It gets … worse: what can we learn from movies set in 2021?

1917-1991.

As to films, it's back to the CV thread. Likely streaming options galore and not much in theaters.
 
The big budget movies we need probably aren't the movies we'll get... but I'm hoping more meaningful themes can be worked into what we will get.

Stories that explore, in emotionally resonant ways, the value of truthful, constructive free speech in the context of robust, charitable debate as a means for avoiding extremes and finding common ground and humanity between conflicting viewpoints would be huge. Movies that introduce nuance and shades of gray into a population that currently feeds upon (and profits from) hyper polarized perspectives would be helpful in steering people away from tribalism and towards unity.

Wonder Woman 1984 was a bit cheesy but it seemed intended, a total B movie comic book story, but I appreciated how the plot actually grappled with something unique in substance. Far from another save the world from nukes plot-line, it was an interesting arc. I don't want to inject plot spoilers to innocent bystanders, so I won't say more, except it was interesting to see a popcorn movie grapple with something a bit more soulful.

Thanks to streaming and Netflix, more viewing of media content like the Social Dilemna is valuable in helping people pause and reflect on the things that are actually influencing our personal lives and culture at large.
 
On a more media-centric note, I am actually hopeful to see a change in the way big budget films/stories are constructed. The ~2 hour time block is arbitrary and I think everyone's waking up to the fact that it's often not the best way to tell a story. Some things play best at 30 min, 90 min, 2-3 hours, 5-7 hours, 10-12, 40+. It all depends. Breaking Bad as a 2 hour film would have been meh. The Hobbit should have never been stretched into an overly long trilogy, let alone given extended editions.

I think the new Star Wars trilogy would have benefited greatly from a 11-12 hour total runtime and being told without the forced narrative confines of three 2-2.5 hour movies, even with the same writers, directors, characters, and plot + character failures.

So, with streaming and at home viewing moving front and center, perhaps we'll start seeing big budget movies and talent producing films of 4-6 hour duration, 8-10 hour duration, etc. One pitfall of TV has been the way content has often been arbitrarily stretched out to fill more episodes and thus commercials; one pitfall of movies has been the way they've had to be trimmed to maximize theatrical viewings and consider the human bladder. I may be naively optimistic to hope we'll see large budget productions that blend the best of both worlds without making compromises to either trim stories or over extended stories, and to now, rather, give them the optimal run time best suited to their specific content.
 
DLD said:
1917-1991
Click to expand...

In 1914, Mlada Bosna (Gavrilo Princip et al) were of a decidedly socialist/nationalist bent, at the time a fledgeling ideology pitting itself against the quite horrible legacy monarchies of the day. (obviously it's more complicated than all that, but we're not defending PhD's here).

Quite clearly, there has been no official date of death of the ideology
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top