
If our concern is primarily with the depths of a film, then it may be that its surfaces become less important, even forgotten about: cargo takes precedent over vessel. We may admire its engineering or design on the way in or out, but once we have taken our cargo home - once it has entered the flow of our lives - then we will have forgotten all about the vessel that transported it to us. In this sense, the meanings of a film are there for us to take, to absorb into our existence - to affect our lives - not to remain within the film as an aspect of its structure, or its excellence. The purpose of the vessel is to transport great delicacies, delicacies that are ultimately destined for our consumption; not to enhance the reputation of the vessel as an esteemed carrier-of-great-things. Because, left inside, even the finest of things will eventually wither and rot. In this sense, the vessel is akin to an egg; its shell cracked open and laid aside, its contents devoured.
The meaningful film demands that we crack its shell; that we free its meanings from their temporary home and allow them back amongst us, into the world, where they are able to do their work. And yet, there is a danger involved in this act. Once freed, these ideas and meanings no longer appear as benign as they did when confined, and they threaten to work upon us; to change our thoughts, our lives. This is the danger of the meaningful film, and the meaningful cultural object. When we allow it to act upon us, we see that its vessel - the object that was necessary to carry it from there to here, them to us - was only ever a momentary distraction. Our vision goes from the object, back to ourselves.

So whilst we may venture into the depths and talk about the meanings of a film, in couching our conversation within an objective framework - within the conventions of the film world - we ultimately work to neutralize the potency of these meanings. Thus, a film may be "dangerous," "challenging" or "counter-cultural," but it is always, in the last, a film: a knowable, safe, commodity. As long as we keep reminding ourselves of this - reifying its objective nature - then we work to confine its potency to a safe-ground. We can play with these dangerous meanings, as long as we wear the right protective gear, and stay within the demarcated safe-area. We mustn't take them with us, out into the world; because here they may just be able to do some real "damage."
Thus to talk about the "power" of a certain film, whilst adopting a surface approach to it - reifying its status as object and limiting the reach of its meanings - is to deny that power access to ourselves, and the wider world. It is to encourage danger whilst keeping it at arms length. To allow the danger of a film its true potential we must be prepared to forget surface qualities and abandon the object; to throw the eggshell away. We must, in other words, be prepared to discard the film in order to fully assimilate its message.

Often it may be our weakness - our unwillingness to allow change into our lives - that makes us play games. In this case, we must be prepared to admit that we are playing because we are weak, and to feel no shame in this. Only through such transparency can Truth remain clear and unmuddied; and, if our ethics are to remain alive and intact, we must always be prepared to make this individual sacrifice in the name of Truth.