What’s the Deal with Movies?

THIS WHOLE PANDEMIC thing has given me plenty to think about over the past few months.

Why is no one buying my custom made Ribena stained Persian rugs? Why is no one talking about Ahmed Best’s new role in that new Star Wars Scorpion Island-esque game show that’s on YouTube? But most importantly, why is everyone obsessed with movies?

Look, I may not be one to talk. I’m obsessed with a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, just take a look at literally any other post on this cesspool of a blog.

But seriously, 9 times out of 10, I’ll take the book or tv show over the medium of film. I’m just saying, from my position as aficionado of the comic book arts, movies are the be all and the end all for some fans. It’s as if they’re some all access pass to the big leagues and that’s a shame, cuz a character shouldn’t have to have a movie in order to validate their existence.

Yeah yeah, I know it’s great publicity. You wouldn’t have even heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Avengers or frickin’ Iron Man if it wasn’t for their movies. But because of their big screen success, their movie counterparts come to define their characters as a whole, leaving behind their inspirations and source material to be cast aside and forgotten, which is something that I cannot abide.

I think movies should stick to their lanes, by which I mean I am so fed up with syndicated and condensed comic book adaptations of superheroes which are a digestible simplified summary of the character that can be consumed by the masses. Movies work best when they are contained and have a single point of reference for inspiration, something like The Thing. Otherwise you have a film which draws from too many separate influences which clash with a director’s unique take, leaving you with a bizarre hodgepodge of character that’s barely connected to their core tenets. See Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to see what I’m getting at.

I don’t subscribe to the belief that I have to enjoy films above all else when there are a plethora of other mediums in which I can enjoy longer, fundamentally profound and exceptionally crafted stories. I think patience and investment in a story is something that’s undervalued in a film. Granted, that depends on the film’s length, but generally, you can expect a relatively swift resolution to the film’s plot in a couple of hours.

There’s something about that which irks, the condensed nature of a film. I like things to be drawn out, I want to see how the passage of time affects a character, how their struggles are portrayed almost in real time. The trade off is sometimes television and comics can get sidetracked with filler and expansive back story, but more times than not it is the context and how the character’s react to situations detached from the main arc of the their story that enhances the potency of the show or series at large.

Despite all this, I still really wanna see Tenet. I’m interested in Christopher’s Nolan’s work and his latest venture looks to be even more of a mind bender than the legendary and confusing masterpiece that is Inception. But in the meantime, I am more than happy sifting through my comic book and novel collection and vast repertoire of tv shows to satiate my imagination. Anything’s better than vacuuming the carpet shop.

That’s a wrap,
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