Learn from Movies, Essay (IELTS)

Films can tell us a lot about the country where they were made. What have you learned about a country from watching its movies? Use specific examples and details to support your response.

Movies were always very popular and there are many reasons for this. First of all, movies are one of the main resources of entertainment. A movie is a perfect way to relax after stressful day or week. Another important reason why movies are so popular is because they are the easiest way to learn. For example, when people watch a movie that was made in another country they unconsciously learn about country's traditions, customs, people, language, nature and even climate. In the following paragraphs I will give a couple of examples to support my answer.

I am from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. When I was a little girl and watched movies about Texas I had an impression that Texas was a large and arid desert with big cactuses and hot-tempered cowboys. So, when my husband was invited to work here in Texas two years ago I was absolutely sure that we would live in the desert. However, when I first arrived in Austin I was impressed and nicely surprised because I did not expect to see such beautiful nature with dense forests and blue lakes. It was a real discovery for me that Texas has such beautiful and green places. This is an example how people learn about climate from watching movies.

Also, people learn from movies about customs and traditions of another country. For example, living in Russia I learned many things about USA from its movies. I found out about the holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving Day, which are celebrated by the Americans. I learnt about many history events such as Civil War and the War of Independence watching "Gone with the wind" and "Patriot".

In conclusion, I think that not everything that is learnt from movies is true about the country. Many movie makers tend to exaggerate and even make up many facts about the country in order to please the audience. So, my point is that people should learn about the country from different resources such as books and magazines as well as from movies.