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Post #794068

Author
fishmanlee
Parent topic
Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD *
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/794068/action/topic#794068
Date created
19-Oct-2015, 12:09 PM

"Innovation, which is changing one's mindset, could be a very good value for science and economy but it's not necessarily for cinema, or drama, or music, or architecture. However it could be, supposing you can actually develop your innovative concept to a point when it paralels the effects and complexity of the previous way of thinking or paradigma.

You can relate this fascination with what's new even to the juvenile praising of plot-twists and the poor JJ Abraham's Mistery Box. There are whole studios (and viewers) that base their enjoyment of a movie (which, given a certain quality, could reach the level of being called a film) solely on the fact of being as ignorant as possible of the story. To these viewers the supposition of knowing the details of the plot would "spoil" the entire spectacle because their highest value is surprise, and because, to them the sense of fun lies in being dissoriented by the sudden rearrangement of plot-facts and questions instead of the traditional (+2000 years of history of art) extasis produced by overwhelming knowledge.

Traditional storytelling presents you a trouble, and, if the resource is used at all, Deus ex Machina helps you suddenly solve the puzzle thus generating pleasure by knowledge; even ESB works this way and even today Nolan is the Master of DeM IMHO (used this way). Nowadays is the other way round, DeM only helps bring more questions, and it gives pleasure by not knowing.

This is a different paradigma, and I'm not saying I'm against it because cinema has proven to produce great films using this plot-structure. On the other hand, mankind has proven to produce great art along history not using surprise as a value element at all. Take Aedipus and you know exactly how it is going to end, and it doesn't diminish it as a drama, and there are lots of good greek tragedies, and bad ones as well. Or take Les Miserables. Or even take any movie of Paolo Sorrentino (in my opinion the best film maker working these days); take for instance The Great Beauty: there are absolutely no big plot-twists, no innovations whatsoever and still the basic premise is developed brillantly, visually, musically and in the script as well; that movie in particular doesn't even have a plot other than presenting creatively the contradictions of life itself."