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Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

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Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#51

Post by em500 »

88840-8855 wrote: post #3

The main criticism of this YouTube video is that the main character doesn't really have to put in any effort and has all those skills from the very beginning. While I agree that this trope can make kids think they're special without trying in life (and that they will be a hero in the future), I think there have been similar tropes in the past. Just take basic story writing of many old movies: There is always a hero t…

According to The Seven Basic Plots[1], all stories follow one of the archetypes

- Overcoming the Monster

- Rags to Riches

- The Quest

- Voyage and Return

- Comedy

- Tragedy

- Rebirth

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#52

Post by viraptor »

k__ wrote: post #31
jpgvm wrote: post #7

Knew this was Critical Drinker before I clicked on it. Mate introduced me to it and he is absolutely spot on for the most part. Modern movies (and TV for that matter) have become so commercialized and expensive that the series they are now rehashing (Star Wars for instance) wouldn't be possible to create today. George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make…

So true. I feared the Hollywoodization of the game industry. But it never happened in the mindless extend of movies and music. Indie games are still going strong.

I think all media you mentioned have similar effects and all have both Hollywood and indie areas.

I mean, some sports games are definitely hollywoodized with "let's just swap some colours, change 2021 to 2022 and charge another $70". On the other hand Bill Wurtz still releases new tunes on YouTube and Ben Levin continues doing... Ben stuff. In movies you can still get quality indie productions like Joel Haver's full movies. My random selection of course, but the point is, there's definitely indie stuff available if you want it.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#53

Post by cvuls »

willcipriano wrote: post #47
mysterydip wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't many people have just a stereo setup still (myself included)? Why would a newer standard be backwards-hostile like that?

As a counterpoint, I have both 5.1 via ARC and Dolby Atmos system hooked up via eARC and dialogue is still quiet in some modern releases. Older movies sound great though.

this will be because more recent movies will be utilising high dynamic ranges for audio, worked around by compressing/limiting but in doing so, you lose quality.

trade-offs for everything.

there was a time when stereo was seen as unnecessary faff, too.

edit: movies are mixed for theatres and no longer are the home releases adjusted to suit.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#54

Post by birksherty »

cvuls wrote: post #34
BoppreH wrote: post #24

Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue

I watch using headphones and dialogues are still difficult to hear. Now I use vlc method to make them audible.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-qui...

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#55

Post by dmitriid »

probably_wrong wrote: post #8

I think the video doesn't go deep enough: the problem is not that movies teach the wrong lessons, but rather that the movies are so hyper-optimized for engagement and ROI that there's no room for nuance. He may not like the newest Star Wars trilogy, but it nonetheless made a lot of money. That said, I think the author (and also me in the previous paragraph) uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", whic…

> uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", which are by no means the only movies out there

They kinda are. Franchises have sucked all the air out of the room, and movies are given money on the premise that they will make money. Edit: not just money. But shit-tons of money that can be milked from multiple angles for many years.

Already 10 years ago filmmakers were struggling to find funding for their projects. Birdman and Gravity were very close to not being made even they had Oscar-winning directors and stellar casts. It's significantly worse today.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#56

Post by dudul »

As far as I'm concerned we could stop making movies right now (or 10 years ago really). We would still have enough great movies to watch for several life times.

As a side note, I strongly recommend checking out Drinker's books - published under his real name Will Jordan. While I was skeptical at first, I have to say I really enjoyed them.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#57

Post by cvuls »

birksherty wrote: post #54
cvuls wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue

I watch using headphones and dialogues are still difficult to hear. Now I use vlc method to make them audible. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-qui...

that would be because headphones are stereo.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#58

Post by viraptor »

BoppreH wrote: post #24

Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…

> I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles

The silver lining here may be that people stop treating subtitles as torture and see some non-English titles more often. There are some fun movie cultures out there beyond Hollywood, but I've found the "ugh, I've got to read‽" response common.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#59

Post by chii »

dmitriid wrote: post #55
probably_wrong wrote: post #8

I think the video doesn't go deep enough: the problem is not that movies teach the wrong lessons, but rather that the movies are so hyper-optimized for engagement and ROI that there's no room for nuance. He may not like the newest Star Wars trilogy, but it nonetheless made a lot of money. That said, I think the author (and also me in the previous paragraph) uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", whic…

> uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", which are by no means the only movies out there They kinda are. Franchises have sucked all the air out of the room, and movies are given money on the premise that they will make money. Edit: not just money. But shit-tons of money that can be milked from multiple angles for many years. Already 10 years ago filmmakers were struggling to find funding for their pr…

> movies are given money on the premise that they will make money

so what would be an alternative funding model?

A patreon or kickstarter like model where directors and stars are pre-paid via crowd funding?

A state sponsored funding model?

Non-profit model?

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#60

Post by ZeroGravitas »

JanneVee wrote: post #43
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #32

This just doesn't ring true to me, at all. Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days", 'kids today', 'civilization is doomed' content aimed at young males? Or is that just a natural cycle that repeats throughout history? The biggest film in history was "Birth of a Nation" until it was replaced by "Gone with the Wind", "Star Wars" may have been a rebellion…

Nostalgia that is the most natural thing in the world is defined as 'fascist' now?

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." -- Yoda

These are all 'natural things', doesn't mean we should rush to embrace them and the people who use them to manipulate us.

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