I believe people’s taste and giving the people what they want both apply to this situation. However, I believe it falls more onto giving the people what they want. As stated in The Theory Toolbox, action films cost less and sell more products in their films. When is the last time you saw a building blow up? Or an extreme car chase that has two cars completely colliding and blowing up with both characters in the vehicles survive. People rarely get the chance to see these types of situations.
It is no wonder why many production companies tend to lead toward action films, because many people don’t have to have a background knowledge of things blowing up. Whereas in a comedy you have to have a certain background on the joke that has just been implied. You need to have an understanding on how the culture "operates." An example of understanding these different ways of life is in the film Blazing Saddles (1974) when Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little dress up in Klu Klux Klan outfits and try to sign up to help catch a black sheriff. This is very comical to the American people because we know that Cleavon Little is a black man trying to portray a Klu Klux Klan member, even though he is the sheriff everybody is looking for. However, someone in Europe or Japan might not understand this comical moment.
Film Productions are also a great way to show off your product. Director Michael Bay (of Transformers and Bad Boys) uses very appealing and expensive cars in his films. This is his trademark and his way of making money to produce his films. However many comedies’ use this types of method to poke fun at some corporations. Austin Powers: Goldmember pokes fun at Starbuck’s stating how it has made Dr. Evil a multimillionaire. Movies help sell the products and the products help make the movie. So whether it is to say that the production studios are just giving us what we want and saying whether we are just a violent society is hard to define at this particular moment. But one thing is for sure and that is that people like to watch things blow up. It gives us excitement and the opportunity to escape from reality.
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1 comment:
Excellent title, as always. Your content leaves me a bit shaken though. . .
I would say any American conscious in the early fall of 2001 has a background with a building blowing up. Yet, despite the fact that even our culture has a history that includes the aftermath of such an event (to say nothing of other cultures with in-country wars in the recent past), why is violence a more acceptable/universal language? Why would that be what people want, having seen what that really means?
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