A little while back, Roger Ebert wrote a great article on Newsweek entitled “Why I Hate 3D.” It’s a fun read, an entertaining rundown of all the ways in which 3D is a pointless novelty that mostly exists to help Hollywood feel better about its bottom line, and which — worst of all — is skewing their attention and money towards movies for kids.
But my particular favorite is reason #1: It’s a Waste of a Dimension. “When you look at a 2-D movie, it’s already in 3-D as far as your mind is concerned,” Ebert writes. “When you see Lawrence of Arabia growing from a speck as he rides toward you across the desert, are you thinking, “Look how slowly he grows against the horizon” or “I wish this were 3D?” Our minds use the principle of perspective to provide the third dimension. Adding one artificially can make the illusion less convincing.”
Well said, Roger!
