Why modern movies suck - they teach us awful lessons

[Paul Farquhar]

That isn't what he is saying, he is saying, I believe, he is bothered that politics are becoming the priority of storytelling, rather than the characters or the story itself.

And politics is what can help or harm real people. "Storytelling and Character" is bread and circuses to keep the masses from asking awkward questions.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hyper competent characters have been a thing since at least Sherlock Holmes. In some genres they were practically mandatory

It's not that he's hyper-competent, it's that you know he will always make it out in the end, brooding the whole way, and everyone else saying how awesome he is. For the record I don't blame Salvatore for this; I think that's been pretty much dictated to him since Drizz't became super popular

 

[BookTenTiger]

So what are the bad lessons that modern films are supposedly teaching?

 

[Bedrockgames]

And politics is what can help or harm real people. "Storytelling and Character" is bread and circuses to keep the masses from asking awkward questions.

The point is a person can be engaged politically and care more about people than literary characters, but not think that politics should be the priority of art. Obviously there is a place for political art. But I think a lot of artists and creative people are wary of it when it becomes too ubiquitous because it can also turn art into political propaganda.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

That isn't what he is saying, he is saying, I believe, he is bothered that politics are becoming the priority of storytelling, rather than the characters or the story itself.

Politics is often the driver of stories, Animal Farm is pretty political so is most of Dickens. That said, I pretty much find Dickens unreadable but that is more the number of words not the actual story or the politics. I can watch the movies or TV adaptations.

The politics ruins stories is more where there is not enough care in the story telling or characterisation. A classic example in my opinion is the Charlie Chaplin film "The Great Dictator". It ends with this big speech that really takes the wind out of the movie.

The speech does not really say anything that the movie has not already said and it is a pretty good speech as speeches go but the movie would have been a lot better without it.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Politics is often the driver of stories, Animal Farm is pretty political so is most of Dickens. That said, I pretty much find Dickens unreadable but that is more the number of words not the actual story or the politics. I can watch the movies or TV adaptations.

I am not saying it can't be. I like Orwell and I used to love to read a lot of social fiction like Brave New World. But the point is, not all art, music or novels are political. And might be present to different degrees in much art, but it isn't always the priority. I think you need there to be room for art to express a lot of different things, not just political viewpoints.

 

[Mallus]

Hollywood has used a lot of cardboard over this past decade or so.

How is this different from all the previous decades?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The point is a person can be engaged politically and care more about people than literary characters, but not think that politics should be the priority of art. Obviously there is a place for political art. But I think a lot of artists and creative people are wary of it when it becomes too ubiquitous because it can also turn art into political propaganda.

I dunno all art has politics embedded in it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But the point is, not all art, music or novels are political.

I don't think you can say anything is "not political". Saying nothing is a political act.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The politics ruins stories is more where there is not enough care in the story telling or characterisation. A classic example in my opinion is the Charlie Chaplin film "The Great Dictator". It ends with this big speech that really takes the wind out of the movie.

The speech does not really say anything that the movie has not already said and it is a pretty good speech as speeches go but the movie would have been a lot better without it.

I actually like that movie and don't have a problem with the speech at the end. But I think the issue with politics in art gets more thorny when it is so ever-present, or when there is an orthodoxy that must be adhered to in the art community. And while political movies can be great, especially if they are well crafted and strike the right emotional resonance, they can also be preachy, overly simplistic and propagandistic.