Controversial Opinions (For Everything Other Than DC Comics)

[TheRay]

Generalizing is helpful in so few circumstances I am surprised not only that people still generalize, but that anybody would ever assume somebody was generalizing as their entire point.

[Kirby101]

But aren't you just generalizing about generalizing .

[Agent Z]

I get why people born after a certain year can see older movies as boring, because the pacing in older movies was different. And if you're not used to that style, it can seem plodding. Likewise with foreign movies which often have an even slower pace. Of course, this is a sweeping generalization. But our attention span has gotten shorter and we have less patience with just letting something play out over a longer period.

Counterpoint: Length and quality of story are not the same thing. If your story is wrong and largely empty of substance, no one is going to like it.

[achilles]

But aren't you just generalizing about generalizing .

Well that's pretty specific...

[PwrdOn]

Old films weren't necessarily slow paced as a deliberate artistic choice though, a lot of it just had to do with the budgets and resources available at the time, along with audience expectations. If directors of the past could have made manic, CGI-filled blockbusters they definitely would have, and indeed there were plenty of expensive spectacles that aren't that well remembered today because the effects don't quite hold up.

Also, I do feel like this critique that audiences simply don't "get" certain films has kind of become a refuge of mediocre filmmakers who want to emulate the artsy, indie style but end up with something that's just not very good, and then try to play the misunderstood auteur to try and deflect legitimate criticism. Fundamentally, movies are supposed to a fun escape, not something that you have to put in work in order to understand, and good arthouse films take advantage of this by being enjoyable to casual viewers but offering an extra level of depth to people who really want to immerse themselves in the story. Just because a film is confusing, weird, or boring doesn't mean it's artistic.

[TheRay]

But aren't you just generalizing about generalizing .

Look I'm not saying there aren't problems with having the problem, but it's still a major problem in itself.

[godisawesome]

Also, I do feel like this critique that audiences simply don't "get" certain films has kind of become a refuge of mediocre filmmakers who want to emulate the artsy, indie style but end up with something that's just not very good, and then try to play the misunderstood auteur to try and deflect legitimate criticism. Fundamentally, movies are supposed to a fun escape, not something that you have to put in work in order to understand, and good arthouse films take advantage of this by being enjoyable to casual viewers but offering an extra level of depth to people who really want to immerse themselves in the story. Just because a film is confusing, weird, or boring doesn't mean it's artistic.

I think I’d say that certain films are still high quality. But aren’t going to impress or engage people because they’re “niche” in who they appeal to; they *do* provide escape, but a limited one to only some demographics. Occasionally, filmmaker and art critics choose to try and argue this is a matter of greater artistic merit, when really, it might have the same artistic merit as a well-made blockbuster, but simply feature a creative philosophy more people don’t care about.

For instance, while I’d personally argue that The Last Jedi is in fact a heavily flawed, sometimes ignorant, and hypocritical movie regarding its themes, I also know that stuff like the Luke Skywalker story has fewer flaws, but is far more niche than the franchise usually aims for. Whereas other parts of that film convince me you have to have a shallow as hell bias to enjoy them, I see that their is genuine craftsmanship and execution in Luke’s story, and Inthink even most of its critics “get it”…they just reject the idea that he belongs in that kind of niche filmmaking.

[ed2962]

Another movie I like that gets called pretentious sometimes is Apocalypse Now . I don't think it's attacked on those grounds as much as certain other films because it actually works on a few different levels...as an action war movie, as dark satire, as an anti-war movie and as an art film. Different audiences can get completely different things from it and enjoy it.

Having said that, there's that infamous quote Coppola said I do think is pretentious..."Our movie isn't about Viet Nam, it is Viet Nam. We had too much money, we went into the jungle and we went crazy." It's like dude, you had a hard time making a movie. Guys that fought in that conflict got shot at and died.

[TheRay]

The worst type of person is the one who swears they know someone when it's obvious they know next to nothing about that person.

[Kirby101]

The worst type of person is the one who swears they know someone when it's obvious they know next to nothing about that person.

I know right. I was just saying that to my good friend Ian McCellen when I was having dinner with him and his beautiful wife.

[TheRay]

Sympathy is one thing, but it’d be loads better if there were more empathy in the world.

[Jack Dracula]

Sympathy is one thing, but it’d be loads better if there were more empathy in the world.

Can't argue with that.

[achilles]

I wish to see Shakespeare's "Gay Boys in Bondage," which is about a "man's love for his fellow man". Also, "Buckaroo Banzai Against The World Crime League". We were promised that one. Also, I want to see a "Limu Emu (and Doug)" sitcom where they stop 70s crimes and sell insurance. And I'm more interested in Big Pizza than I am in Domino's Pizza. I might like a sitcom about them too...

[PwrdOn]

Sympathy is one thing, but it’d be loads better if there were more empathy in the world.

I don't think the problem is that people aren't empathetic, it's just that even the most conscientious people only really have a limited capacity to care about stuff and trying to worry about everyone else's problems all the time is extremely draining emotionally. This is why we need systems and institutions that push people to do the right thing and punish them for behaving selfishly, rather than just relying on random acts of kindness to solve all of our problems, because at the end of the day we all reach a point where the goodness in our hearts runs out and we just can't be bothered to deal with anyone else's issues.

[DrNewGod]

I don't think the problem is that people aren't empathetic, it's just that even the most conscientious people only really have a limited capacity to care about stuff and trying to worry about everyone else's problems all the time is extremely draining emotionally...

Maybe so, but the US seems to be growing a large contingent that increasingly believe that strength requires rejecting empathy for those who disagree with or differ from them. I think TheRay's right about this one.