tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028739108117776255.post1973378658954262076..comments2011-12-25T13:09:18.388-08:00Comments on 10,000 hours: A Love for The AwfulThe Horns and the Hawkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14400356644878716759noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028739108117776255.post-12289509805373692182011-01-31T15:02:43.881-08:002011-01-31T15:02:43.881-08:00Very well written! In my opinion, I think the whol...Very well written! In my opinion, I think the whole thing can be chalked up to the film Heaven's Gate. This film destroyed United Artists (at one time, the most dominant film production studio in the world - started in part by Charlie Chaplin) and made back only a fraction of a percent of it's overall budget. I think this event alone shocked the film industry into what it's become. <br /><br />Thanks to the monumental catastrophe of this film (Heaven's Gate), Hollywood has become overly cautious with investing in the experimental. They only want to add 0's to budgets of films that have established fan bases and markets that are easily saturated by their ad campaigns.<br /><br />They thought Heaven's Gate taught them that the experimental doesn't translate well into blockbuster genre budgets. But that's because the blockbuster genre created a monster that redefined what people expect from films.<br /><br />Since the blockbuster phenomenon(started by Jaws and punctuated by films like Star Wars, etc.) the film industry has committed itself to making economically robust films, not films that go out on a limb. If you stick with only what sells to your selected market groups and never experiment, then ya, you avoid the risk of a Heaven's Gate style debacle, but at the same time, you culture an audience that thinks the same way. <br /><br />As a result, millions of people go to see the same shitty, cookie-cutter, pre-packaged movies that are, in some form or another, what they "expected" from a blockbuster - flashy graphics, spinning cameras, bad dialogue and story-telling that's been polluted by obvious and contained grabs for select market groups. <br /><br />I'm not confused that intelligent people enjoy these movies. I attribute it simply to the misguided cultural expectations that were started by the blockbusters in the late 70's. They tried to translate the blockbuster model to something unique with the creation of Heaven's Gate but it failed. Since then, Hollywood tossed their artful pioneering to the indie film-makers and kept the rest.<br /><br />If your window to film is limited to what movies get a Superbowl ad, then you're doomed to continue to be misguided. If, however, your film watching experience becomes more experimental, you'll soon recognize how you've been deceived.Abraxsashttp://abraxsasblog.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com