Originality in Films? i say nay!

Looking at IMDA’s top 100 highest grossing films last night, I discovered something frustrating.

You see I have been researching for a media essay for a few weeks now, and I was looking to see if there were any examples of originality in popular film culture.

Well my findings were irritating. Every single film listed was based on something that had came before, they were all generic genre heavy films that had received almost all inspiration from previous work or events, and that saddened me.

You see, the way films are put together can be original, the character development, the general plot itself can be subversive. But I direct you to a man called Vladimir Propp. He developed 7 core characters that are present in every piece of fiction we see

1. The villain—struggles against the hero
2. The donor—prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
3. The (magical) helper—helps the hero in the quest
4. The princess and her father—gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, and marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father cannot be clearly distinguished
5. The dispatcher—character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero—reacts to the donor, weds the princess
7. False hero—takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Of course, for each of these, you could include the subversive reading, for example even if the hero is Tony Montana, and the villain is Mystery Inc. , Scooby and friends are trying to do the right thing, but the view we see the film from, they are still the bad guys. This can be used in every major film ever made.

Well then good old Mr Propp wrote the 31 narratemes, or events that happen in every story. Now this is slightly less foolproof, but is another key part of narrative. Unfortunately I do not have the book to hand with these in, but this fellow blogger has kindly put them all down for me

http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/vladimir-propp-narratemes-and-morphology-of-the-folktale.html

NOT ONLY THAT but a man named Christopher Booker created 7 basic plots, overcoming the monster; rags to riches; the quest; voyage and return; comedy; tragedy; rebirth. All of these have been seen time and time again in movies and film.

So of course, with all this already been worked out, how can we possibly expect any film to be original? Well these theory’s all leave out the tone and construction of a film. Simply in the way a narrative is put together, a simple revenge driven plat can be made into film genius (see ‘Memento’, a highly recommended film) so of course, leniency must be allowed in some cases.

For this blog, I will comment on the top 5 ‘blockbuster’ films. In reverse order.

5- Toy Story 3

Well this is a rather new film, as are many of the highest grossing, which I am decided to put on the increased production costs and cost to watch them. But of course, it is just a sequel to the previous two films. However, it is a film based on every kids wish that their toys were real, a prospect that has been with us for donkeys years. For the last twenty years or more there have been television shows and books based on toys coming to life, think of muffin the mule, bagpuss, the Indian in the cupboard, and many many more. So the premise for the film is already an old idea. As for the plot, well it’s a simple ideology of ‘friendship is good’ and ‘voyage and return’ storyline, with a dashing of ‘overcoming the monster’ just to tell kids that evil is bad. No doubt an enjoyable film, and very nostalgic as I had all the toys (and the little bastards didn’t come to life) but by no means original.

4- Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead man’s chest.

Well of course, another sequel, a story of ‘overcoming the monster’ and ‘the quest’, and a lot of slapstick and witty humour. But the actual story itself is centuries old. Back in the 17^th century, with pirates and the like, the legend of Davey Jones went about every town and tavern in the land. After all, we know that pirates were superstitious, and who likes anything more than a good old bogeyman story? As for the idea of pirates being glamorised like this, it can go all the way back to Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure island’ and probably further back still.

3-Lord of the rings; Return of the king

Of course, based on Tolkien’s ‘masterpiece’ (I never liked the book...) it is a tale of ‘overcoming to monster’ ‘the quest’ and hairy midgets. Although agreed, it is a fantastic film, the storyline itself is captivating and it is done phenomenally well, we have seen it all before, a typical fantasy film, done on a massive level.

2-Titanic

Of course, a love story and tragedy. A tale of a snobbish redhead, a lucky American, and hogging floating doors. It’s an obvious storyline based on a tragic real event, and it is, honestly, an amazing film, the acting and character developments is brilliant. Way too long though... and still, we cannot call it original.

1-Avatar.

Woe is me for having to talk about this film. It’s beautiful, immersive, and breathtaking in the way he went into every possible detail from the trees on the planet, to the naavi language itself. James Cameron not only has the two biggest selling movies of all time here, but one of the most gorgeous cinematic experiences yet.

He spent 10 years on this film. And I have one question. Does he think we’re idiots? He’s wrapped this layer of beauty, of entirely enticing scenery and brilliant casting, over a plot so thin and rubbish, he might as well have taken Pocahontas and got a smurf to jizz on it. This is the biggest disappointment I have seen. Yes, he created new technology just for the film, that’s original, creating an actual language for its characters, the klingon’s did it first, but hey, well done, but for storytelling, this film isn’t worth the hype.

So there you are. But now I’ve mindfucked you with all this you’re thinking ‘what is original then?’

To which I point you to cult films. Vanishing point, Pulp fiction, Memento (not THAT cult but still) the original Tron, the Rocky horror show, all amazing films that played with the way we expect cinema to be, in fact that’s the problem, this blanket of genre has made filmmakers get lazy and think we are dumb, we need more films to make us think. More of the ingenious plot twists, changes in narrative, messing with the soundtrack. Big films like Inception have started doing this and even though that is a film I was still slightly disappointed at, it is a good start. We need more originality in cinema today, and people like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan are two men to keep track of.