I May Not Know Art...

[mentismortis]

My wife and I were watching the Oscars when our eight year old son came in and wanted to know what we were watching.
" It's the Academy Awards," I told him.
" What's that?" he asked.
" Well son," I explained," Every year the movie industry throws a party and gives themselves awards. They pick best actor and actress, best picture, and things like that."
His next question - " Was ' Sky High' nominated?"

I've been thinking about that conversation alot lately, as I try to figure out what kind of film maker I want to be. I mean, film is an art form, as powerful as paint and sculpture. But its also a form of entertainment. It has the ability to change the way that you view the world, but it can also just make you laugh.

When I get done watching a movie I prefer to just be able to look at my wife, say " Wow, that was cool," and leave it at that. I don't want to have to sit around a coffee shop, drinking froo-froo foreign beverages discussing the ' the juxtaposition of the haunting abstract symbolism'. Maybe it's laziness, but I just don't feel the need to work that hard everytime I go to the movies.

Not that I can't appreciate the art within a film. But these days anything that is just fun to watch is panned by critics, ignored by awards, and just generally looked down upon for not attemping to answer the the deeper questions of life.

I think I need to find a middle ground. Like, combining the deep questions with a fart joke or two. Or three. This might be harder than it sounds.


This moment of psuedo introspection brought to you by a poor misguided young man who thought that
" Sky High" was the best picture he saw all last year.




rob

 

[John@Bophe]

Well said...

...pull my finger.

But in all seriousness, I agree with what you are saying here. There should be a time and place for a variety of entertianment forms. Movies can be good AND entertaining WITHOUT requiring deep philosphical insight. But then again, a thought-provoking movie is also good when the mood suits. Its all about the time and place, and there is room for it all.

PS--How was Sky High, by the way? My kids have been stuck on Shark Boy and Lava Girl for a while--we're ready for a change...

 

[Spatula]

I dunno. I just saw JFK (dir. cut) for the first time tonight. Stayed up until 5 in the morning to do so... but it says a lot of good stuff about this kind of stuff...

Are we just gluttons for entertainment? Does it help us forget our lives, and the horrible atrocities that happen in less media-saturated cultures? Are we trying NOT to think?

Don't get me wrong, I like a good laugh... but some movies can say things so poignant about life, death and all the stuff in between, that it often seems that the "other stuff" is just a pat on the head for an ignorance that plagues us.

Perhaps there are no answers for the deeper questions in life, and perhaps we arn't meant to understand. Perhaps there is no meaning. But also, perhaps that is what makes us unique as a species: the ability and means to question existence. And no offense to anyone who thinks otherwise, but I beileve it is ignorant to only allow the provocation of thought when the mood is right. And for a movie like JFK to provoke such thoughts from a guy (me)- who once put his Starcraft (tm) action figures in his bed and proceeded to film them dry humping each other with his cell phone, placed them on his secret blog (that no ones reads) and called it art - well... those are the kinds of movies that I think are at the core of filmmaking, and further the advance and development of the human condition.

Question everything.

I am not wearing pants. Seriously.

 

[John@Bophe]

I beileve it is ignorant to only allow the provocation of thought when the mood is right.

Mr. Spatula, I believe you just called me ignorant.

I can appreciate your comment, but I stand by my statement regarding "a time and place for it all." I strive to diversify my experiences. Even experiences that seem to offer no obvious educational growth have their own benefits. It is my attempt to keep myself well rounded. To limit myself only those forms of entertainment that offer obvious thought-provocation would be to deny myself exposure to other areas of possible interest. Sometimes a creative work (like a painting or a piece of music) can elicit a strong emotional response in a person. It can bring tears to one's eyes. To attempt to analyze WHY the emotional response happens would, in my mind, cheapen the experience. It is an emotional trigger, and I think people need those to keep their lives in balance. Amusement, sadness, fear, outrage, comfort ... these are all states that (again, in my opinion) are best experienced in their purest form, as true emotional responses. These responses CAN come from entertainment that is intentionally thought-provoking, but they can also come from simpler stimuli...and the experiences are likely to be quite different. Why limit yourself?

PS--I take no offense at all from your comment. I just thought it would be a good springboard to keep the dialogue going.

 

[CootDog]

In the mood?

I think you're right John... I had the movie "What the @##%@ Do we Know" for a couple of days before I was ready to watch it. It requires a mind that's NOT tired and overstressed and exhausted. It requires afterthought and leads to disscussions. I love these movies but I wasn't ready to watch it.

What did I watch instead? KickBoxer 3... It was cheesy, poorly acted, and required no thought at all. In fact, I thought it was funny! Like they must had MADE it be so bad on purpose.

And John, I guess I'm Ig-Nor-Ant too.

 

[mentismortis]

How was Sky High, by the way? My kids have been stuck on Shark Boy and Lava Girl for a while--we're ready for a change...

"Sky High "was ok. It was exactly what I expected. A wholesome family movie. I thought it was better than "Sharkboy and Lava Girl".

I'm not saying that movies should never be deep and thought provoking, it's just that comedy and farce are rarely recognized as part of the artform of film. And they should be. Comedy is hard, way hard. Harder than drama. I mean, any half way decent actor can play serious with material about death and struggle and loss. But to be funny, without just being goofy, requires not only timing but also an insight into the human condition. It's riskier as well. You just have to throw it out there and hope that people will laugh.

Ok, That's all I got for now.


rob

 

[Spatula]

Mr. Spatula, I believe you just called me ignorant.

That's what a 5 hour long Oliver Stone conspiracy film does to you at 5 in the morning.. whew I'm bitter. Maybe I should write an article on the dangers of "method writing when adapting shakespearian tragedies" (current project, very hush hush). Sorry 'bout that.

But with all liberal rage out of my system... yeah, comedy is hard... and yeah, it requires more insight/risk. It should have it's own category in the awards show. But I'm of the belief that modern comedies (even the ones I make) are more like "funny-films" than "comedies". (in the classical sense anyway)

Perhaps those kinds of movies need thier own venue, as opposed to cramming more junk into an already junkified acadmy?

 

[MrFootballMan]

I'd agree with pretty much all of that.

When I look back to my childhood(well I am only 20 but you get the point!), I recall being absolutely blown away by films such as ET and Close Encounters, Physically scarred by Jaws, inspired to get a cowboy hat by watching Indiana Jones etc etc. Most of the films I saw where Spielberg films because I stayed about a half an hours drive away from any cinema and the local video store was crap. But it made me wonder how films such as that would be seen today, as there does seem to be a fair amount of film snobbery which is a bit of a pain in the arse when you can't admit to liking a brainless action flick without getting looked at is if you had just shat your pants!

I told my mates last week that I thouroughly enjoyed the Super Mario Brothers film as a kid and they almost had a coronary on the spot.

I love a film that makes me think but I also love brainless films with big explosions, exciting fight scenes etc when I sit my fat arse in the cinema with my bucket of popcorn and a diet cola(nah, just kidding, I don't drink diet)