Troubled Times: Low Quality?
By Manny Casillas | Editorial Assistant
Three weeks ago, “Fast and Furious” took in $72.5 million in its opening weekend, most of which came on its midnight premiere, a new box-office record. It’s the latest in a string of movies that has had strong openings, but little to offer to provoke thought.
Just look at the No. 1 movies of the new year thus far: “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Knowing,” “Race to Witch Mountain”, just to name a few. These movies certainly are not out there to provoke thought, just obliterate it.
The only movie that has been released by the studios that audiences can actually chew on is “Watchmen,” which opened strongly, but fell sharply after its first weekend. When these box office reports come in, the “so-called” experts look at the numbers and conclude that audiences just want escape in these harsh economic times.
This certainly makes the lives of the studio executives that much simpler, since relying on advertising and marketing for a movie’s success is easier than relying on a movie for its script, acting and directing.
Studios often point to difficult economic eras as reason for releasing movies, that prompt you to check your brain at the door.
The Great Depression saw a bevy of musicals and screwball comedies that enjoyed tremendous success. As the economic hardships of the 1970s’ worsened, movies such as “Jaws” and “Star Wars” broke box office records, while “Rocky” had folks standing in the theater cheering.
There are critics of this kind of thinking, however, such as Entertainment Weekly columnist Mark Harris, who wrote in the April 10 edition of EW that “…in insisting that they’re simply responding to the dictates of the public, I think Hollywood has misunderstood us. Of course we want to escape from bad times, but not into bad entertainment!”
So do these bleak economic days point to a death of substance at the movies? It is unfair to say that audiences are gobbling these movies up because of the bad economy. There is a need for escape, but even in the Great Depression there also was no shortage of smart movies. Gritty gangster films and bio-pics were also quite popular.
Even in the aforementioned period of the 70s’, “Star Wars” and “Jaws” were an outlet for escape but also boasted some sophistication as well.
Despite economic hardships, we are still in the midst of the early months of the new year. The “experts” like to say that escapism is in demand, but fail to mention that these days, little else is out there as far as choice. The notion that escapism is in demand sends one message to the studio: they don’t have to try anymore.
Within the summer season is approaching, and even though many of the big name movies are probably soulless pap, some hope remains.
And of course, fall is just around the corner. Soon we’ll be treated to new movies from Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Joel and Ethan Coen and Woody Allen.
As aggravating as it is to seeing mindless dreck like “Fast and Furious” shatter box office record can be, remember “The Dark Knight” did the same thing and did it better. You only had to check your problems at the door, not your brains.
