The Quality of the Entertainment Industry

[Xephon0930]

Not too long ago,I saw a video review of Transformers Dark of the Moon and I saw in that review,the flaws pointed out in the film that I also saw in my first screening of said film. I for one think that the Michael Bay Transformers films are,as said by Roger Every,"the most soulless piece of film I have ever seen." Of course as I posted in the comments section below my thoughts on this film in particular,I have rather recently received a comment saying this,"Get fucked,these are good movies". Then it sort of dawned to me,have the standards of the entertainment industry has gone so low as to the point where a film that has completely taken out of context the famous quote of a dying Spock,"the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,"to the point of being insulting being hailed as a good film? I feel that I may be getting too old for this generation even though I am at the age of 22,that or the good majority of the world are now insane or disillusioned. Am I the only person here who feels that the entertainment industry has gone to the tubes and the standards have gone with it or am I the crazy one here? This world is making less and less sense to me and this is a problem,however trivial in the grand scheme of things in life,makes me worry as I try to make it in an industry similar to film and such. It seems that with crap like the Bay Transformers films being hailed as great films,I feel that if I made one that is much better in terms of both fan faithfulness and plot,it will just hit the wayside. I am also afraid any original projects of mine will also either be ignored by the vast majority of the world or be in a position where someone adapts it to some Other media and botched it completely. I weep for the field of entertainment and film.

[SaigoSentinel]

Well, you are right in a sense. The Entertainment Industry has contracted an illness that I like to call "Let's all make Remakes until we milk the franchise dry" syndrome. It is contracted when the producers and directors really can't come up with anything interesting and original to make a movie out of, and so they take ideas from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, preferably old Syndicated Cartoon Shows like Speed Racer, the Smurfs, etc. what I truly don't understand is why they can't just give us something ORIGINAL and THOUGHT PROVOKING? So far, the only director(s) to do so in my opinion are Christopher Nolan (for Inception) and Edgar Wright (for Shaun of the Dead; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). We just need to hope that someone will come along who will give us the original films we oh so desire. Of course, I am by NO means saying remakes are all terrible. I am merely saying when the "Remake" mentality takes over the Film Industry, it makes me not want to go to the movies. :/

[VoiceVSP]

Just my two cents & a grain of salt:

I feel that it's not the lack of competence in creating good original films Hollywood is struggling with, but their decision to fall into the safety net of "things that we know work". With big budget films sucking up more and more funds and directors hoping to line their pockets on franchising and branding their success, it's hard for any big film director to give up easy money and try something new or experimental (and it is easy money- look at all these people flocking to see these sort of movies). These sort of trends eventually change and morph, for better or for worse. Take a look at Law School. Many of my generation was raised to believe that if you got straight A's and got into Law School, you'd be spat out a successful first-class citizen with the promise of at least a middle-class lifestyle. I used to always hear "if you want to be rich, become a lawyer or doctor". While even that was once true, the "safety net" that was created by the success of those in the past is loaded up now with everybody jumping on the bandwagon. Eventually that "safety net" has to fail, right? Then what's next? We'll have to wait and see. In the mean time, take a sift through some lesser-quality indie films, where small budgets and creative visions aren't usually marred by the hypnotizing monetary safety net the big film world relies on to keep itself churning.

[thehurricanekid]

Similar to what VoiceVSP said, the worldwide economy is forcing everyone to be more careful with monetary resources, and that includes multi-billion dollar studios. As an artist, if you want to secure meaningful funding for your project, you need to give the studio a pretty iron-clad guarantee that the project will turn a profit. And for better or worse, people are more likely to flock to films and other entertainment that features conventions with which they're already familiar. A big reason why we see similar stories and concepts over and over again is that these are the only stories and concepts that studios can invest in with any amount of confidence. There aren't any guarantees that original ideas can actually pay off.

And this is not exactly a new phenomenon, either. I read an article (I think it was by Bill Simmons) about how Will Smith scientifically studied box office trends to make himself a star. Apparently, at the outset of his film acting career, Smith and his agent looked at box office numbers and found that a vast majority of successful films featured common elements, such as a love story, aliens or an end-of-the-world scenario. That's why if you look at Smith's resume, a vast majority of his films (definitely the most successful ones) feature at least one manifestation of these elements. And because he's in such profitable films, he's one of the most successful actors today. But is he really that skilled of a actor? How many of his acting performances have been truly memorable? Maybe "Ali," maybe "Seven Pounds," maybe you can argue for "The Pursuit of Happyness" (though I found it to be saccharine and trite) but that's about it. Everything else is standard popcorn fare that never really challenges the audiences and never really challenged his own range as a performer. And yet, he's one of the biggest stars in the industry because he sticks to tried and true concepts that make money.

[ZephyrStar]

It's the things that have been mentioned in this thread that made me realize how much I actually don't want to work in Hollywood. And I went and got a buncha degrees to be an animator. But what I realized in the end is that I'd much rather tell my own stories my own way instead of helping Hollywood make more soulless garbage. I can't say my film will be any better, or make any more money, or whatever, but I'll have the satisfaction in knowing I didn't help make Garfield 6...

We live in a really exciting time, and it's only going to get better. Now it's fairly cheap to get everything you need to make your own stuff, and production values just keep going up and up. It doesn't mean everybody can become successful, but everybody CAN become a filmmaker, if they want. Just gotta be hardcore.

[Xephon0930]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble if there was one but yeah,Hollywood people are pieces of shit and that's why unless I have 100% monopoly of my ip for my stuff,Hollywood won't even have a microcosm of flesh from their very fingertips on adapting it to a movie. But yeah,some great independent films were made in 2010 such as Moon which was direct IRCC by Sam Rockwell and it was a very beautiful film. Writing and acting-wise,of course. Then you got Emile Hursche who has recently done a bomb called The Darkest Knight. I was very tempted to buy a ticket so I can yell obnoxious shit such as,"The Darkest Hour? Quick,somebody get the Matrix of Leadership!!! Or at least someone who has The Touch!! Where is Stan Bush when you need him?" If it wasn't illegal for me and my friends to tape ourselves in theaters and do a Mystery Science Theater on these crappy films,we'd probably get more viewers from the net as opposed to the actual film screening itself.

[StarYoshi14]

Different strokes for different folks.

[Eryngo]

It's all about what's popular at a certain time to make a profit~

[Xephon0930]

Just so you know,that kind of thinking will certainly backfire. Just look at that one time in anime when every and I mean EVERY studio wanted to make another Evangelion. I'm sure there are plenty of examples for films and video games as well. Call of Duty anyone? All I know is this,trends come and go and when Hollywood or any other big business industry starts to run out of ideas,it will show and people will eventually get sick of it. At least,I'd hope.

[Eryngo]

I'm in no way saying that's how I think, but it's certainly true on many occasions regarding the entertainment industry~