“Our point isn’t to make an examination of popular film but to illustrate that the yearning for a heroic adventure lies just beneath the surface of our consciousness; film, television, literature, sports, and travel are in a sense vicarious adventures.”

—  Alan Hirsch

Source: The Faith of Leap (2011), p. 110

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Our point isn’t to make an examination of popular film but to illustrate that the yearning for a heroic adventure lies …" by Alan Hirsch?
Alan Hirsch photo
Alan Hirsch 49
South African missionary 1959

Related quotes

Harlan Ellison photo
George Gamow photo

“If only there were at least one film with some real adventure, something unusual and maybe even fantastic about it.”

George Gamow (1904–1968) Russian-American physicist and science writer

Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland. (1939) First lines
Context: It was a bank holiday, and Mr Tompkins, the little clerk of a big city bank, slept late and had a leisurely breakfast. Trying to plan his day, he first thought about going to some afternoon movie and, opening the morning paper, turned to the entertainment page. But none of the films looked attractive to him. He detested all this Hollywood stuff, with infinite romances between popular stars.
If only there were at least one film with some real adventure, something unusual and maybe even fantastic about it. But there was none. Unexpectedly, his eye fell on a little notice in the corner of the page. The local university was announcing a series of lectures on the problems of modern physics, and this afternoon's lecture was to be about Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Well, that might be something!

“The moment there’s a foreigner in a film it gives a novelty to the script. We make regional films and we need to hype our films.”

Arin Paul (1980) Indian film director

Tolly-ho! on The Telegraph, Calcutta http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081128/jsp/entertainment/story_10173848.jsp(2008)

Ingmar Bergman photo

“When we experience a film, we consciously prime ourselves for illusion. Putting aside will and intellect, we make way for it in our imagination.”

Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker

"Introduction" of Four Screenplays (1960). <!-- Simon & Schuster -->
Context: When we experience a film, we consciously prime ourselves for illusion. Putting aside will and intellect, we make way for it in our imagination. The sequence of pictures plays directly on our feelings. Music works in the same fashion; I would say that there is no art form that has so much in common with film as music. Both affect our emotions directly, not via the intellect. And film is mainly rhythm; it is inhalation and exhalation in continuous sequence. Ever since childhood, music has been my great source of recreation and stimulation, and I often experience a film or play musically.

Tom Robbins photo
Peter Cushing photo

“It isn’t that I object to it. I just feel it’s the wrong adjective as applied to the films I do. Because horror to me is, say, a film like The Godfather.”

Peter Cushing (1913–1994) English actor

Or anything to do with war, which is real and can happen, and unfortunately, no doubt, will happen again some time. But the films that dear Christopher Lee and I do are really fantasy. And I think fantasy is a better adjective to use. I don’t object to the term horror, it’s just the wrong adjective!
Peter Cushing Interview 1973 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p048plh0 (1973)

Alan Hirsch photo

“Nowadays we raise our children in a cocoon of domesticated security, far from any sense of risk or adventure.”

Alan Hirsch (1959) South African missionary

Source: The Faith of Leap (2011), p. 141

J. J. Abrams photo

“Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) is probably the most influential film of my generation. … That movie was the personification of good and evil and the way it opened up the world to space adventure, the way westerns did to our parents' generations, it left an indelible imprint.”

J. J. Abrams (1966) American film and television producer and director

Pirelli interview (2015)
Context: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) is probably the most influential film of my generation. … That movie was the personification of good and evil and the way it opened up the world to space adventure, the way westerns did to our parents' generations, it left an indelible imprint. So, in a way, everything that any of us does is somehow directly or indirectly affected by the experience of seeing those first three films.

David Cronenberg photo
Robbie Coltrane photo

“The people who are involved in the development of making films and television are not necessarily the most imaginative of people, to be honest. Well, they're not! I'm not being generically rude. But it's just a fact.”

Robbie Coltrane (1950–2022) Scottish actor

Source: Robbie Coltrane: 'I take no nonsense' https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/09/robbie-coltrane-interview-great-expectations (9 November 2012)

Related topics