Rome: but in Torino

 

Pompeii in Naples was the only place I've been to that required me to take the train to and from there, and let me just say: never again. It was ugly and not appealing, but I'm willing to agree to disagree. But that's not the point. The point is that this past weekend, besides being a production assistant/background actor at some pool table bar place called Club Musse, I took a spontaneous trip to Torino. And when I say spontaneous, I MEAN spontaneous. 

What happened was that I was in my Cinema Mundi class when we were watching this goofy slasher film from the mid 20th century and an ad popped up on my phone. It was called the National Museum of Cinema, and bored me, I delved into it some more. Noticed how you get to see the history of cinema, including what people did before movies were a thing, but not only that because attached to it is the Art of James Cameron. If you don't know who that man is, then you can thank him and apologize to him for the movies: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Aliens, True Lies, and so much more. Fun fact: he created a TV show called Dark Angel, but it got canceled after 2 seasons which I'm sad about AND he had an unmade movie that if you looked at there storyboards, it would've been a hit. Back to the story, I was intrigued and bought a ticket for the museum and for the transportation.

Transportation wise: you definitely need to mentally and physically prepare for the ride. It was a LONG ways, so long I won't tell you how long it was but just know my butt was aching for awhile. Museum wise: BEAUTIFUL. The museum talked about things like how before cinema, people were working on how to advance science, technology, and the performing arts to make sure it was where it needs to be in order to truly stand the test of time. Images in motion and magic lanterns were portrayed in a way that was effective towards the advancement of movie making, and other advancements like stereography, abstraction, and photography that elevated films. One of the first Photo Booths was made in the 1940s and chronophotography was created so you can see a clip of pictures that shows the movement in a way that without it, you wouldn't be able to decipher. 

The Art of James Cameron was beautiful. Essentially you walk in a spiral to see the history of his personal and professional life. For example, he started drawing when he was young and his mom would keep all of his drawings, knowing that they would prove beneficial one day. The Terminator and Avatar both started out as ideas from dreams James Cameron had and wanted to explore more and more of. All of his movies deal with passage, technology in some way, and water because he's very into oceanography and how we need to respect technology in order for technology to not be a danger to society. Through the whole museum, there's pictures and clips of movies that he contributed and it was just amazing. It amplifies why cinema is not only needed, but why it should be respected as a true art form, but a real career.