Movies need real storylines

Wrymouth3

Wrymouth3

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Why can't films focus on the real characters that have received no agency and just stand idly by. Case and point being the kid who got subbed out for Air Bud. Why doesn't the director or screenwriter attempt to give a storyline or backdrop to all of this? The kid of course probably had a reaction when he was subbed out for a Golden Retriever! The janitor on the Death Star likely isn't a terrible person either, and he probably was forced to work on the Death Star. In any case, the janitor probably has a family to feed and support, but why don't we ever focus on this? :eek:
 
Not enough movies that focus on groups or organizations. Always has to be from the point of view of a few characters.
 
Modern literature is in large measure committed to telling the janitor's story, instead of Luke's

All that happens is that the scale of the surrounding world is shrunk so that whatever the janitor does is "heroic" for him, in that world.

Just showing the Death Star janitor mopping the Death Star won't sell tickets.

Sometimes film-makers spin a bit part in one film out into a starring role in another: the Aldous Snow character in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and then in "Get Him to the Greek."
 
Ypu can explore these things in a (mini) series, but not in a movie. there's just not enough time.
Who wants to sit through a five hour film ?
 
Wrymouth3 said:
Why can't films focus on the real characters that have received no agency and just stand idly by. Case and point being the kid who got subbed out for Air Bud. Why doesn't the director or screenwriter attempt to give a storyline or backdrop to all of this? The kid of course probably had a reaction when he was subbed out for a Golden Retriever! The janitor on the Death Star likely isn't a terrible person either, and he probably was forced to work on the Death Star. In any case, the janitor probably has a family to feed and support, but why don't we ever focus on this? :eek:
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Some TV shows have. There's an excellent episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that focuses on a group of four crewmembers who are up for promotion, and follows them throughout the episode, telling their individual stories and the overall story from their POV.

There was also an equally excellent episode of Babylon 5 in which the janitor did indeed save the day (and Ambassador Delenn).

If all else fails, try fanfic.

GoodSarmatian said:
Ypu can explore these things in a (mini) series, but not in a movie. there's just not enough time.
Who wants to sit through a five hour film ?
Click to expand...
Modern audiences have such short attention spans...
 
More to the point, what theater would show a 5 hour movie? You can't charge much more for the tickets or people will get mad. So we can do a few showings of this movie about a janitor, or twice as many of another movie featuring explosions and attractive ladies, which is going to be more profitable, hmmmmm?
 
I'm just going by what my grandmother told me about going to the theatre back in the '50s. Some movies were so long that they had an intermission in the middle so people could get a bathroom break, grab some more popcorn and a drink, etc.

Modern audiences are just so used to watching on devices or services that allow for pausing and playing on demand, that most people have forgotten - or weren't yet born - when this was impossible.
 
Why would movies need real story lines? We all have real story lines already. If I pay for a movie and all it gives me is a real story line I could have gotten for free over a beer at the bar I will be sorely disappointed.
 
Hell I'm old enough to clearly remember a time before DVR, I was already years into adulthood before that became prevelant, and even I would need a LOT of convincing to sit through a 5 hour movie. Unless it stars Daniel Day Lewis or something, a 5 hour movie about some random schmuck is going to be a hard sell.
 
Wow, Wry, grad school really burned you out. :p
 
Valka D'Ur said:
Modern audiences are just so used to watching on devices or services that allow for pausing and playing on demand, that most people have forgotten - or weren't yet born - when this was impossible.
Click to expand...

It's not just attention spans, it's five hours sitting in place and not being able to go to the toilet without missing something.
Just imagine Game of thrones would have been adapted into a series of films instead of a couple of dozen one hour episodes. You see this boring wedding scene and think you can go pee and all you'll miss is some passive aggressive banter. And then you come back and 90% audience is freaking out while 10% (the book readers) are grinning like psychopaths.
 
Phrossack said:
Wow, Wry, grad school really burned you out. :p
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I was there a semester and did fine scholastically. There is too much nonsensical and esoteric stuff going on in the historical discipline at universities these days that it is disgusting. Frankly, the environment became increasingly toxic by the week and the political stuff is just not something I particularly care for, especially when you have fellow students there who have shallow views and absurd attitudes. PM me for the full story or long version of my experience, but in reality it's just not a good time to be in graduate school unless you can only see yourself in a career in academia in nothing else. My plan right now is to continue my work at a law firm I'm at full-time and down the road I'll either return to get my Master's degree going part-time or pursue a paralegal certification. I'm not ruling out returning to community college and pursuing something like a technical degree. My two cents: Graduate school is not a necessity these days in order to have a fine sustainable career.
 
Wrymouth3 said:
My two cents: Graduate school is not a necessity these days in order to have a fine sustainable career.
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Heck, I have a bachelor's degree that had absolutely nothing to do with my fine career, and I could have multiple doctorates that wouldn't change anything about why I no longer have it.
 
Goodfella said:
Who wants to sit through a five hour movie? I don't have time for that. If I want to watch something super long and detailed, I put on an HBO series or Netflix.
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Heh, I'm binge watching season 5 of Downton Abbey when I'm not here. :p

Goodfella said:
Also, Valka, movies have been getting longer in the past few decades: http://www.businessinsider.com/movies-are-getting-longer-2013-1

Or alternatively: http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...an-they-used-to-be/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Click to expand...
I haven't been in a movie theatre since last century. Literally. My boyfriend took me to see Toy Story 2 when it was in the theatre, and since then I've either waited until they were on TV or on Netflix Canada. Netflix is where I saw the Hunger Games movies. The Space Channel and Telus On Demand is where I saw the nuTrek movies (the only reason I watched it on the pay service is because Telus had given me a free coupon code; no way would I actually pay to watch that stuff).

But I can remember some movies being barely 90 minutes.

GoodSarmatian said:
It's not just attention spans, it's five hours sitting in place and not being able to go to the toilet without missing something.
Just imagine Game of thrones would have been adapted into a series of films instead of a couple of dozen one hour episodes. You see this boring wedding scene and think you can go pee and all you'll miss is some passive aggressive banter. And then you come back and 90% audience is freaking out while 10% (the book readers) are grinning like psychopaths.
Click to expand...
I've never seen Game of Thrones.

But I have no problem whatsoever in sitting down and watching the Dune/Children of Dune miniseries in one dose, or several episodes of Bonanza in one sitting. I guess it helps if it's something the person is interested in.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
I guess it helps if it's something the person is interested in.
Click to expand...

It certainly does. And who is really interested in the five hour version of The Story of Jerry the Janitor? Jerry the janitor probably has a hard enough time getting people to sit still for the five minute version. Which is sad, because people are really interesting if you give them a chance.
 
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