In time, all great masterpieces turn into shameless creatures who laugh at their creators.

That is the thing about films. They don't change. You change. The immutability of the film (or a book or a painting or a piece of music) is something to measure yourself against. That is one of the things a great work of art does. It stays there waiting for you to come back to it, and it shows you who you are now, each time a little different.

Great literary works are not measured by the number of words, but by the impact they create.