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Is it Hollywood or me?


English_Bob
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I've always been a movie fan and I can watch my favourite films over and over.

As a kid I could watch any kind of gore-fest and love it. I was never empathetic with the characters either emotionally or physically.

These days, however, I don't like to see extremely blood-thirsty movies, eg Saw makes me turn my head. The occasional movie makes me teary eyed and last week I even choked up at a Thai commercial for insurance (the one with the mentally handicapped father and his daughter who didn't appreciate him).

In addition, when I was younger I went wherever Hollywood led me. I cheered the heroes and booed the villains. In the last couple of years, however, there have been several films that I just couldn't relate to.

V for Vendetta... The 'hero' brings down a government which, while curbing some freedoms, was very successful at keeping law and order and low levels of crime.

Surrogates... Bruce Willis destroys millions of innocent people's harmless fun, so he can reconnect with his ugly wife. The story starts with the premise that since people were using surrogates, crime was virtually non-existent and no murders had been committed for 10 years (I think).

Troy... A horny Turkish kid (Paris) goes to a party and elopes with the host's wife. His entire civilisation is destroyed and thousands of people killed... Is it just me, or should someone have sent the ***** home?

So I guess there are several questions here...

1) Are Hollywood movies better at stirring our emotions? Or has my personality changed?

2) Are Hollywood movies delivering political messages? Or am I just cynical?

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Troy... A horny Turkish kid (Paris) goes to a party and elopes with the host's wife. His entire civilisation is destroyed and thousands of people killed... Is it just me, or should someone have sent the ***** home?

i blame his brother ... he should have ***** slapped the pair of them and sent the tart home !!!!

So I guess there are several questions here...

1) Are Hollywood movies better at stirring our emotions? Or has my personality changed?

2) Are Hollywood movies delivering political messages? Or am I just cynical?

1) ur personality has changed !!

2) depending on the studio/director/target audience some movies do try to deliver a political message ... with varying degrees of success !!!

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Congratulations, you're getting older :-)

I think we all mellow with age. And part of mellowing is taking the time to understand things on a deeper level. Rather than cheering when you see blood spewing across the screen like you might have done when younger you start to ask what the purpose of the violence is in the first place.

When you were younger, you probably would have connected with V. It's about sticking it to the man. It's about being a non-conformist. Fuck yeah, right? But as you get older you starting thinking in more practical terms. "Hey, the crime rate is pretty low and other than some annoyances the government has caused . . . shit isn't that bad. Why the fuck would I get all worked up to overthrow that and turn it over to a bunch of idiots who in 10 years will be just as power hungry and corrupt as the guys we're overthrowing. Fuck it. I'm going to to the gym."

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But as you get older you starting thinking in more practical terms. "Hey, the crime rate is pretty low and other than some annoyances the government has caused . . . **** isn't that bad. Why the **** would I get all worked up to overthrow that and turn it over to a bunch of idiots who in 10 years will be just as power hungry and corrupt as the guys we're overthrowing. **** it. I'm going to to the gym."


**** the gym ... i'm going to the pub !!!!
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When it comes to Troy, the father is more at fault than the brother. The brother said to send the ***** back while the father pulled the patriarchal overrule and accepted the *****; at the expense of his city state. Also, the brother said to burn the Trojan horse and again was overruled. Like Zues would really construct a shitty beachwood horse and leave it as a trophy.

V for Vendetta. While V was certainly an anti-hero as he was motivated by revenge and not a desire to change the status quo for the 'good of the people'; the government he sought to overthrow was the greater of two evils. The Government engineered the virus that allowed their rise into power. They killed hundreds of thousands of their own people. The government heavily censored the country and the security forces like to rape girls out after curfew. Yes, there was order, but it was based on fear and cost all of one's civil liberties.

The movie never states what happened after. Anarchy and lawlessness for sure since V never suggested an alternative to the authoritarianism. Who knows, probably some other dictator jumped in to 'protect the people' from the cruel world. That was my issue with the movie.

I thought Surrogates was corny. Bruce Willis' character was like a guy who loves 80's music and just couldn't accept that his beloved music had become irrelevant in mainstream society. So he goes on a mission to destroy autotune and the singers that autotune propelled into robot-sounding stardom. That would be a better movie I think. Called "bring back the mullets and Jean jackets".

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OMG Soylent Green is humans .... Is humans...

Take your stinking paws off me you dayum dirty ape...

Strangely, I find myself watching looney tunes cartoons as an adult, ones that I watched as a kid. Although, I found a lot of them totally amusing as a kid but didn't get the meanings. But as an adult. I get a lot of the meanings or messages now...very bizarre actually..

but I'm with Bill I'm heading to the gym... and maybe like CiaranM said I will stop off on the way home at the pub for a beer or two..

bieres-08.gif

Edited by GoodKarma
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I thought Surrogates was corny. Bruce Willis' character was like a guy who loves 80's music and just couldn't accept that his beloved music had become irrelevant in mainstream society. So he goes on a mission to destroy autotune and the singers that autotune propelled into robot-sounding stardom. That would be a better movie I think. Called "bring back the mullets and Jean jackets".

Actually, that's not such a bad idea.

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I've always been a movie fan and I can watch my favourite films over and over.

As a kid I could watch any kind of gore-fest and love it. I was never empathetic with the characters either emotionally or physically.

These days, however, I don't like to see extremely blood-thirsty movies, eg Saw makes me turn my head. The occasional movie makes me teary eyed and last week I even choked up at a Thai commercial for insurance (the one with the mentally handicapped father and his daughter who didn't appreciate him).

In addition, when I was younger I went wherever Hollywood led me. I cheered the heroes and booed the villains. In the last couple of years, however, there have been several films that I just couldn't relate to.

V for Vendetta... The 'hero' brings down a government which, while curbing some freedoms, was very successful at keeping law and order and low levels of crime.

Surrogates... Bruce Willis destroys millions of innocent people's harmless fun, so he can reconnect with his ugly wife. The story starts with the premise that since people were using surrogates, crime was virtually non-existent and no murders had been committed for 10 years (I think).

Troy... A horny Turkish kid (Paris) goes to a party and elopes with the host's wife. His entire civilisation is destroyed and thousands of people killed... Is it just me, or should someone have sent the ***** home?

So I guess there are several questions here...

1) Are Hollywood movies better at stirring our emotions? Or has my personality changed?

2) Are Hollywood movies delivering political messages? Or am I just cynical?

Just see one thing: All the questions you are asking are vain. You are vain. Whatever happens in the movies is not related to you. Got the message? :twisted:

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No, it's definitely me...

I was watching Teen Wolf the other day. I kind of felt sorry for the guy who loses his girlfriend to Michael J Fox's character.

He was a good athlete, trying his best to bring a trophy home for his school. Then some hairy weirdo steals his girlfriend and defeats his school in the championship.

BTW I just watched Bad Teacher.... it was OK. Never laugh-out loud funny, but OK.

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No, it's definitely me...

I was watching Teen Wolf the other day. I kind of felt sorry for the guy who loses his girlfriend to Michael J Fox's character.

He was a good athlete, trying his best to bring a trophy home for his school. Then some hairy weirdo steals his girlfriend and defeats his school in the championship.

BTW I just watched Bad Teacher.... it was OK. Never laugh-out loud funny, but OK.

That's why when I was in high school I just punched anybody that was too hairy.

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