Friday, December 4, 1998
Audiences seeing double thanks to creative industry
COLUMN: Multiple films’ coincidentally repetitious themes may
drain wallets
Initially, this column was going to be about Gus Van Sant’s
remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s "Psycho" and how the producers at
Universal, who decided to pollute the local cineplex with this
uncreative garbage, should be removed from office immediately in
favor of some more creative executives, such as a pack of rabid
chimpanzees.
What I discovered after mulling over several other column ideas
in my head was that this would indeed be my last column of 1998.
Thus, it should include something a bit more sweeping and
far-reaching.
So, after searching the vast cavities of my cranium filled with
useless knowledge collected over a year of die-hard film viewing, I
came up with what I feel to be the defining trend of film in 1998:
doubles.
The product of Hollywood’s theory – anything worth doing once is
worth doing at least twice (and possibly more depending on foreign
gross). This year, more than ever, the film industry has seemed
bent on repeating itself, and many movies this year have proven to
be the mirror image of another film released nary a few months from
the original.
Submitted for your approval: 1998 saw the release of not one but
two computer animated movies about life in an ant colony
(DreamWorks’ "Antz" and Disney’s "A Bug’s Life"). DreamWorks and
Disney also both released movies about outer space objects crashing
into Earth ("Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," respectively).
Now you may be asking yourself, "Self, couldn’t this just be the
result of film-swapping between Disney and DreamWorks, as a result
of the movement of high-ranking executive Jeffrey Katzenberg from
one studio to the other?" If you asked yourself this, you are not
only observant, but you have an inner monologue that sounds
suspiciously like mine.
But the answer, dear reader, is no. Many studios have been
producing highly similar films all year. Two different studios,
Sony and Disney, released remakes of old monster movies ("Godzilla"
and "Mighty Joe Young"). Warner Bros. and New Line both released
explosive action-comedies, which based their humor on the
difficulties of Asian characters adjusting to American culture
("Lethal Weapon 4" and "Rush Hour").
And even "Psycho" itself, the original inspiration for the
column you now hold in your hands, is not immune to the recent
trend of doubling. It’s the second Hitchcock remake to be released
this year, as this summer’s "A Perfect Murder" was a remake of the
great director’s little-seen (and even less praised) "Dial ‘M’ for
Murder." (Note for trivia hounds: Actor Viggo Mortenson is featured
in both films.)
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Permanent Midnight" both
featured drugged-out writers (Johnny Depp and Ben Stiller)
shooting, snorting and smoking various illegal substances and then
having bizarre on-screen hallucinations .
Finally, as far as plot similarities go, 1998 was home to no
less than three movies extolling the wonder of male on male rape
("Your Friends and Neighbors," "Happiness," "American History X"),
a subject previously deemed almost "untouchable" by the Hollywood
establishment (except for one grisly scene in a little independent
film called "Pulp Fiction"). "Happiness," as well, was only one of
the films this year that dared to cross Hollywood’s cum barrier,
actually showing male ejaculate onscreen (the other is the
extremely memorable shot in "There’s Something About Mary.")
Well, hopefully I’ve proved my case. It’s getting more and more
difficult every day to find a movie with some truly original ideas
and easier to find movies that seem to borrow their concepts from
images already found in other movies. I don’t mean to imply that
all of these movies are necessarily stealing material from one
another (the repetitive theme of male rape is probably no more than
a strange coincidence), but it does indicate that maybe the fertile
imagination of Hollywood’s current crop of talent isn’t as fertile
as we may have thought.
Next year marks the release of sequels to "Austin Powers," "Star
Wars," "Beavis and Butthead Do America," "Toy Story," "Fantasia,"
"The Birdcage," "Carrie," "Mission: Impossible," "Universal
Soldier" and "Friday."
Much of this repetition is a direct result of whatever the new
breakthroughs are in film technology. For example, because computer
animation became a realistic medium for filmmaking after "Toy
Story," more studios are inclined to try producing these types of
films, and insects are an obvious choice for computer animation
(their exoskeletons and simple shapes make them ideal for this type
of animation).
Also, new advances in computer-generated effects allow directors
to create more realistic-looking monsters and large creatures
(hence "Godzilla" and "Joe Young").
The question that begs to be asked is, "Is the movie marketplace
big enough to support up to three movies with the same theme in the
same year?" Maybe, as can be seen by the success of both "Deep
Impact" and "Armageddon," and both "Bug’s Life" and "Antz." But,
perhaps these films could have made even more money if they didn’t
look so much alike.
How many more people would have lined up for Disney’s animated
adventure had they not watched its exact duplicate six weeks
earlier? The answer can only be speculated upon, but I suspect that
if this trend continues, the film industry will suffer in years to
come.
A truly great film can never be duplicated (Yes, "Psycho," this
means you.) Movies, at their best, can take you to a place you have
never been before and leave you with a lasting impression of some
place that existed previously only in the mind of a director or
screenwriter. At their worst, they are repetitious, commercial
nonsense designed only to titillate the audience or for no other
purpose than to extract money from your wallet.
Harris is a third-year history student. He firmly believes that
no movie this year could possibly be less entertaining than "A
Night at the Roxbury."Lonnie Harris
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