“There are thoughts. We have the Slasher sub-genre. There is an entire class of film devoted to a person murdering his way through a slew of people. Dozens have been made every year since the eighties, and yet I can’t name a single movie that’s about happiness all the time. One single Florist sub-genre film, where some guy with a burlap sack over his head stalks a slew of people, corners each of them and hands over a carefully-selected bouquet. Somebody will tell me that conflict is essential to stories, and I’ll say how do you know if you’ve never seen one without it? And somebody will tell me that real life is suffering and angst and taxes and waiting in line, and I’ll say, I’m only sure that’s true when I’m stuck listening to you. We’ve got umpteen movies about hardship during a World War. We’ve got umpteen movies about unhappy people who only glimpse happiness before the credits roll. These movies cheat. I dare you to make one movie about a good time.”
I don't think there are any. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteMy Scriptwriting lecturer always used to say, "Conflict is vital to a film. What's a film without conflict? Yep, you've got it: Porn."
ReplyDeleteBut I know better by now. I saw a 'film' the other night where the two main characters couldn't unlock their hotel room door. I genuinely wondered if they would get in.
They did eventually. And things were pretty happy after that.*
*only one of the above paragraphs is true, John. Just so you know.
"and I’ll say, I’m only sure that’s true when I’m stuck listening to you."
ReplyDeleteHahahaha!