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Home : Categories : Movies and Entertainment : Avatar is brilliant at what it does, and that is being a -blockbuster- entertainment extravaganza.
 
 
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Avatar is brilliant at what it does, and that is being a -blockbuster- entertainment extravaganza.
(by microtest) on 18/12/2009, 12:48pm		 100%  vs  0%  



I realise that most critics lack a certain level of understanding when it comes to movies and blockbusters. 2 things here:

1. Blockbusters are inherently expensive, by nature - and thus, the more expensive a film is, the greater the potential audience to recoup the costs of the film must be. By it's very nature, it must appeal to the lowest common denominator. If that means sacrificing heartfelt scripts and artistic expression for rudimentry artful dialogue and quips that scramble for instant crowd gratification then so be it. If you want to sink YOUR money into a risky cutting edge piece of world movie cinema with abstract themes and, arguably, reach for the critically acclaimed seal of approval - go ahead... but critical acclaimations don't pay movie set bills.

2. Critics often believe a certain amount of criteria is required to give a film credence. Screen play. Dialogue. Acting. Story arcs. Engaging presence via some magical emotive connection between viewer and characters.

BOLLOCKS again.

These things are as much required in a blockbuster as rallentando and ritenuto is required in an arrangement of Electro-house (that is a genre of music incase you are wondering). So too when commercial music is being confused time and time again with types of musical expression being "mandatory" regardless of genre, critics continue to believe that these big blockbuster movies REQUIRE deep heartfelt character driven roles to mean anything respectable.

"Commercial" is not a word used lightly in this sense. The moment you put this word in front of the word "music" or in front of the word "movie", one thing pushes itself to the top in front of all other requirements.

It must sell.

That's it!

That is the bottom line. In fact, the success of "commercial" anything, whether electronic, biometric, physical, chemical or whimsical must be in that it brings in the moolah.

Avatar is a "commercial" movie. Its goal is, by the very definition of its categorisation, is to MAKE money. If it can do this through dizzying special effects wizardry and leave the overwhelming majority of viewers engaged and satisfied that their money was well spent - it has DONE its job. The fact that there are a few elite minds out there that yearn to have their cake and eat it too - they want the special effects to take a back seat and never compromise character, plot and story... well... they are the ones living in a dream world. Naive and cocky in the sense that they shun such a film based purely on what their ideal film must be. Enjoyment is, at the end of the day, experienced in many forms. You don't need to be sitting in front of a masterly script to feel exhilaration. When on a rollercoaster, the exhilaration is in the experience of the senses rather than an emotional connection with, erm... the rollercoaster.

There are many ways to do film. There are many ways to engage an audience. If you can't bring yourself to enjoy things for what they are, you're missing out on a great deal of potential experiences in life. Not everything is an intellectual pursuit. Human beings have 3 brains after all. A reptilian brain, a mammalian and a human brain. Engaging your intellectual mind may be stimulating.... but so is the rush of emotion from your mammalian brain when beholding a spectacular floating island... or the cold shiver down your spine when your reptilian brain reacts to an explosion that sends a deafening roar through the cinema like a shockwave.

All three don't need to be active all the time - in fact, it is nearly impossible to have all 3 brains engaged fully... so having spectacle and emotional plot-line interwoven (and it's been tried countless times before) can be more of a painful distraction.

Blockbusters are meant to be enjoyed by everyone. It wows the senses. It is a spectacle to behold. Storyline? Plot? That is just the framework used in order to bring the spectacle to life. That is it's goal. Not to drive home moral integrity or build up the emotional connection between a love triangle of two characters enough that we should care once it is broken. It's merely a distraction from the real star - the spectacle.


endochic
 
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