Author Topic: Wonder Woman  (Read 2234 times)

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Wonder Woman
« Reply #30 on: June 14, 2017, 06:21:13 am »
I doubt it started with Lethal Weapon.  I'm sure there are interracial buddy-flicks that predate Lethal Weapon.  I'm sure there's lots of other movies with social messages-- I mentioned Godzilla, for example-- that predate Lethal Weapon.  I'm sure there's lots of movies featuring black characters poking holes in racial stereotypes that predate Lethal Weapon.  I think that Trading Places, with Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd, probably did the same sort of thing long before Lethal Weapon did.

Of course, but I'm submitting that the way Lethal Weapon did it was so covert that it was almost imperceptible. 

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I made an attempt earlier.  If something gives me a genuine experience-- be it a genuine belly-laugh, or the visceral thrill of Fury Road, or the powerful range of emotion that Schindler's List provided, that's quality.

If something leaves me feeling like Philadelphia... "well, that was nice, I guess, and I agree with their message, but it didn't really grip me..." then that's not quite in the same league.

And if somebody sets out with the noblest intentions and the most laudable message and the most important subject, but just doesn't hit the target, then that's not quality...  no matter how much one might wish they'd succeeded in their goals.

You can go ahead and try to define it for yourself.  I think that if you write all of the reasons down, your humanity will find an example that delights you that meets none of the criteria.  Dumb and Dumber was one such film for me.  It went against all my rules but I eventually was broken down by the sheer silliness and started laughing.

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For you, perhaps Jurassic Park was a silly fantasy story with an outlandish premise.  For me, when they get to the part where they unveiled the dinosaurs, that moment was etched on my brain forever.  Seeing that, in the theatre as a little kimlet, that was the most wondrous thing I had ever seen and I cried tears of joy it was so beautiful.  For me, that moment was more valuable than any socially-conscious message a director might put in a movie.

I liked it too, and I thought it was well-made.  I certainly think that there's a place for escapist films in the same way that I order desert from time to time.  But not every single meal.
 
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Which cultural conflict?

Really ?


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Some people believe that every cultural conflict manifests itself in the arts. Some people have proposed that the post-WWII environment in the US-- McCarthyism, fear of communists in every closet, and that sort of thing-- found an outlet in alien invasion, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds, etc type entertainment.  Similar analysis has been done regarding the effect on the arrival of AIDS on US cinema in the 1980s, and I'm sure there are numerous connections that could be drawn.   Popular culture says something about the audience that made it popular... and that goes not just for what you term "real art", but equally for what is transitory.
  Yes, that's what I'm saying.  I don't know about 'every conflict' but major psychic issues do manifest themselves in popular art, as you have illustrated.