Thanatos Gerroux
Things can get pretty boring sometimes, and it's good that we have diversions. After all, we have so many more diversions than other generations in years past have had. Things probably got pretty boring for them, but I won't get into that right now, since it isn't at all relevant to you.
If you think about it, many people can make pretty good money off our boredom (it's not the first time companies have sucked money off of our emotions). Every time we get bored and start to play computer or watch television, it puts a little more money into the pocket of the electric company. Every time that we want to read a book (fairly uncommon in today's incoming generation) it puts several more dollars into the pocket of the publisher and author. Every time we want to watch a movie in the movie theatre, it puts a great deal more money into the pockets of the theatre and the maker. This is disturbing to me. If we want to give them money, it should not be a product of boredom. If we evolve out of being bored ever again, they have no business.
As if this wasn't disgusting enough, there are more problems. There are problems with all of these examples, but I am going to hit down on the movies. If you think about it, we haven't had an original movie for some time.
Most movies (I can't say all, mostly because there is always an exception somewhere out there, however obscure it may be) are classified under one of seven classes. We have the Adventure Class, the Idiot Class, the Romance Class, the Pretty Boy Class, the Disney Class, the Neglect Class, and the Gimmick Class. Every now and then, you get a movie that is completely separate from these classes, but they aren't all that common.
The first is one of the most common. The Adventure Class has been the "Weapon of Choice" of many movie producers. Under this class, you could put down movies such as Armageddon (and the rest of the seemingly endless list of space movies), and Siege (and the rest of the seemingly endless list of "Let's expend large sums of money for tons of over-exaggerated explosions" movies). These movies are usually, though not always, completely devoid of a good plot line. They usually follow a plot line that takes the hero into an extremely risky spot. The chances are somewhere in excess of one in a million, but yet the hero prospers every time. It can get sickening.
The next class is almost, but not quite, as common. It is the Idiot Class. This is the type of movie that Adam Sandler usually stars in. It features someone who has absolutely no idea what they are doing, yet they always end up on the winning side. This is degrading to young children. It makes them seek a role model in these perfectly intelligent people who act like idiots in front of countless millions. I haven't even seen Waterboy, and frankly, I don't want to. It's a complete waste of time and money, and it is probably quite easily comparable to the rest of the junk Sandler has done. Moviemakers milk this type of movie until it's dry, and with the publicity that each one gets, it will never get old.
The next class is also rather common, and makes a good Sunday Movie. This class is the Romance Class, which has a few possibilities. Whatever possibility it follows, it almost always starts out pretty good for the main character, progressively gets bad, and then sky-rockets up again until everyone is happy. Frankly, can't women find some other type of movie to flock over? This one seems awfully predictable if you really think about it.
This next class is fairly rare, but when it does occur, it disgusts me. You take some pretty-boy actor who can't act, and surround some slapdash plot around that actor. As I said before, this type of movie is fairly rare, and seems to occur around the same group of actors all the time.
This next class is considered good for children. These are your Disney Class movies. I personally think that they degrade a child's mind. You usually take a very good book out of literature, change the plot to the point where the original story isn't even comparable to it anymore, use the same characters (but add some), and come up with a terrible story line that kids love. There is one problem with this. When children see these movies, they begin to favor it over the actual book. If they ever go back and read the book, the movie is being compared with the story, and you can't do that since the story line was completely perverted by the moviemaker. This degrades literature, and that is a terrible thing to do in today's society where the reading population is low enough as it is. All Disney movies that are based on actual stories (why didn't I just say all Disney movies) and all additional animated movies (which are few and far between) fall under this category (but the two movies I was actually thinking of were Aladdin and Hercules).
This next class is not popular, but yet is not rare. It makes a good ABC Sunday Night Movie, but is fairly rare in the large screen movie groups. This is the Neglect Class. Unlike the romance class, things start out bad and progressively get better. This type of movie is all right, but the problem is that they get too redundant. Usually the parent is the bad guy, and there is almost always some sort of court case. Being able to predict the outcome in a movie is always a bad thing.
This brings us to our last class. It is, most definitely, my favorite type of movie. It is the Gimmick Class. I can think of three very good examples of Gimmick Movies that span over my entire lifetime. These three movies are Groundhog Day, The Truman Show, and Pleasantville. All of these movies have a plot that is unique. They make very good "What if" questions.
There you have it. Next time you go to see a movie, ask yourself whether or not you can predict the ending before it comes. Try to classify it into one of these groups, and see if the plot line is redundant.
