Cash Cows and Dead Horses
A Perspective on Lack of Originality in Current Cinema
Issue date: 1/31/06 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image Edition]
There was a time when enjoyment was derived from books; from the written word splashed inkily on fresh white pages. The stories told awoke imaginations, created inspiration, and aged with time as treasured keepsakes. Yet now, the trend is to bring them into the main stream, fast-action media of television and movies; to popularize plots by seeping in romance and nudity to make the stories appeal to mass consumers. In doing this, I feel for the most part that we have compromised the whole nature of the stories and adulterated the meaning that the authors actually meant to put forth. Especially since most authors of classical pieces (which are rapidly becoming main-stream blockbuster hits) are dead. How can we accurately represent stories when we have no immediate reference as to how they were meant to be portrayed?
Don't mistake me, though, quick to judge as an audience always is. I've seen some beautiful renditions of Les Miserables, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill A Mockingbird, and countless others. But, my question is why we just can't let the books stand alone. We seem to need to put every story into live action and color, and dress it up with special effects that mask the true depth of the story.
In my opinion, it appears that we have run out of movie plots, so instead of trying to create mind-numbingly similar new movies, we have decided to do variations of old stories. Yet we adapt them all to appeal; nothing can be left to its formal simplistic glory, where the imagination alone ruled the tale. Instead of creating the characters in our heads and seeing their worlds the way we decide, everything is laid out for us. All the thought is done for us right on the screen, so that it is almost an indoctrination of what movie producers want us to see. For example, try reading Harry Potter again once you have seen the movie. Can you even picture Harry Potter the way you used to? I know all I see is Daniel Radcliffe now. Before the movie, I pictured Draco as having raven black hair; the only way I see him now is with blonde.
There was a time when enjoyment was derived from books; from the written word splashed inkily on fresh white pages. The stories told awoke imaginations, created inspiration, and aged with time as treasured keepsakes. Yet now, the trend is to bring them into the main stream, fast-action media of television and movies; to popularize plots by seeping in romance and nudity to make the stories appeal to mass consumers. In doing this, I feel for the most part that we have compromised the whole nature of the stories and adulterated the meaning that the authors actually meant to put forth. Especially since most authors of classical pieces (which are rapidly becoming main-stream blockbuster hits) are dead. How can we accurately represent stories when we have no immediate reference as to how they were meant to be portrayed?
Don't mistake me, though, quick to judge as an audience always is. I've seen some beautiful renditions of Les Miserables, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill A Mockingbird, and countless others. But, my question is why we just can't let the books stand alone. We seem to need to put every story into live action and color, and dress it up with special effects that mask the true depth of the story.
In my opinion, it appears that we have run out of movie plots, so instead of trying to create mind-numbingly similar new movies, we have decided to do variations of old stories. Yet we adapt them all to appeal; nothing can be left to its formal simplistic glory, where the imagination alone ruled the tale. Instead of creating the characters in our heads and seeing their worlds the way we decide, everything is laid out for us. All the thought is done for us right on the screen, so that it is almost an indoctrination of what movie producers want us to see. For example, try reading Harry Potter again once you have seen the movie. Can you even picture Harry Potter the way you used to? I know all I see is Daniel Radcliffe now. Before the movie, I pictured Draco as having raven black hair; the only way I see him now is with blonde.