I think everyone has watched at least one movie in their life, so does this mean everyone has a hobby?
In this article, I want to talk in more detail about what a hobby means and whether watching movies can be considered a hobby or not.
I never actually considered watching movies a hobby before doing research on this topic, but my perception has changed, and I want to share with you what I found.
Is watching movies a hobby?
Watching movies can be considered a hobby since it is an action you do in your leisure time that brings you enjoyment which is the definition of a hobby.
So, a hobby is an activity you do for pleasure in your leisure time that you are not obliged to do. It has to be your choice and not done for profit.
Many hobbies can turn into profitable activities, but from that moment, they can’t be considered a hobby anymore since you have to do that when a client asks for things along this line.
You can find more about what a hobby means in my articles about playing video games or board games as a hobby.
When are movies considered a hobby vs. a pastime?
Suppose you plan to watch movies and you really like them. In that case, it can be considered a hobby because you do it intentionally for enjoyment in your free time, especially if you are doing it regularly.
On the other hand, if you watch movies because you are bored and don’t know what to do, then it can be considered a pastime, especially if you have no problems stopping in the middle of a movie to do something else and never continue that movie.
I would say that a hobby is something you do on purpose, and you actively think about it. If you have no choice, someone makes you watch a movie, and you are doing it for them, or it is the last thing you want to do when you have nothing better than it is a pastime activity.
What makes watching movies a more serious hobby?
There are a few things that will make watching movies a more serious hobby, if you watch a movie enjoy it and then continue your life without thinking about it, no one will take you seriously when you say that watching movies is your hobby.
Here is a list of a few things that will make watching movies an actual credible hobby.
1. Being actively interested in what acting means.
Understanding what an actor/actress has to do in a movie makes you capable of appreciating a good actor/actress, which will also give you an understanding of what makes a good movie.
I know we all have different tastes when it comes to what movie genre we enjoy, and I don’t talk about that, but there are good and bad films in every movie genre and being able to tell the difference is a key to better understanding this hobby.
2. Knowing what good writing means.
The same as the first one, understanding what good writing means makes you appreciate more a good movie. Because there are no logic gaps between scenes, every scene connects well with the following scenes, there is not much fluff, and so on makes a good script. Being able to understand this makes you enjoy this hobby even more and makes you want to do it regularly, as many people do their hobbies.
3. Knowing more about the movie cast, directors, and producers.
As a good fisherman knows where to fish for the best results, the same can be true for watching movies. If you know the directors and producers that make movies you like, you will have higher chances to enjoy watching movies when you follow them. The same can be true for actors, if you enjoy watching some actors and you pay attention to what movies they are in, you can enjoy more movies and have fewer disappointments compared to someone that doesn’t really know what they want to watch and why.
The bottom line is that the more knowledgeable you are in the field, the better because this makes you know what to choose when you want to watch a movie in your free time, and it can be closer to what all the other hobbies feel like.
This is my opinion, of course, there isn’t such thing as what makes a hobby more of a hobby, it even sounds silly. However, I hope you got the point since watching movies is something all of us do, in my opinion, it would be weird to say that watching movies is your hobby without meeting the criteria above.
Tv series vs. movies as a hobby
There are a few differences between watching tv series and movies, but both of them can be considered hobbies since they have almost the same purpose, the difference is in how they make us feel toward the characters and the plot.
Tv series make you more attached to the series and characters than a movie since the action takes longer and you have time to know each character much better.
In a movie, every character is briefly described, and you have to judge them on a few actions they take compared to a tv series where you can get an entire episode about some character’s back story, which makes you understand their reasons and actions much better.
So a movie is more convenient because it is short, in two hours you can finish it, while a tv series involves more commitment.
However, tv series, by their nature, make you watch them more regularly and can make you more passionate about them, which can look more like a hobby than watching a film in two hours and forgetting about it.
Read Also: Is Being Diplomatic Good Or Bad?
Conclusion
Watching movies is a hobby if you see it like one, if you do it on purpose and regularly, it can be like any other hobby.
I hope this article helped you understand what a hobby means, this is very important for me since I have an active life with many hobbies but none that are traditionally accepted as a hobby.
My wife and I play video games, play board games, watch a lot of movies/tv-series and talk about them, do fitness at home, enjoy trying all the restaurants and different types of food, and go for a pretty long walk in the city or park every day. However, even with this list, I still have difficulty telling someone what my hobby is, even if all of them feel like one for me.
So you might have more hobbies than you think, but you might not have ones that are commonly accepted as a hobby, like fishing, hiking, and so on.
