NationStates Jolt Archive

I was thinking about movies, and I was thinking about all of these movies that have popped up, like "Juno", or "Knocked Up"...

Do you think it could make it as a genre?

I'm graduate of a theory intensive film program. I can make anything a sub-genre.

For love of god, no...

Then again majority of recent movies have blown anyway so it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Interestingly, in Vault 10 mental retardation is a capital offense.

I'm graduate of a theory intensive film program. I can make anything a sub-genre.

Well it's the central plot of several films, all of which are of the genre of Comedy, so I would say it is already a sub-genre. Anything could really become a sub-genre, as long as it is related to a mother-genre.

I think it´s just a fad, like when there were so many teen movies coming out. I don´t think it´s enough to make a genre of it´s own. At least, I hope it doesn´t.:p

I think it´s just a fad, like when there were so many teen movies coming out. I don´t think it´s enough to make a genre of it´s own. At least, I hope it doesn´t.:p

You'd have to have a long view of the term fad, since teen movies go pretty far back (Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club...Rebel Without a Cause...you get the idea)

The majority of recent movies have blown
So war es und so wird es immer sein etc.

I think it´s just a fad, like when there were so many teen movies coming out. I don´t think it´s enough to make a genre of it´s own. At least, I hope it doesn´t.:p

There is always short-term fads too though, ones that only last a week or so and are mainly one company's answer to another producer's product. For example X film company makes superhero comedy, so ABD film companies jump on the bandwagon to cut a slice of the profit. Fads not driven by public popularity, but competition.

There is always short-term fads too though, ones that only last a week or so and are mainly one company's answer to another producer's product. For example X film company makes superhero comedy, so ABD film companies jump on the bandwagon to cut a slice of the profit. Fads not driven by public popularity, but competition.

Oh, I´m aware of that. That also explains why super hero films are all the rage this Summer. Fads.

no.

unless you can count a movie or 2 every 10 years or so as a sub genre (yes i know that CTofN can do that)

pregnancy has been a subplot in tons of family movies but making a whole movie about making a baby has its limits. although i guess im surprised that the success of JUNO hasnt made this summer the "summer of pregnant teen movies"

Oh, I´m aware of that. That also explains why super hero films are all the rage this Summer. Fads.

That still takes a pretty long view of the the term 'fad,' since there has been, more or less, a super hero movie every season since 1989 (the year of Tim Burton's Batman).

It has less to do with 'fads' then it does the 'tentpole' principle that keeps major studios afloat. Super heroes (with rare exception of superheroes created for the movie, such as Hancock, but the principle still applies) have a built in and recognizable base to be exploited. Essentially, a built in franchise. These movies with a built in franchise generate huge amounts of money that keeps the rest of the studio afloat for the rest of the year (the 'tentpole' that holds up the rest of the studio) so they can fund the riskier fare that far fewer people watch and are more likely to take a loss.

The fact is, you want interesting movies, then you have to deal with Aquaman in the summer so the studio can afford to take the chance with the other films.

Add on to that that exhibitors prefer these larger than life movies that attract teens with mommy and daddies money to burn and families because on a typical opening weekend the studio is taking 90% of the box office, so the only way the theater is going to make its money is off concessions. The tea-sippers that watch the more 'interesting' movies don't buy concessions and don't show up in the numbers a franchise film attracts, so why shouldn't they make those films?

It's easy to reduce things down to someone strolling an aisle of film projects and going, "Oooh, shiny!" but that doesn't mean that it's an accurate picture.

Is it a problem that I like superhero movies?

Pregnancy movies should be aborted.

Pregnancy movies should be aborted.

How about abortion comedies? That would be fun.

How about abortion comedies? That would be fun.
THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIFE! HOW DARE YOU! :p

http://blog.afi.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/juno-poster2-big.jpg

Young Teens

http://thecia.com.au/reviews/k/images/knocked-up-poster-0.jpg

Older people doing it because they are stu nod

http://www.watchingpushingdaisies.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/waitress_movie_poster.jpg

So, I mean. I guess it is just a faze, maybe Spielberg will do a movie like this...

How about abortion comedies? That would be fun.

THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIFE! HOW DARE YOU! :p

Who says the fetus has to die? It could be one of those heart warming comedy adventure movies like Milo and Otis, or Homeward Bound! It will sell itself, I swear.

Is it a problem that I like superhero movies?

Not really, no. Despite what people would have you believe, it's not an either/or thing. One of my favorite movies is The Bicycle Thief, and yet I'm still looking forward to the new Hellboy movie...to say you can't like one if you like the other is reductive-and I think says more about why that person likes what they like than anything else.

And even if you don't like a Bicycle Thief or 8 1/2, so what? Movies can be an artform, but there isn't anything wrong with liking them as movies. No one asks a rollercoaster to teach them something about the human experience. Like what you like, there ain't no shame in it.

Now, this doesn't mean that if you like really crappy movies I won't make a little fun of you. But I'm not the one forking over the $10 to kill your afternoon, you are.

How about abortion comedies? That would be fun.

The Termination

Not really, no. Despite what people would have you believe, it's not an either/or thing. One of my favorite movies is The Bicycle Thief, and yet I'm still looking forward to the new Hellboy movie...to say you can't like one if you like the other is reductive-and I think says more about why that person likes what they like than anything else.

And even if you don't like a Bicycle Thief or 8 1/2, so what? Movies can be an artform, but there isn't anything wrong with liking them as movies. No one asks a rollercoaster to teach them something about the human experience. Like what you like, there ain't no shame in it.

Now, this doesn't mean that if you like really crappy movies I won't make a little fun of you. But I'm not the one forking over the $10 to kill your afternoon, you are.

I get free tickets through work :p so I ain't paying anything.

I like to read comic books, its interesting to see how they adapt them for movies.

How about abortion comedies? That would be fun.

It could be brilliant. Imagine a 'The Man Who Knew Too Little' or 'Relatively Speaking' series of misunderstandings culminating in a baby being born that nobody wants! Then, after the credits have rolled, a bonus scene featuring the now teenage baby abusing drugs and getting into crime would guarantee a second helping of box office gold.

"Pregnancy" is too broad a plot point to make a genre on its own. Women in fiction have been having or almost-having babies in various states of wedlock since the dawn of narrative, and the films mentioned so far don't really have enough similar elements beyond the pregnancy to qualify as a genre.

I would guess it's a Juno-related fad combined with some bright studio suit's realization that pregnancy makes modern audiences uncomfortable enough to laugh, but not uncomfortable enough that they won't go see a movie about it.

"Pregnancy" is too broad a plot point to make a genre on its own. Women in fiction have been having or almost-having babies in various states of wedlock since the dawn of narrative, and the films mentioned so far don't really have enough similar elements beyond the pregnancy to qualify as a genre.

I would guess it's a Juno-related fad combined with some bright studio suit's realization that pregnancy makes modern audiences uncomfortable enough to laugh, but not uncomfortable enough that they won't go see a movie about it.

A few things wrong with this. First, it's not just 'pregnancy,' but pregnancy as the primary plot device, not just a pregnant character, and in these cases unwanted or unexpected pregnancies for people comically unprepared for them. So it's a little more specific.

Second, Juno was the last one-so Knocked Up would have had to anticipated the sleeper appeal of the independent movie and then beat it to production.

On a side note, I thought Juno was a load complete of complete nothingness (don't ever accuse me of being inarticulate!). It reminded me of the terrible TV movie 'Mom at Sixteen' only even less charming and somehow even less satisfying.

A few things wrong with this. First, it's not just 'pregnancy,' but pregnancy as the primary plot device, not just a pregnant character, and in these cases unwanted or unexpected pregnancies for people comically unprepared for them. So it's a little more specific.

Second, Juno was the last one-so Knocked Up would have had to anticipated the sleeper appeal of the independent movie and then beat it to production.

You're right, I had my chronology backwards. (I blame Judd Apatow for getting me so irritated at Knocked Up that I keep thinking the movie came out more recently than it did. The wound is still fresh, dammit!)

I still think that even with the similarities you've mentioned that the films don't easily hang together into a genre or sub-genre in the same way that, say, boomer-era evil-child films do, or 70s trucker films do. To steal David Denby's theory, Knocked Up is a slacker-striver comedy coming out of Say Anything via American Pie, whereas Juno seems to be a very different, older strain of romantic comedy, and Waitress only qualifies as a comedy insofar as it's not a tragedy.

I realize as I'm writing this that it's possible that I take a more restrictive version of "genre" than others do, but for me the key question about whether something's a genre is what kind of expectations the setup creates in the audience's mind, and I don't see a clear set of expectations with these movies.

That still takes a pretty long view of the the term 'fad,' since there has been, more or less, a super hero movie every season since 1989 (the year of Tim Burton's Batman).

It has less to do with 'fads' then it does the 'tentpole' principle that keeps major studios afloat. Super heroes (with rare exception of superheroes created for the movie, such as Hancock, but the principle still applies) have a built in and recognizable base to be exploited. Essentially, a built in franchise. These movies with a built in franchise generate huge amounts of money that keeps the rest of the studio afloat for the rest of the year (the 'tentpole' that holds up the rest of the studio) so they can fund the riskier fare that far fewer people watch and are more likely to take a loss.

The fact is, you want interesting movies, then you have to deal with Aquaman in the summer so the studio can afford to take the chance with the other films.

Add on to that that exhibitors prefer these larger than life movies that attract teens with mommy and daddies money to burn and families because on a typical opening weekend the studio is taking 90% of the box office, so the only way the theater is going to make its money is off concessions. The tea-sippers that watch the more 'interesting' movies don't buy concessions and don't show up in the numbers a franchise film attracts, so why shouldn't they make those films?

It's easy to reduce things down to someone strolling an aisle of film projects and going, "Oooh, shiny!" but that doesn't mean that it's an accurate picture.

Be that as it may, and going back to the discussion at hand, I hope pregnancy movies do not become a sub genre. An entire film where the plot´s being knocked up isn´t my cup of tea. And clarifying, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

I think its a fad...God knows what it will be next. I just hope the next fad won't be "Foreigner-who-can't-speak-the-language-well-leading-to-comical-misunderstandings Comedies".

Like this one (http://www.teachers.tv/video/1885) I had to sit through in school (the Spanish version). I don't understand any of it anymore, but I did at the time, and it drove me absolutely insane how utterly unfunny it was. In one episode, there was even a joke based around persuading the naive English speaking traveller to say "the dog is in the oven" in Spanish to a dog owner whose dog they were taking care of. Think an even less funny version of Friends, in a language you can barely grasp :p

I think its a fad...God knows what it will be next. I just hope the next fad won't be "Foreigner-who-can't-speak-the-language-well-leading-to-comical-misunderstandings Comedies".

Like this one (http://www.teachers.tv/video/1885) I had to sit through in school (the Spanish version). I don't understand any of it anymore, but I did at the time, and it drove me absolutely insane how utterly unfunny it was. In one episode, there was even a joke based around persuading the naive English speaking traveller to say "the dog is in the oven" in Spanish to a dog owner whose dog they were taking care of. Think an even less funny version of Friends, in a language you can barely grasp :p

after the success of "lost in translation" (so bad that i didnt finish watching it) im surprised there havent been many more.

I think its a fad...God knows what it will be next. I just hope the next fad won't be "Foreigner-who-can't-speak-the-language-well-leading-to-comical-misunderstandings Comedies".

Like this one (http://www.teachers.tv/video/1885) I had to sit through in school (the Spanish version). I don't understand any of it anymore, but I did at the time, and it drove me absolutely insane how utterly unfunny it was. In one episode, there was even a joke based around persuading the naive English speaking traveller to say "the dog is in the oven" in Spanish to a dog owner whose dog they were taking care of. Think an even less funny version of Friends, in a language you can barely grasp :p

I think you, as a native English speaker, haven´t taken into consideration the difference in culture. Spanish humor and English humor differ immensely, and when you sit down to watch a film in Spanish (as I do it when I watch an English one) or any other foreign language, you have to have that in mind.

As an example, I don´t understand what´s so funny about Monty Python. I dislike the shows. I thought Quest for the Holy Grail was fun, but far too alien to my own culture to cause a lot of laughter as it did my Englinsh counterparts. Another example, Mr. Bean. I don´t get it. The actor seems to be funny, but not in a sense that would make me laugh much. And yet, I can find merits in these comedies.

And the series Friends is detestable. Whoever said it was funny, was tripping on LSD or something.

I don´t know if you get what I´m trying to convey...:S

Interestingly, in Vault 10 mental retardation is a capital offense.

There's no vault like 13.

I was thinking about movies, and I was thinking about all of these movies that have popped up, like "Juno", or "Knocked Up"...

Do you think it could make it as a genre?

Don't we have enough genres? The pregnancy was only a small part of the comedy. Juno was a comedy -- no further splintering necessary.

after the success of "lost in translation" (so bad that i didnt finish watching it) im surprised there havent been many more.

Using this quote as a representative sample, I have to say that there is no accounting for taste. When did "I didn't like it" become "it was terrible"?

Using this quote as a representative sample, I have to say that there is no accounting for taste. When did "I didn't like it" become "it was terrible"?

My experience is that that's the norm. Only a few people make an effort to distinguish between whether something's good and whether or not they liked it.

Using this quote as a representative sample, I have to say that there is no accounting for taste. When did "I didn't like it" become "it was terrible"?

what other criteria is there for a movie? it wasnt "not my cup of tea" it was so awful that i cant understand why anyone finished watching it.

Gods I hope not. Theres already too much stupidity in movies as it is.

what other criteria is there for a movie? it wasnt "not my cup of tea" it was so awful that i cant understand why anyone finished watching it.

But that fails to account for the fact that others like it. Just because you don't doesn't mean it's somehow inherently unwatchable.

But that fails to account for the fact that others like it. Just because you don't doesn't mean it's somehow inherently unwatchable.

are you suggesting that when YOU hate a very popular movie you never say that it sucks because it must be you who are wrong?

are you suggesting that when YOU hate a very popular movie you never say that it sucks because it must be you who are wrong?

I'm saying that there's never any accounting for taste. If I don't like it, that's exactly what I say. If I'm not going to see it because I know I won't like it, I'll say that, too. I don't say the movie sucks, but rather "I thought it sucked". Everyone else can make up their own minds.

And where did I say you were wrong?