Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Last Airbender. Literally...
Many of you have probably heard about how M. Shyamalan's new movie The Last Airbender displeased so many audiences. I have just finished watching it a few hours ago, and I thought it was an outstanding movie. I couldn't really understand why so many people hated the movie and rated it 4.5 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes. Is it because the movie deviated from the original TV show series? the race of the characters? Or is it because the movie focused more on its aesthetic rather than its message? Nevertheless, all these criticisms and reviews of the movie have caught my attention because not only did they remind me of Postman's implication in Amusing Ourselves to Death that the media have transformed people into media robots, but it also made me realize how much our society has been sucked into the media, that many of us make a big deal of every little aspect we see on TV or in movies. Is it moral or or even ethical to publicly announce that someone is "stupid" or is the "worst director ever" just because of a movie that did not meet our expectations? I have seen a plethora of rude and below-the-belt comments about the movie and the director especially, and I was perplexed at how much people had the guts to say such hurtful things about a director. It is JUST a movie! Why is it that we have such high expectations from the media?
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I couldn't agree more, Louise! I am now more than halfway done with Amusing Ourselves to Death and though I hate to say it, Postman couldn't be more right. I haven't seen The Last Airbender yet, but I too have noticed many people bashing the film just because it wasn't what they thought it would be. This movie comes from the t.v. show Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I hear that the movie changed a lot of things. Many people who liked the show hated the movie. To those people, let me ask you something. Have you ever read a book that was made into a movie? Chances are that the book and the movie were completely different. The characters can change, the setting, sometimes even the whole plot! My point here is that when a book is made into a movie, no one really cares. When a t.v. show is made into a movie, everyone wants to throw a fit. Take the Twilight series, for example. Everyone reads the books and then sees the movie, and there are more people who love the movies than those who don't. All of you people who don't like the movie are exactly who Postman is talking about in his book. You let a t.v. show control your opinion about a movie that was directed by a totally different person. I am sorry that this movie did not meet your expectations, but then again, it isn't going to please everyone.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Like, for instance, some "Airbender" fan saw it was coming out in theaters and got excited. But once they watch a movie critic show putting it down or see it's rated a C- online, they change their mind and decide to see the one rated an A+. I'm guilty of this, more like my dad and I. We were trying to find a movie to watch, and I told him about "The Last Airbender" and how great it should be. He was deciding to see it, but he saw that the movie was rated C- and looked at me funny. After that comment one website had on the movie, we decided to see "The Karate Kid"(not a bad movie, but I digress). Afterwards, when I realized I was relying on some old people, calling themselves critics and who probably knew NOTHING of the "Airbender" cartoon, to tell me what to think, I felt silly. Next time I go, if "Despicable Me" isn't out, I'll definitely see "Airbender". Why? Because I want to and because media told me not to. Also, when you inquired why we have such high expectations of the media, I have the same question. Why do we let some random people who probably hate their job to tell us what to see? Just the media's way of slowly taking over us.
ReplyDelete"I haven't seen it yet, but it has bad acting, mediocre special effects, and goes pretty slow."
ReplyDelete"Yeah, uh huh, and what else did you read in the LA Times?"
These dialogues are flat out annoying. People do not have to formulate their own opinions these days. All one has to do is ad-lib from a magazine, newspaper, or website of choice. This is not actual analysis; this is almost completely plagiarism. I agree with you, Louise, and I would even go to the opposite of the spectrum. People listen to "cool" music or watch "cool" movies just to gain hipster credibility that a bunch of critics developed. I think we are at least intelligent enough to make a decision of what is best to entertain us as a people, instead of a council of elitists.
Louise, I agree with you. It seems like movies that were originally books first are the most targeted ones once they come out to film. People have such high expectations for movies nowadays and I think if you are so focused on how it "better" be good or you want your money back, then of course your not going to be able to get full enjoyment out of it. I think previews for a movie really set movies up for "failures" at times because in previews they put all the most action packed scenes. By doing this of course the movie would appear to be good, but you still have to sit through the stuff in the middle. There’s more to an action movie than just action and there’s more to a comedy than just comedy. Audiences should be entertained, but they can't expect to be laughing or feeling suspense every second in the film. If people would take time to actually listen to what the characters say and follow the story line maybe they could enjoy it more. I find it amazing that Postman could foresee so many truths about media that are taking place today long after he published his book. The title of his book really relates here because with such high expectations from society we will literally "amuse ourselves to death."
ReplyDeleteI actually have to disagree. It's not that the media has started controlling us, it's that the t.v show gave us something to base the movie on. In a case like this, people are disappointed in the movie because it was so far off the book. The names of the characters got messed up and the plotline was never truly explained. the reason it was such a disappointment to true fans was because it was rushed and such key parts of the story were left out. If the movie is really supposed to based on the t.v series then the director should've understood the set bar of expectation for the movie. It wasn't about the race of the characters or the message, it was how well he could fit the storyline into the movie. Yes, most times when books or t.v shows get movie adaptations they leave out a lot of the story, but here he put in some things, but forgot to explain what the audience was watching. Yes it's difficult to have a whole book or in this case, whole seasons worth of material, but he could've put in the other key characters and events that will explain what led to the finale. I was truly disappointed in the movie because i was excited for one thing and he failed to put it in the movie. There were small little details he could've cleaned up and wouldn't take much effort, that he left out. Maybe even if you have never watched the show or ever heard of it and watched the movie it might be good, but it'd still leave some questions, who were the animals? what were their names? Why did the fire nation take over? None of this is really explained. It wouldn't have killed the director to at least try to watch the show to help him out. Also, it's not necessarily if you didn't like the movie, that the media controls your mind, it shows that you just didn't like the movie whether because it didn't meet your expectations or you probably just didn't like it, plain and simple as that. We're not controlled by the media for not liking a movie, it was just a disappointing adaptation for some, nothing more. Whether or not people decide to take it further and saying rude comments about the director or anything personal that's on them, I personally thought he had such a great chance to make a movie that will be enjoyed by fans and he had a great cast, it's just that he, to me and other fans, did a disappointing job.
ReplyDeleteI also watched the movie and I believe that people didn't really enjoy it because they grew up watching that show and they may be utterly disappointed. But, if you havnt seen the show there's a chance you may like it, unlike people who enjoyed that show as children.
ReplyDelete