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  1. #1
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    Default "They couldn't make that today...except they could and did"

    This is a phrase you've probably heard often enough about Blazing Saddles, a movie that pretty much was remade three times with Django Unchained, Paws of Fury and Outlaw Johnny Black. But I recently saw another example of this easily disproven claim when Roger Kumble, the director of 1999's Cruel Intentions, claimed that his movie about teenagers having sex doing drugs and participating in all manner of outrageous behavior, would not be made today.

    I really wonder what it is that makes people think this? Do they just not pay attention to the current media landscape?
    Last edited by Agent Z; 03-05-2024 at 07:57 PM.

  2. #2
    Incredible Member James Cameron's Avatar
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    That's pretty funny since there's been at least 5 or 6 Cruel Intentions-based movies and TV shows not including the SMG-led failed pilot in 2016, based on the same source material, the French novel Dangerous Liasons. There was even an American version a couple years ago. The only real difference is that Cruel Intentions had the Y2K aesthetic and was set in modern day focusing on high schoolers. And in the time between that movie and now we've had stuff like Skins and more recently Euphoria. So Cruel Intentions could absolutely be made today.

    "This/that movie wouldn't be made today" seems to be more about movies that were either made to be controversial/exploitative or were studios taking a big risk. You could look at Showgirls and say they couldn't make that today, but it's just as shocking they were able to make it back then. Freddie Got Fingered was basically Tom Green utilizing his success to troll and make a completely ridiculous movie, and stuff like that still happens. I think when people use that phrase they're assuming that there wasn't any difficulty making the original movie in the first place. But mostly I think it's a response to what audiences respond to. There's been a lot of anti-sex scene discourse from young moviegoers these days and it's making headlines. The Idol was a massive failure and it was largely due to the negative response over the gratuitous sex and treatment of women, but Euphoria was pretty successful and it wasn't much different (better written I guess though I haven't really watched a full episode of either show) . It's always fluid; audiences can be receptive to things then hate those things the following week. So that phrase is pretty meaningless when you break it down.
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  3. #3
    My Face Is Up Here Powerboy's Avatar
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    When Mel Brooks was asked if he thought they could do "Blazing Saddles" today, he said "Are you kidding?" Looking and seeing how much "D'Jango" was ripped for using the N word, I think Brooks probably just meant you couldn't do it today without suffering through an endless s**tstorm, calls for "canceling", etc., which may be quite valid. But I suspect that's what he meant.
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    Astonishing Member Frobisher's Avatar
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    I said this tongue-in-cheek after watching Poor Things, in which Emma Stone pissed in the floor. I hope she gets an Oscar for pissing on the floor.

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member Tuck's Avatar
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    Honestly, the first episodes of Black Mirror and Game of Thrones offended me so much I noped the %$#@ out of them. That people will praise these shows while nitpicking minor antiquated attitudes in decades-old movies and TV shows is strange to me.

    Quote Originally Posted by Powerboy View Post
    When Mel Brooks was asked if he thought they could do "Blazing Saddles" today, he said "Are you kidding?" Looking and seeing how much "D'Jango" was ripped for using the N word, I think Brooks probably just meant you couldn't do it today without suffering through an endless s**tstorm, calls for "canceling", etc., which may be quite valid. But I suspect that's what he meant.
    D'Jango came out in 2012. 2014 is the generally agreed-upon point where these changes in media began in earnest.

  6. #6
    Not a Newbie Member JBatmanFan05's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Cameron View Post
    "This/that movie wouldn't be made today" seems to be more about movies that were either made to be controversial/exploitative or were studios taking a big risk. You could look at Showgirls and say they couldn't make that today, but it's just as shocking they were able to make it back then. Freddie Got Fingered was basically Tom Green utilizing his success to troll and make a completely ridiculous movie, and stuff like that still happens. I think when people use that phrase they're assuming that there wasn't any difficulty making the original movie in the first place. But mostly I think it's a response to what audiences respond to. There's been a lot of anti-sex scene discourse from young moviegoers these days and it's making headlines. The Idol was a massive failure and it was largely due to the negative response over the gratuitous sex and treatment of women, but Euphoria was pretty successful and it wasn't much different (better written I guess though I haven't really watched a full episode of either show) . It's always fluid; audiences can be receptive to things then hate those things the following week. So that phrase is pretty meaningless when you break it down.
    Yes. I think Robert Zemeckis holds the view that Back to the Future couldn't be made today because it doesn't fit neatly enough into one marketing category (which I presume Robert would mean that would be too big a risk in 2024 for a major studio).
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  7. #7
    Astonishing Member Tuck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JBatmanFan05 View Post
    Yes. I think Robert Zemeckis holds the view that Back to the Future couldn't be made today because it doesn't fit neatly enough into one marketing category (which I presume Robert would mean that would be too big a risk in 2024 for a major studio).
    Matt Damon was explaining in an interview a while back that a lot of smaller and mid-sized movies (i.e. not big event movies) can't make money in the modern environment because of streaming. DVD sales used to be part of the equation in making a profit on a smaller movie.

  8. #8
    Ultimate Member j9ac9k's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Agent Z View Post
    This is a phrase you've probably heard often enough about Blazing Saddles, a movie that pretty much was remade three times with Django Unchained, Paws of Fury and Outlaw Johnny Black. But I recently saw another example of this easily disproven claim when Roger Kumble, the director of 1999's Cruel Intentions, claimed that his movie about teenagers having sex doing drugs and participating in all manner of outrageous behavior, would not be made today.

    I really wonder what it is that makes people think this? Do they just not pay attention to the current media landscape?
    How is "Django Unchained" a remake of "Blazing Saddles?" Aside from a few parallels, it's far from a remake. Feel free to convince me otherwise - I'd be interested to know.

    Anyways, I think the whole "couldn't be made today" mostly means, "It wouldn't be released by a major Hollywood studio." I remember thinking that about "White Chicks" when that came out, as well as "Tropic Thunder." I think anything can be made and put out there since there are so many outlets, it just depends on how the subject matter is handled and how it's marketed.

  9. #9
    The Kid 80sbaby's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Powerboy View Post
    When Mel Brooks was asked if he thought they could do "Blazing Saddles" today, he said "Are you kidding?" Looking and seeing how much "D'Jango" was ripped for using the N word, I think Brooks probably just meant you couldn't do it today without suffering through an endless s**tstorm, calls for "canceling", etc., which may be quite valid. But I suspect that's what he meant.
    Mel is wrong. The reason Django got heat for its usage of the N-word is because of Tarantino and his over usage of it in all his films.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by 80sbaby View Post
    Mel is wrong. The reason Django got heat for its usage of the N-word is because of Tarantino and his over usage of it in all his films.
    Exactly.

    Tarantino himself has used the word in his films. Maybe it's because he grew up and watched a lot of blaxploitation, a number of his films use n-word a lot.

    It's one of those weird fixations that he has (that and his foot fetish).

  11. #11
    Astonishing Member Tuck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 80sbaby View Post
    Mel is wrong. The reason Django got heat for its usage of the N-word is because of Tarantino and his over usage of it in all his films.
    There is a difference between using it in Pulp Fiction, a contemporary setting, and using it in a movie set in the American South during slavery. Avoiding ugly parts of that period can feel like cleaning up the history.

  12. #12
    The Kid 80sbaby's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tuck View Post
    There is a difference between using it in Pulp Fiction, a contemporary setting, and using it in a movie set in the American South during slavery. Avoiding ugly parts of that period can feel like cleaning up the history.
    Sure but my point still stands.

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    A website did a mea culpa saying that Borat was a movie that couldn't be made "today" while Sacha Baron Cohen was filming the sequel.
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