Nothing ever goes…by Amadeo
Written by: on Mar 03 | Book Alert, Art |
Church Painter “Why should one always make people happy? It might be a good idea to scare them once in a while.”
Jons “Then they’ll close their eyes and refuse to look.”
Church Painter “They’ll look. A skull is more interesting than a naked woman.”
Jons “If you do scare them–”
Church Painter “Then they think.”
..according to plans. It just doesn’t. Things tend to turn out worse or a little bit better. Even when the end result is what you calculate the path to get there tends to be different. With that said 90% of American movies suck. I’m a little pissed cause I finally saw I am Legend. Now, before I saw it I knew about the story. The story itself was great and it was my hope that the movie wouldn’t stray too far from it’s source. I hoped, I didn’t plan on it. Mind you, for a while I thought I would be impressed, but about 15 minutes from the ending I saw where everything was going to pot and once again an American made movie was going to put a happy spin on things. All the foreshadowing was ignored. The whole meaning of the original story was disregarded in 15 minutes!!! I recommend that if you saw the movie and thought it was good, go buy the book. I won’t ruin it for you, but I will say the title held the true meaning of the story and the original “legend” was alot more meaningful. Do Americans suck that much? Do we really need everything to work out alright in our fiction? Will we never recover if we can’t sum things up with a winning smile? If so, I declare myself a native of Pangaea (Pangaeans unite). It’s not like every movie here is all rainbows and reach-arounds (if you’re under 18 don’t go looking that one up), look at Million Dollar Baby, Cooley High or Beat Street (RAMO!!!!!!!!). It’s just that most of the time (and I blame studio execs for this) they want to give it a more…positive ending…make it more upbeat. I don’t. If I was in movies I’d be the hunter that shoots Bambi’s mom. We can’t have that though, in this bland world the sun will come out, the lovers will be together, the underdog will win and monkeys fly out of my butt. Frankly, I’m sick of it all. What happened to taking risks? Hell, how many of Shakespeares main characters actually lived through his plays? He probably understood that even a good story doesn’t require everyone getting what they want. Actually it hasn’t always been this way…consider The Seventh Seal (see it). I think (as with many forms of art) the more marketing came into play things got specifically crafted to try and play to people. Without that drive, most forms of art just play out as the creators sees fit…as it should be. Imagine how many famous paintings would be ruined if the painter had made it more “upbeat”. Some of my favorite movies involve an ending where everything does not work out perfectly. Run out and see them, even if you have to get some bootleg version. Just watch and be entertained.
The Opposite of Sex (score one for America)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Empire Strikes Back (yeah things work out in the next movie, but still)
Any good suggestions?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Man…I haven’t read the book, but I actually enjoyed the movie up until the last few minutes. Like you said, the last 15 or so minutes ruined the movie…
March 7th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I was going to not read this book out of sheer laziness but now that you say they changed it, I’ll check it out. See, people had said that this movie was the closest to the original and you know, it was pretty dark when you think about it–aside from the poor representation of killer zombies. Okay, fine, going to get it from the library ASAP.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Off the top of my mind…
12 Monkeys. I never thought that movie had a happy ending.
Also, “Hav Plenty” which may or may not have had a happy ending, but addresses studios’ obsession with having happy endings.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:10 am
Oh, oh, also Seven.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Did you ever see Stranger than Fiction? Its got Will Ferrell but its not one of his comedies. Its kind of quirky. he’s this cat who becomes this writers main character and she’s basically writing his life.
Well near the end the topic of how to finish the book she’s writing comes up. On the one end she could kill the character and Will would end up dead and the book would be a masterpiece and on the other hand she could change that great ending an let him live and the book would be ok but not as amazing.
Well hollywood movies for the most part are like that. they change the end so that the character lives or wins. must be something to do with giving everyone hope that ever struggle ends in success and every adversity can be overcome. thats why i didnt go see will in pursuit of happiness. too one in a million for my liking. 999,999 times out of a million he ends up in the gutter and the kid in welfare.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Except, The Pursuit of Happinesswas a true story. So, it’s not like it was an unrealistic ending. It’s a happy ending that actually happened. Ironically, that’s what made the movie great–because the main character actually did beat the odds in real life.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Un-Mute indeed Amadeo…indeed