Sexy Video Blog: What Do We Mean When We Complain About Lack Of Creativity In Hollywood?
Posted by John Campeaon 24. 06. 2009in Features, News Chat
Hey guys. Here’s the special “sexy” version of my video blog (I’m wearing super sexy 3d glasses… soooo sexy). Wow… they really do look horrible don’t they? I’ve never seen them outside of the theater before. Well now I know… and knowing is half the battle.
Anyway, in today’s video blog I wonder out loud about what we mean when we complain “there’s no creativity or originality in Hollywood anymore” when a new sequel or remake or movie based on a book or comic is coming out. Agree or disagree, leave your thoughts:
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John Campea who has written 6783 posts on The Movie Blog
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Wtf? Youre stealing 3D glasses yet we cant illegally download movies?
I thought you were better then this mr Campea =]
Heres my rule of a “no creativity left in hollywood”
1) If you remake something like…Idiocracy. Something thta can NOT be remade.
2) If you make a movie like…Monopoly (which IS being made! Believe it!)
3) When they make a movie about an old guy from all the sequels that comes back to do whatever he does…again (M.I.3, Rocky Balboa, Indy 4, Die Hard 4, Scorchers 7)
4) If they make a movie about a book that is completely irrelevant and short and possibly im[possible to make a movie out of. Harry Potter: Okay. Walter The Farting Dog: Not okay.
5) When a movie is remade after the original came out 1 year ago.
6)Movies that rip off the same ideas thus theyre the SAME EXACT MOVIES. for example- Like John mentioned, Need For Speed, Fast and Fuurious,
Stealing? They charge extra for 3D films, and “request” that you recycle them. There is nothing saying you have to give them back.
Its not stealing.
Just sayin.
Rodney.
Its a joke.
john stole those from an amusement park
i love ewoks too :P
I think people fail to realize one thing - No idea is completely original. Everything to some extent is influenced by other pre-existing ideas.
Some of the greatest films of all time have been based on pre-existing source material. The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lord of the Rings were all based on novels.
I think the video hits on a key point. People neglect how much creativity actually goes into adapting a source onto the screen. For instance, to translate a novel into a film you have to take the literary devices and plot elements that worked well in TEXT and then translate them into visual IMAGES. Not at all easy.
Then again, creating something “original” from scratch may be even more difficult because there is no pre-existing source to work from.
When people claim that “There’s no creativity left in Hollywood!” I think it’s more of a response to the flood of remakes, reboots and sequels. It seems like every week that you hear about another film being remade or another franchise being rebooted. I think that’s what gets people upset.
But there is a ton of originality left in Hollywood. One of my most anticipated films is Christopher Nolan’s Inception which is original, that is, not based on a pre-existing source.
You are right and there are only 7 stories you can tell anyway so stop your bitching people who fail to realize.
John, I’ve been a devoted reader of the movie blog for some time now, and I just have to say one thing. Amen, Brother! Your video blog post hit the nail on the head. There is so much fucken garbage being spewed out of Hollywood it is sickening. *cough* Transformers 2 *cough* It’s not about whether or not your are doing a remake, a movie based on a book or original material, it all comes down to the talent behind the camera. I just can’t believe what is going on right now. It’s pathetic. I will continue to consider yours one of the defining voices in movies of our generation. Keep on keepin’ on.
People are looking for original stories, not just original story telling. I must agree with you though, that there is a world of creativity in the telling of the story that is overlooked in the initial comment.
By the way, I love the ewoks too!!! I cannot wait to see that one.
I see where you are coming from John, there’s some creativity left, but we are talking about he basic ideas of most of these films now. the Hangover was hilarious as heck, but it’s not the first time anyone has done a film about a hangover. The Dark Knight was amazing, but it had the same characters we have seen before(maybe mentioning that wasn’t fair). Transformers, the first, a movie i freaking LOVED, was not original. Every movie ever made was based off a source. Yes, there’s some creativity in it, but the basic idea of it, no.
I agree with most of your points here, I think that saying “there’s no creativity in Hollywood” is a bit hyperbolic, especially if by “hollywood” you mean more than the four major studios.
The thing is, there’s plenty of creativity in Hollywood, its just that a lot of it doesn’t really make it to the screen, especially when you’re dealing with the major blockbuster type flicks. It’s a matter of studios refusing to take risks on the original ideas that are out there.
Fast And The Furious was originally a film noir from (I think) the 50′s.
As for creativity, no-one whinged that most of Hitchcock’s movies were based on books or short stories.
There was a film from 1955 called “The Fast and the Furious”, but there’s no similarity at all with the new series, they just stole the title.
Creativity and originality are not necessarily the same thing.
The real complaint is, as others mentioned, about “originality.” What is lacking is the effort to bring original ideas to the big screen as opposed to “re-hacks” of the well-known and well-worn.
PS - Ewoks aren’t creative or original either! They are merely Tribal-Carebears!
Christopher, you do realize there there is NOTHING you can name that I can’t say “That’s not original, that’s mearly “x” crossed with “y”.
Like you can say that Star Wars is based off Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress.
@John - Of course, you’re right…sorta. I’d say there are things out there that could be called “truly original” BUT they’d are likely so “out there” that no one would “get it” or want to see it.
Let’s change the word to “originality” then…where are are degrees. Some folk, like me, just want MORE originality…not necessarily COMPLETE originality.
Interesting thoughts John. I guess I’d have to say that when I say “there’s no creativity left in Hollywood” I’m usually making a generalization about the type of movie that I’m referring to. Like, I often say it about many superhero films (I know, what the hell business do I have being on this site?) because I assume that they are going to follow a handfull of plot devices that many superhero films do. That being said, it is usually, like you mentioned, said about a movie that I think looks stupid, I never once complained about “The Dark Knight”, prior to it’s release. BUT, at the moment, I honestly don’t have any yearning to see a sequel to TDK. I’m SO excited that Nolan is taking on an original idea (I assume, we don’t know much) with “Inception”….. hopefully it doesn’t take the “Fast and the Furious” cut and paste from other films route.
CAN’T WAIT FOR THE EWOK VIDEO BLOG!!!!! When I was little “Jedi” was my favorite Star Wars movie, solely because of the Ewoks…… erm… I really liked the two Ewok spin off flicks too.
Oh, you’ve opened a can of worms. And so, randomly, I’ll stab some of them with my handy fork:
-’You can’t shine a turd.’
-Hollywood is a business and will forever want to hedge its bets, go for as much of a built-in audience as is possible.
-How many actors can you name? Fifty? A hundred? OK; how many directors can you name? Twenty? Now; how many WRITERS can you name? If you’re a theatre fan, someone who knows and consumes plays as part of your lifestyle, I’d bet my life you could name at least two or three dozen playwrights. You see where I’m going with this? As long as ‘Hollywood’ shows as little respect for the writer as it pretty much always has, nothing will change in regards to questioning the industry’s ‘creativity’. Remember, nobody else has a job to do until there’s a script. Until THAT power is respected, we’re fuckled.
-As far as adaptations go, believe me, it can be harder to adapt than to create from scratch. Adapting for the screen isn’t simply transposing from the page. There’s a particular talent involved in being able to take narrative and turn it into something primarily visual. And even when you get it ‘right’, chances are that you’re still going to piss off fans of the source material. (Or, in the case of ‘Watchmen’, if you you cleave too closely to the source material, you risk creating something faithful…yet undigestible to the general audience.)
-As media becomes more pervasive, as access to everything that’s ever been known or created reaches maximum saturation, the likelihood of a truly ‘original’ idea being brought to market is small. Teeny-tiny. Infinitesimal. There’s little you can do about this. Combine this with the previous point about Hollywood wanting to hedge its bets as much as possible…given the truly unbelievable costs of bringing ANY movie to cinemas…and you have an ever-decreasing spiral.
-Finally, this: if you believe there’s a direct relationship between quality and what’s produced and published…or conversely, that there’s one between lack of quality and what’s never produced or published…then you’re naïve. To wit: if you believe that what’s on at your local cinema is testimony to the creativity in Hollywood…you’re wrong. There are a vast number of original, provocative, entertaining scripts out there, already written. But Hollywood execs are, at the core of it, paid to say ‘No.’ Because of this, we all suffer. (See if you can track down any of the ‘Black List’ scripts if you want confirmation of this. Compare any twenty of these with any twenty scripts brought to screen over the last year.)
John, I think you challenge yourself to be a little more ambitious with the video posts. Obviously there is not literally no creativity in the film industry. Obviously creating films is a creative act. It doesnt seem like a real opinion, it seems like hair splitting.
Why don’t find a more personal subject to advocate, something you could muster some passion for.
A simple example; instead of your subject being “is there really no creativity in Hollywood?” and then telling us “no, that’s not really true” how about detailing some of the more egregious failures of creativity you see in the industry today; or recount some of the most creative films you’ve seen recently.
hi john just here a quick comment on this new video of your of no “creativity” left in holliwood. well i wanna start off saying that ive been great fan of your review, i think you allways have something interesting to say, and i really like that about your videos. now this video caught my attention, because like you self ive also been hearing that alot of the lack of creativity in hollywood. and i must disagree with most of the people. you mentioned the example of the movie lord of the rings, and i compleatly agree, yes this same concept of the ring and everything its been used. BUT the trick with books been made into movies, is that when anyone is reading a book, everyone has a diferente image in their minds, of how this characters are, what the setting is. directors, wrtiors, and everyone else involved with makeing this book into a movie is a whole cretive process because they are going to give a face and a place for all of this that its been put to the movie. also they have to decide witch are the most important elements of the book, because oviously they cant put everything it, if they would it would be a 5 hour movie. so i just wanted to put my thoughts very quickly and to tell you that i think that point of you you gave is very intresting and something new to think about when someone critizices the lack of creativity
thank you for reading my comment, diego cacho
Hey John,
Great Ric Ocasek impression. I think this video connects well to the video last week where you mention that movies are usually made for profit. If you’re thinking big budget studio films, I don’t think it’s the lack of creativity in Hollywood, I think it’s the fear that the money will not be made back.
Then you have those films usually shown in the film festivals of Cannes, Toronto, or Sundance that are wildly inventive with ideas and creativity but the bottom line is that they’re all looking for someone to buy their film. The thing is that this doesn’t happen ONLY in Hollywood but many other countries as well.
it never fails to strike me as odd when I hear there’s no creativity left when it comes to adaptations, but, at one point those novels started out being creative.
I never bought the remake “lack of” issue. After all, if I caved into “the lack of creativity” concept, I’d have to disown John Carpenter’s The Thing and David Cronenberg’s version of The Fly. Remakes can get creative and/or inventive.
But here’s something that amazes me: the masses seem to complain about such things all the time, but they will always appear to support those “un-original” films at the box office while most of the time avoiding what is new. Not all the time, but I do notice such things now and then.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Everythings been done!
I know I’m out of touch…
That’s what really gets me. The people, in essence, run the film industry. If people didn’t watch it, it wouldn’t get made.
People always complain about a lack of creativity but they continually flock to see those same uncreative films. They perpetuate the cycle themselves.
At the same time, when a truly original film comes along, a lot of the time people avoid it. There are obviosuly exceptions, but that’s why studios are fearful of “original” films because they just don’t sell as well at the box office.
I rarely complain about lack of creativity in movies unless it comes down to a complete rip off of another film. One thing that does upset me is when they feel the need to remake a classic film. There was no need to remake Planet of the Apes, or Gone in Sixty Seconds, or Get Carter. These films were all ready good and usually flashy new affects and actors take away from what was originally there. If someone told me that there was a plan to remake The Godfather I would be PISSED. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. One of the most creative movies I have seen in the past few years is Shaun of the Dead but I agree with John, the original movie was lets make a zombie comedy.
I’m just waiting for the day that they “reboot” The Godfather “franchise” so a new director can add his own “interpretation” to it. That’ll be the day…
As Christopher mentioned before, I think people get themselves mixed up between the two terms: “Creativity” & “Originality”.
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Anyone with common sense will know that much creativity goes into producing a movie, I think that people are more concerned with “originality”.
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Of course nothing is 100% original, but a movie such as the ‘Snatch,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’ or even “Up” would not be “lacking originality” because they are to a certain extent original pieces of work i.e. not remakes or unnecessary sequels/prequels.
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Though we know very little about it, Nolan’s upcoming film “Inception” is getting many of us excited because he is a visionary with an original idea (even if he is influenced by works of the past). That said, the “Dark Knight” wasn’t original at all, but it was brilliantly executed.
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So at the end of the day, this “lack of creativity” is really only applicable to movies that were poorly executed if you think about it. It’s another way saying that movie was “sh*t”.
As great Michele Medda said, there’s a limited pool of ideas, and unlimited takes on creating films, comics, books. Nowdays, real creativity lies in a creative way of adapting an existing idea and giving it your own ‘touch’.
Hey john, two quick thoughts:
1. You can’t be serius to say that Lord of the Rings is a “5 minute concept”. Of course you have to translate a book into a film, but the pre-existing material for Lord of the Rings is so much more than just a short idea.
2. Actually, the Fast and the Furious (the first one) is a remake of Point Break. the same concept (only with cars and sexy girls).
Greetings from Germany
I agree with what you’re saying, John, that people (myself included) are referring to the little section of creativity that is coming up with the basic premise. But I think what gets people (again, myself included) mad is the ideas they choose to remake or make a sequel to movies that don’t warrant it:
You mention Lord of the Rings, yes that was based on a pre-existing material and no one got mad about “the lack of creativity just making a movie based on a really popular book” but that was because it was worthy of being made. Same with The Dark Knight - another movie that was worthy of being made, it was a sequel to a fairly succesful film and a character they couldn’t NOT make a movie about again. But what gets me, and a lot of other folks annoyed at Hollywood, is when they just remake (or give sequels to) things just for the sake of it i./e. there’s no reason to make another one: Asian to American horror films, horrors from the , ’60s, ’70s and ’80s (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Psycho, House of Wax, The Last House on the Left etc etc ETC.), cherished movies and ideas from people’s childhoods (mostly from the ’80s), on and on.
As you say, we’re all guilty of just throwing the term “There’s no creativity left in Hollywood” around without properly thinking it through. I think it needs to be judged on a case by case basis, as with most things.
Tell me about it. I mean, is it really necessary to remake a fantastic Asian film such as Oldboy? It’s as if Hollywood thinks that we Westerners don’t “get” the original film because of cultural differences.
“Tell me about it. I mean, is it really necessary to remake a fantastic Asian film such as Oldboy?”
To answer on Hollywood’s behalf, ‘Yes it is.’
Because ‘the West’, meaning mostly America, is simply not interested ‘on a significantly large enough economic level’ in ‘foreign culture’. Remember, this is an essentially isolationist country we’re talking about here. One of the reasons that passport levels in the US have traditionally been as low as they have, is because there is an inherent belief on a very basic, near-DNA level that everything you could possibly crave, is there, within the contiguous borders. Remember, the very ethos they’re founded on is one of ‘not elsewhere’. So it should come as no surprise that Americans ‘in general’ prefer to have less challenging, more palatable fare, their diet comparably bland, product that goes down easier. (Do I have to qualify my remarks by saying that this is not the case for ‘all’ Americans?)
Not wanting to play the role of ‘Devil’s advocate’ to the extreme, but some things just don’t translate (no pun intended) well enough to garner a large enough audience to warrant simply distributing foreign product. Never mind the subconscious mantra ‘Buy American! Buy American!’.
The American Oldboy is technically not a remake. It’s based on the original manga, not the Korean film.
Great post. I would agree most times, its all about the concept and not about the movie itself. The only exception I can think of is the remake of Psycho, because, well, there was no creativity there at all. But, I would say for the most part there is creativity, but its gotta be hard to come up with a story that isn’t accused of ripping off atleast one film.
I think that nowadays it’s more about creative storytelling rather than a creative idea. A film’s premise can be unoriginal but the way it is excecuted makes all the difference.
i think its just that the yuppies running the studios are remaking all their 80s favorite movies so they can actually convince themselves that they made them.
lol.
Real sexy John.
I understand what your saying. I kinda feel they need to do more original ideas in Hollywood because lets face it, how many movies have come out this year that are based off a book or previous material? Terminator, Star Trek, even my beloved Harry Potter series. Watchmen and State of Play. The list goes on and on.
Having said that, I agree with you when it comes to The Dark Knight (best film of 2008 if you ask me)and Lord of the Rings. They aren’t original ideas, but people still went to go see them. Heck, we got The Road coming out and there’s gonna be a ton of people who’re gonna go see it (me included). Watchmen was based off a graphic novel, and even though they complained a lot afterwards (which was pointless), fan boys still went to see Watchmen.
Screw you, Ewoks rule. Can’t wait for that! LOL
love the video blogs, and love Ewoks…. :)
Ewoks are the shit.
Point Break*
I find it interesting how many of the same people who’ll bemoan ‘a lack of creativity in hollywood’, are the same people who would never go see the ‘original-idea’ movies that come out, let alone an independant film.
I think we all know this type of person, they won’t bother seeing anything but sequels/adaptations/comicbookmovies/majorfranchisefilms, and then bitch and moan about hollywood not giving them original movies? I understand it, most people would rather a ‘safe’ movie choice than go see something they know nothing about (after all, movie tickets aren’t so cheap anymore), but in that case you have no right to complain. There are plenty of original movies coming out all the time, except that most people choose not to see them.
Its the same person who blocks their ears to overwhelmingly negative critical reception and stubbornly go see a movie because they’ve hyped the hell out of it in their own mind (you can usually see them in the comments section of any negative review John or Rodney put up).
TALK WITH YOUR MONEY.
If you and your friends stop paying to see crappy films, they’ll stop making them. Go to see more of the ‘original-story’ movies, and they’ll make more. Seriously.
Good post John. I think the most pervasive complaint is about unnecessary sequels and remakes from not-so old movies, like the upcoming Total Recall remake. I think most audiences are fine with adaptations from novels and short stories. there are so many good books and graphic novels out there that, actually making them into film, will encourage many to pick up the original books and read them. Some movies are actually OK to remake.
That case would be Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which updated the classic with state of the art FX, and remained faithful to the original. Now updating Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, watering it down to make it a PG 13 movie…that is not creative…that’s pathetic!