The Eternals (Chloé Zhao, November 5, 2021) Movie • Page 18

Oh ya, I agree, they’re a vapid, edible movie-like substance.

But the rest of contemporary film exists in their context, there’s obviously something to untangle about them, given the passionate contempt from some corners.

Which is maybe just that they’re emblematic of a rot in film culture, the darkness devouring the medium, a corporate brute crowding out thoughtfulness.

Everybody eats at McDonalds sometimes, but it’d be pretty weird to stan the McChicken

 

It’s in that sense that the MCU hiring prestige directors is a bummer. The big bad mouse buying off potential threats to their complacent society. Scooping up the alternative lest it take root.

And they’ve very effectively weaponized the language of social justice as a shield. To say it’s fucked Chloe Zhao is enveloped by the commodity system must sexism and racism etc

 

they've also been their worst enemy. they are eventized movies, but when you have three or four events a year, and that number is only going up, there's no time to revisit the last one because the next one is already coming out. the comparison has become a bit tiring between movies and tv, but it's the closest thing to episodic television in a film format that there is. how often are you going back to watch single episodes in the middle of a tv season?

 

I wonder when we can go back to just enjoying things again. Maybe never.

Maybe this is all entertainment is good for now; one side lamenting "the death of cinema", one side forever creating elaborate defenses, both high off their own bullshit.

Sorry, the last two pages of this thread have become really depressing. I'm not saying discussion like this can't be beneficial, but I also think they walk a fine line between constructive and toxic.

 

One of those sides is not wrong tho

A docile society that mindlessly enjoys the shit shoveled down their throats is a bummer

 

Really what I personally take issue with is the assertion that in order to enjoy blockbuster entertainment you have to be a mindless shit-eater but hey that's just me. The general air of unearned superiority constantly on display on this site whenever the subject of these movies comes up is pretty lame.

 

I say that @Penlab bearing in mind that I really enjoy reading your player’s logs in the video game thread, there’s def positivity to casual entertainment culture

but a person’s gotta have a healthy fuck you attitude about things

 

I know plenty of people with good taste who like Marvel movies. I don’t have any issue with any individual enjoying a Disney movie. I feel like my critiques, personally, are purely on the corporation and the films themselves.

 

Also if we want to talk about critical re-evaluations of the MCU, Siddhant Adlakha did some great writing in the lead-up to Endgame, highlighting a lot of what I find problematic in the films as cinema and as imperialist propaganda. He did a good job of highlighting both the successes and failures of the works as art.

Siddhant Adlakha Articles on SlashFilm

 

Look, no one's entertainment is going anywhere, and that goes for both sides. No one is going to stop making art films, and no one is about to stop making blockbusters, and sometimes they can even meet, like chocolate and peanut butter.

I think the movies my mom and her friend watch every week on Netflix are garbage, but I'm not about to tell her so, I'm not going to look down on her for enjoying them, and I'm honestly okay with her having things that make her happy. It is, despite what some people may think, absolutely okay. No one's world is ending.

This is why I get so annoyed by the discourse around this kind of thing: it always ends up boiling down to arrogance.

 

Disney does actively make the production of arthouse cinema, as well as access to it, harder and less accessible. That’s the crux of my issue, personally, not that people enjoy blockbusters.

 

I also want to make clear that I am not against criticizing the films either. It's just... why is it so hard for people to discuss this stuff without sounding like pricks?

 

Okay, I'm legit curious. How?

 

That is literally what the conversation is about. There is only so much theater space and so much money. Every time you buy a ticket to see Movie A, you aren't seeing Movie B.

The arthouse crowd understands that the blockbusters own 90 percent of the film industry. The blockbusters want 100 percent though.

 

That’s true, especially after covid. When it comes to blockbusters I tend to watch them more at the theater/cinema due to the scope and visuals, whereas for smaller projects I just stream them.

 

They are a monopoly that has acquired several studios and plans to acquire more, and when that happens, they scrap projects that don’t fit their strategy, lay off legions of workers who don’t fit their style, and take over production themselves, and throughout their history, Disney has not been friendly to independent cinema. They buy out theaters and make them show Star Wars and Marvel, as happened with the arthouse theater near me in Chicago which never shows blockbusters but had to show The Force Awakens. It pushes small movies that need any audience out of being accessible to people, and they need those opportunities. They also hire the young and talented directors who make arthouse, independent cinema, and put them on blockbusters, and they don’t really go back to making personal, independent cinema, at least largely that I’ve seen. There’s a lot they do that actively harms cinema as an art form, it deserves a book of its own

 

not a single solitary time has anyone here said that anyone else isn't allowed to enjoy anything.

 

people have been lamenting the death of the "middle-tier" movie, one that isn't a blockbuster or a true independent movie, for over a decade now. movies like the french dispatch and last night in soho used to be in every theater in America for a month and a half and then come back to theaters two months after that in second run theaters - which are essentially extinct now. if you miss those movies the first week or two you have to wait for them to pop up on one of the streamers now because they've already been replaced. even with something like dune, it was quickly moved from the imax screens to make way for the eternals, which will be moved quickly to make way for spiderman, which will be moved quickly to make way for the next one. even among the blockbuster productions, there is little room for movies from other behemoths of companies, and next to no lasting room for independent cinema. if you can't see that being directly traced to disney, you're willfully ignoring the state of movies since 2008

 

i am part of the problem. i saw eternals opening night. no one is saying you aren't allowed to view or enjoy these movies. eternals was awful but I've enjoyed other marvel movies. that is completely separate from the effect they've had on the movie industry and chloe zhao, who appeared to be on the team of independent cinema, seeming to throw that away for a paycheck.

 

You nailed it! I worked in a theatre as teenager 2001-2004 and its shocking how quickly films are moved out of theatres now. Also, I really miss the stand alone adult-focused films.

 

I recognize I'm starting to descend into "angry man yells at cloud" mode here.

I'm also not really just talking about this thread, but everywhere. It's just becoming suffocating to hear the discourse around movies, and this movie currently, turn into this cultural tug of war where people are coming up with shitty insulting reasons for why people do the things they do.

I am sorry to hear about the theater in your area. I do recognize that some of this is happening.

I was actually thinking about the modern age while I was away from this thread just now. Not just movies, but music and gaming, and how at least for the latter two, it feels like it's never been easier for ideas to be exchanged, but not at the same level that it once was.

Like, without knowing the internal struggles, it looks on the surface like digital avenues like Spotify and Steam have made it easier for media to be uploaded to the public for consumption, and social media has made it easier for word to spread. Gaming especially I think in the last few years has been in a renaissance period when it comes to indie projects and how quickly and easily said projects can find a market compared to how it was in the past.

So with movies, I'm wondering now if digital avenues are going to eventually make it easier for independent cinema to find a home and an audience? I know it's not the same as putting it in a theater. To that end I also wonder if brick and mortar theaters are going to become akin to physical media and brick and mortar stores in the music and gaming realms? A total paradigm shift that I'm sure won't sit well with a lot of people.

 

most independent cinema that used to have those theatrical runs live off of VOD now and have avoided the streamers. it’s been that way for a while now. i would rather see it in a theater but it’s better than nothing. i doubt most people open their itunes to purchase and download movies

 

The thing is, making a movie is cost prohibitive, even at the independent level. Historically, independent films have survived off of being funded by or sold to larger studios. But Disney doesn’t really do that, so the more Disney owns, the less resources that are going towards creating this kind of art at all. Amazon at the very least is actively acquiring and distributing independent films, though there’s absolutely no reason to trust their goals as a studio either.

 

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean iTunes or storefronts, I meant the streamers. Netflix, and etc. Like Spotify and co for music and... well, I know Steam is a storefront, but I meant it more as a channel, not a store.

I know and agree that watching a movie on your TV, even with a good setup, isn't equal to watching something in the theater... hm.

My brain's now doing a journey, because like... I know independent theaters are clearly a thing, and man, in a perfect world, that would be your avenue for indie films, but if they're being bought up, then that's a big problem, and how much does it cost to operate a theater? Like, is it even economically feasible to run a theater only off of non-mainstream films?

Man, this is going to open a whole can of worms, but what if Netflix built theaters?

 

Netflix or any distributor owning a theater is bad