Movies and taking advantage of news and popular culture.
Movies are one of my favorite things. They allow for unique stories to be told in interesting ways. Major franchises and public domain titles can be told differently with new direction behind the camera, allowing for major changes in the exact same concept of film. I consider myself a big film critic; my standards for movies are very high thanks to the contributions of brilliant directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, and countless others.
As someone who watches a lot of movies, you begin to notice a certain trend with how movies are produced and how the popularity of certain news stories and popular cultures can affect the film industry. There are a lot of criteria in which I deem a movie not worth my time or just plain bad, one of which being if it's a pointless movie or a senseless cash-grab. The thing about movies though is that they take years to create and produce, so most of the time the trend or news story it's playing off of is outdated.
Take the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013 for example. The bombings were obviously a major news story that spanned days, including coverage of the manhunt and capture of multiple suspects. Two movies were released concerning the Boston Bombings, Patriot's Day in 2016, and Stronger in 2017. They are two completely different films, the former being an action/crime drama while the latter being an intrapersonal drama. Both films did decently at the box office.
A more recent example would be the film Miss Bala, an action film about Mexican cartels. The film was received poorly and appears to be playing off of recent foreign relations disputes with Mexico and the popular trend of strong, lead female heroes that has taken the film industry by storm.
Films can use touchy subjects and major events for financial gain with poorly prepared films. They can also take advantage of popular culture. For example, The Emoji Movie, which released in 2017, was a cheap cash grab. The premise of the film resembles Toy Story, portraying emojis as characters with personalities and traits and encountering a conflict in which you root for the yellow heroes. As you could probably guess, the film was received very poorly and dismissed as one of the worst films of the year.
Another topic that has been covered very often recently is racism and equal rights for people of color. Spike Lee's biopic BlacKKKlansman ends with visuals of recent events including the Charlottesville riots and an upside American flag. The film Green Book recently won the Academy Award for best picture, though to much scrutiny as it was not perceived as the best film out of the nominees, though tackling many racial issues.
Another popular issue is that of gun control. Though it would be difficult to create a film examining and dissecting gun laws in a sided-manner, multiple documentaries have been made supporting improved gun laws including Bowling for Columbine, Living for 32, and a fictional film focusing on the aspects of being parents to a mass shooter, Beautiful Boy.
Movies can take advantage of the public eyes easily. You see advertisements for movies almost every day, on social media and television. It doesn't take too long to make a half-decent script, much less longer to get approved if the studio thinks it can garner an audience. Scores don't matter if you rake in millions.
Comments
Post a Comment