I think we live in a culture that is actually hedging all of it towards comfort and immediacy, things that scare me. All the things that they sell us as a way of life scare me.
Interpretation
The quote critiques a culture focused on comfort and instant gratification, expressing concern over its implications.
Guillermo Del Toro reflects on a societal tendency to prioritize comfort and immediate satisfaction, cautioning that the values and lifestyles promoted to us may be detrimental. He suggests that this pursuit of convenience can lead to a superficial existence that lacks depth and real fulfillment, evoking fear about the culture's direction and its impact on humanity.
In practice
In a discussion about consumerism, this quote can highlight the dangers of prioritizing comfort over meaningful living.
I don't try to sanction other people's joy in monsters. I mean, I think the fact is, humor, fantasy - you know, like fear, desire or laughter - create genres of their own: comedy, melodrama, or erotic films or horror films... The boundaries cannot be defined. It's to each his own.
As a director, I design every movie to be true to itself, and damn it if they like it, and damn it if they don't.
If you ask me, I alternate between truly bizarre, what you would call 'Hollywood' movies and truly bizarre, what you would call 'arthouse' movies.
But I think we are seeing a resurgence of the graphic ghost story like The Others, Devil's Backbone and The Sixth Sense. It is a return to more gothic atmospheric ghost storytelling.
The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a f@@king tourist.
When you start with Super 8, you are everything. You're the DP, the sound man, the effects guy. And what I started understanding, by working for other people, is that the best type of director is someone who rose through the ranks.
My country is the world; my countrymen are mankind.
Mine alone is the country of my soul.
Remember God more often than you breathe.
We have to keep asking ourselves: 'What does it all mean? What is God trying to tell us? How are we called to live in the midst of all this?' Without such questions our lives become numb and flat.
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.
Are people the best judges of their own happiness, or outsiders? In defining happiness, should we think of entire lives or of shorter periods such as moments, days, or years? And to what extent are virtue and happiness linked?
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