door for people to overanalyze and look for details and implications that aren’t there or can be easily misinterpreted.
Plenty of us can relate to going to watch a movie a little out of our comfort zone and leaving the experience feeling like the movie was confusing or even just boring; it didn’t match up to the extensively positive reviews you saw online. When this happens, the cinephile community is often deeply offended. This type of audience can blame your dislike of Indie movies on your lack of exposure to “real art” when that genre of film is just not everyone’s cup of tea.
That isn’t to say that all indie films are overly pretentious and dull. So many of these movies are truly beautifully shot films with complex characters, creative storylines, and moving messages. While they may seem out of the ordinary and take a bit too many risks for some, it’s these risks that help progress the film industry as a whole and keep innovation alive. Often these risks may fail, but we can still appreciate it for their original thinking.
Indie Films contain so many subgenres that it’s unfair to assign all of them one or two defining descriptors. Their diversity is what captivates many, however, it’s important for this notorious audience to keep in mind that no matter how “refined” they may want to come across when watching these films, seeing both the movies’ successes and faults is the best approach. We can appreciate these films for what they are and their impact on culture without ignoring a glaring flaw, much like we would point out a flaw in a Hollywood movie.