Comments on: Why Do Hollywood’s Message Movies Have To Play It So Safe And Be So Dull?

By: kurt

kurt — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Sharkey cut to the chase. Critics helped enable this train and now want to get off washing their hands clean. The March \’06 WaPo quote points out a truism: the social changes Hollywood is supposedly always catching up with, are ultimately still minor if loud grumbling against the status quo (the 5th generation directors couched their messages in period pieces too.) These message movies of mediocrity firstly have the "burden of representation" (think the latent prejudice in tokenism, model minority myth), secondly the "respect" they gotta give to whom sold their rights of representation. Thirdly, they aren\’t speaking to the choir — it\’s why the marriage equality pride marches held up placards of Brokeback (designed to cross over thus a shared "meme") instead of Hedwig (unapologetic narcissism; "cult"), why The Gentleman\’s Agreement is a tepid curio today instead of the inconvenient truth many dinner party conversations would rather avoid.

By: doris

doris — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

say what you want about franchise sequels, comic adaptations and shared universe gimmicks… nothing is as cynical, boring and charmless as one of these awful "prestige" movies.

By: fishnets

fishnets — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Doris is right, though forcing mediocrity that\’s MCU as example of how to make blockbusters is bad in its own right. In fact, there\’s similarity between that and prestige movies. They are all mediocre but that\’s the main problem. It\’s easy to discard something that\’s flat out bad. But with these can\’t say it\’s good but can\’t say it\’s bad movies (blockbusters and prestige alike) there\’s more room for giving a pass that leads to making more of them. cause when pressed to put mediocre in either bad or good category, likeability of stars, production values, entertainment factor can all sway the vote to Good. And that\’s how we get prestige mediocrities nominated year after year and boxoffice ones making money. Just last year, many critics lamented the fact that TIG and TOE were really mediocre but they still gave them good enough reviews for solid RT and MC and inevitable noms. It isn\’t really just movie\’s fault. When critics decide that enough is enough and that mediocre should not get the pass anymore, something may change.

By: sharkey

sharkey — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

I think critics have an obligation to take these films to task, if they\’re sick of this middlebrow shit. But often it\’s the critic\’s fault for giving well-mounted, but safe films a pass, when these films are actively worse than a lot of riskier genre films that get mixed reviews. There\’s a conservative bias in the critical establishment as well, and I don\’t necessarily mean in a political sense. I mean in that films based on plays/novels and true-to-life stories are graded on a different curve, a more generous curve. They should be subject to the same level of scrutiny, and taken to task for failure of courage.

By: fishnets

fishnets — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Excellent post, Sharkey. you said it better than I ever could.

By: M.

M. — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

What define\’s mediocrity? is it not all art, a collaboration between human beings.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

The message movies are dull and safe because they are intended for dull and safe people. These people aren\’t able to raise their brows very high, and if you actually want to reach these people, you need to cater to what they respond to.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Perhaps one of the most thought provoking articles I have read in years in this website.
The author makes many interesting, and troubling, points.
O how I desire change in Oscar!!

By: John

John — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Fantastic article

By: Lyra

Lyra — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

What a spot-on. I just couldn\’t figure out what is it about those big-issue movies that makes me dislike them when I\’m supposed to be driven to tears or something like that. I\’ve always put characters over everything else, and these movies\’ protagonists are usually utterly bland. Great cg=haracters in film and literature alike are imperfect, complicated, sometimes utterly unlikable, but that\’s what makes us (real, imperfect, and sometimes unlikable) understand them and see the world through their eyes.

By: kurt

kurt — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

A most recent example is the Matt Damon quote regarding actors\’ right to maintain their mystery (about private life, sexuality.) Imagine a movie adapted from this controversy, if viewed 25 years from now. If it\’s told from Damon\’s point of view, we\’d see a mash-up of Birth of a Nation and colorful vignettes expanded from his Corden appearance. If the movie is told from Mark Harris\’ point of view, it would be a litany of what equality truly means, what everyone outside the status quo MUST do and say at all times, to build an "unified front" formidable enough (the equivalent of prestige message movie adhering to its party line) for the "mainstream" to sit up, take notice of a "singular voice", and start changing their minds.

By: Reality Check

Reality Check — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Who scotch tapes a bundle?

By: Wingfoot

Wingfoot — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Excellent critical piece by Jessica Kiang.
I don\’t think it\’s off message here to say that one of the best transgender films in recent years was Dallas Buyers Club. It wasn\’t about transgenderism and Leto won for the role.

By: Mi

Mi — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Many critics are getting PAID,but nobody talks about it.

By: Duh

Duh — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Yes, many professional critics get paid for their work. What of it. You get paid for your job too, no?

By: David

David — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

Wonderful article. Socially progressive Oscar-bait filmmaking in Hollywood has gotten out of control.

By: yeah

yeah — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

This "analysis" could\’ve been written every year of the past 75 (and probably has). If you watch movies, this isn\’t news. The author herself quotes a 2006 article that makes the point better than she does, and at 1/3 the word count. I think Playlist writers are paid, like Dickens, by the word.

By: Laurenn

Laurenn — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:15:34 +0000

I so agree with99% of this. The one thing I don\’t, is that I like Guess Who\’s coming to dinner, and I watch it on my own. I think that movie is challenging, is interesting both in terms of a character study, and in terms of looking at the racial divide. But again I studied film so perhaps my view is skewed here (I agree How green was my valley is the more emotional/moving/challenging film but I freaking love citizen Kane). On the awesome side, I\’m wildly in love with Todd Haynes so seeing his sublime work with bonus lesbians and Patricia Highsmith is EXCITING. So excited for Carol.