What is(/makes) a Great Movie?
Posted on July 1, 2005 | Category: Uncategorized
by Nilu | Commercial success and artistic merit have very rarely been good friends. This is a worldwide phenomenon and is even more exaggerated in Tamil movies. That being the case, how does one decide a yardstick for measuring up such works of art?
Commercial success is a real indicator, regardless of what a geek boy watching some unheard of movie on his Laptop says or feels or rambles in his blog. There are no two opinions on that. But what this post attempts to grapple with is the question whether that measure of raking in the profits alone is “the” indicator.
My basic objections with using just that as an indicator are
» Some people, as a norm, do not watch movies just to appreciate art. The degree of truth in this statement is directly proportional to the extent of poverty. Now that is a sweeping generalization, I agree. But I can hold on to this statement and prove that there is no assumption of intellect whatsoever. I dare ya
» Some people go to the movies expecting a standard dish. As an extension of the previous statement, they not only watch movies for purposes other than art but they also watch movies perfectly knowing what they want – which may range from sex to patriotism(not that these form edges of a spectrum, but that is another post)» Reality is a hard pill to digest and many conveniently do not want anything to do with it at least when watching a movie.
» The proverbial argument of the Communists against capitalism in general holds to a degree in this industry.
» Feel good movies attract a repeat audience which is not true for a movie that has scaled artistic peaks but is dark and brings out fears of life – a good example would be Apocalypse Now.
I am losing focus here, so am stopping with the “numbered” reasons. But my point is that the above listed factors and many like them are not trivial and the behavioral pattern of the consuming audience has a lot of characteristics that are sometimes against the established sense of aesthetics.
That brings us to the question – what is ‘aesthetic sense’ and who the f*** establishes that?. That is probably a question that has led to revolutions and upheaval across the 18th , 19th and 20th centuries.
To be continued….
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14 Responses to “What is(/makes) a Great Movie?”
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July 3rd, 2005 at 12:52 pm
You’re right to an extent. Poverty to an extent plays a part in as much as inspiring our Film Industry to be escapist. But it isnt as if we have a middle-class that is filling up arthouse theatres, eagerly devouring any independent cinema it can lay its eyes on. Our middle class, no matter how educated and socio-snobbish they are, still behave like uneducated people when it comes to cinema, by taking in all the hype surrounding movies and their stars and what worse, believing that hype. The absence of any kind of meaningful (all right, almost any kind of meaningful cinema) in the film Industry in India is simply because there is a culture of wanting to see films where impossible things become possible and happy endings always ensue. We try and watch films that are as far away from reality as possible, simply because nobody wants to see reality. Is that a bad thing? It works both ways - Dodging reality is not going to help us in any way, because when we leave the Theatre, we’re gonna be back in the real world; having said that, these movies are primarily a distraction from our problems and there’s no reason for us to face up to our problems inside a theatre.
There is a solid market for Independent Cinema in the West simply because the culture of movie watching is different there. Many Independent movies can be inspiring and thought-provoking, which never happens with big budget films because everybody can recognise the hypocrisy of the fact that Money is the driving force of that kind of cinema. But there are still many Independent Film-makers who get recognition there because people are open to their cinema. In India, we go to see Films to escape our Problems. In the west, because of the existence of smalltime cinema to run alongside commercial cinema, people can to see Films to find Solutions.
July 3rd, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Is there something wrong with your comments section again. The Thiruvachagam post says 10 comments I can see just one.
July 4th, 2005 at 9:22 am
Arputhamaana topic. Neraya pesalam, ezhuthalam.
Only b(s)ad thing is we seem incapable of making a difference, of changing the moribund state of indian cinema .
Absolutely true that we need a new Cinema, that which is not the usual Indian cinema. The best part of this genre is that it is possible to make a movie for peanuts (when Shankar needs 28 crores to make Anniyan i am confident you can make an realistic cinema for as little as a crore).
this, i should imagine means economic viability - atleast not much risk as capital is small. Now, if there is a theatre (in a multiplex) that screens only such movies and they screen for 30-50 days, they should be able to get into green. Yes! i know it is abt profits - but how many movies really make a profit. A culture of ‘good movie watching’ can be slowly developed.
I am confident that the upper middle class and IT intelligentsia wud support it (if for nothing else, to prove to the world that they r a part of an elite group with refined tastes)
All that is needed is a single baby step - to give it a try. When will that happen? I am waiting.
July 5th, 2005 at 10:44 pm
what makes a good movie?
- a story well told..(no matter how trivial/silly the story by itself might be)
July 8th, 2005 at 3:27 am
WE NEED TOUCH
i believe that we are in a world where we want to be constantly entertained with new things all the times. since our psychological built up is changing, we look at the world in a differnt ways. we can not just keep ourselves isolated anymore. we are given so many new things to think and digest. if we know how to differentiate things, it is easy for us to multiply our talent, if not we will easily disappear in this world of entertainment. yes, we have to keep in touch with ourselves by developing our “self” through prayer and spirituality.
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