Some of our best movies are not these massive, money grabbing multi-genre flicks that offer nothing more than the mental equivalent of a Big Mac, tons of processed meat, fake flavoring, and enough salt (titties) to kill a horse. I watched two movies yesterday, Black Swan, and Drive Angry, (I seriously think Redbox thought I was dicking with it) both of which were A: not blockbusters, and B: fucking amazing.
Black Swan was a exquisite, twisted mind fuck that never, ever, intended to let you in as a confidant. You were an outsider for the whole movie, just a voyeuristic viewer, here to see the show. It was beautifully done.
Drive Angry was an action flick that knew why you were watching it, you wanted to see Nick Cage kill people with demonic... stuff. To hell with a "plot" tits and guns, and someone being set on fire.
Then, after you sit down ready to watch this freak show... somewhere along the line it whips a plot out of nowhere, showcases a truly strong female character who exhibits NONE of the Hollywood tripe we're usually forced to have. She'll fight anyone, fires first, looks for hot people to screw, and beats the hell out of the main villain. She's what Hollywood usually only allows a male actor to be: useful. Then, a symbolic plot rears it's head, even going as far as to use the "Lucifer is merely a Warden of Hell, not some evil being" theory, without sounding like a tool. It all works well.
These two movies, not blockbusters, didn't make ten billion opening weekend, yet should be must sees for people. In all this grabbing for money, paying actors so much they could get together and fill the national debt in a year. Hell I'd give them a hell of a tax break if they did. We've basically lost what made movies good.
Those people who say "But, maybe I don't want every movie to 'be' about something, sometimes I just want a distraction." That's akin to saying "not everything I eat needs to be 'healthy', sometimes I just want food."
Diabetes and obesity are near epidemics in this country, the former being over 60%. And if you need to see the morbidly obese, go to Wal-Mart. As for how this metaphor moves to movies... just watch Jersey Shore and see if you can tell me that "we don't need no education" with a straight face.
We should save the blockbusters for stories that deserve it, ones that already bridge huge gaps without needing to be whitewashed for "maximum appeal". True epics like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, hell, even Twilight, as much as I hate it, it -had- a massive following before the movies. I can hate it all I want, and I -can- and -will- talk smack, because I can. But, I will not deny that people liked it for all the right reasons: They enjoyed it, they read the series, they made informed opinions about it.
If they're going to do that, they deserve to like it. We still get to make fun of them, that's part of being American, but you still have to allow them to like it... and get their damn movies.
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