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Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

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Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#41
post #8

Two things: * I don't think polarization is a good signal for poor quality; I would rather suggest it means a more niche product, more highly focused. That the niche being served is largely adolescents is unfortunate. * I think big-budget movies have been getting more conservative and predictable, but I would hazard a guess that it's due to financial industry turmoil and consequently less desire for risk taking.

> I don't think polarization is a good signal for poor quality;

I think they just mean that polarizing may be explained by the re-use of old materials. Re-use = bad movies.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#42

> The key, we think, is to look for movies that some love and some hate, which is the likely profile of a bad movie that's "safely" manufactured for an existing fanbase. But according to the graph, Toy Story 3 was the least polarizing movie of 2010 and that seems like a prime example of a movie "safely" manufactured for an existing fanbase.

I think it's fair to say that the Toy Story movies (and possibly Pixar movies in general) is an exception to the Polarizing Sequels trend, similar to the Batman franchise. I'd be curious to see a filter that lets you select films by studio and/or distributor.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#43
The appropriate measure is not whether bad movies are made; (or popular) it's whether good films are still produced. There is some room for concern - mid-budget films for adults like, for example, 'Master and Commander' are essentially dead. The economics of film push studios to make blockbusters or low-budget films. Still, there are enough good low-budget films still being produced that I won't give in to despair just yet.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#45

Why would extremely polarizing movies be an indicator that movies are getting worse? If anything, more polarization would seem to mean that critics are finding movies more difficult to come to consensus on, which could mean that movies are getting MORE complex and nuanced in their storytelling, which in tern could be taken to mean that movies are getting BETTER.

The reason extremely polarizing movies are an indicator that movies are getting worse is because that is what Moki's data shows.

Their graph shows that "polarizing" movies are strongly correlated with low ratings by Moki users (not just critics), and that both are increasing over time (i.e. getting worse).

Moki does not claim one causes the other, or try to psychoanalyze users based on their ratings. They simply note that it does exist.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#46
It's all relative, and trying to apply "scientific visualization" to literary criticism is not an especially useful activity. (Applying it to literary markets is another matter...)

Interestingly, I liked the Matrix sequels, the 3rd Spiderman movie, and thought the Star Wars prequels were pretty good (though not as good as _Empire_). And having been around at the time depicted in the latest Indiana Jones movie, late 50s early 60s, I enjoyed it tremendously.

I'm in my early 50s, and one of the things I've noticed over the years is that I become _less_ critical of movies and literature as I get older. That is to say I'm much more tolerant of elements in a movie or story that would drive me nuts when I was younger.

When you are very young, everything is new and wonderful, then you become an adult and suddenly you start to notice that "hey, I've seen this type of story before. And I liked it better then!" Of course most likely the story wasn't all that new when you saw it first, but it was new to _you_. There are very few truly new storie.

As you get older, though, you often start looking not at the flash and the surface of stories, but at the quality of execution, at the subtleties of exposition, and the nuance of character. You also can view the story in a larger context, both your own context, and the context of history. And, more importantly, you stop comparing the _qualities_ of works to the _feelings_ you had when you were twelve years old. I can tell you for sure, _nothing_ is ever going to be as much fun as whatever it was that was pushing your buttons when you were a kid.

As they used to say in old school science fiction fandom, "the golden age is twelve."

Sad, but true. In compensation, though, you do get a possibly deeper appreciation, and, if you let it happen, a broader range of tastes. If you had told me 30-40 years ago that one of my favorite genres would be josei anime and manga I would have laughed in your face; once you'd explained to me what that was...

Having said all that, the vast bulk of movies at any given time follows Sturgeon's Law pretty closely. Mostly shit. We remember the gems of the past and in aggregate they seem to add up to a larger sum than the current year's turkeys. I seem to go to the movies about as much as I did in my 20s and seem to be enjoying them at about the same rate.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#48
post #30
post #26

Some recent good movies: -Animal Kingdom (Australian crime film) -True Grit (Western) -How to train your dragon (Pixar film)

The 3rd one is by DreamWorks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_(film) Pixar is currently in the sequel game. Toy Story 3 last year, and Cars 2 scheduled for this year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pixar_films

Yeah, you are right, I always confuse the two.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#49
post #14

People recycle old ideas instead of having new ones. IMO this is a weak argument - you could say the same thing about startups. When it comes to creative work, it's all about the execution. Just because a story is being retold doesn't automatically make it bad. Similarly, just because a story has been told before doesn't mean you can't tell it again.

Robert Heinlein once wrote (On the Writing of Speculative Fiction) that, gimmicks aside, there were only 3 stories that were about people:

Boy meets girl.

The little tailor.

The man who learned better.

Re: Visualization: Movies Are Getting Worse

#50
post #2

Interesting. I'd just been thinking about this. The last two new releases I tried watching were so bad that I couldn't finish either of them. I know this is only 2 data points, but they were both bad in the same way: they were completely predictable. That's something you commonly see in a declining medium. People recycle old ideas instead of having new ones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spolia

How much of this is a failure of the medium, though, rather than of individuals' jaded palates coupled with the availability of almost all hit movies from the past for instant home viewing? We tend to glamorize earlier generations of the movie industry because some of their products have stood the test of time so well, while overlooking the abundance of terrible films that came out around the same time. I do think th…

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