Friday, November 25, 2005
Speilberg's WOTW - Ugh!
One of the ways I have chosen to entertain myself over this long weekend is with the newly released DVD of this past summer's scifi "War of the Worlds." There was some startingly good film making in it, but it was an awful movie, particularly when compared to it's 1953 cousin.
I looked around and can't find anyone else making this comment, but the very personal, very narcissitic POV of this film really bothered me. Maybe it wouldn't have if I did not have the '53 version for comparison, but this movie seemed to sum up everything that is wrong in pop culture to me. The movie was about Cruise and his kids -- the destruction of the world was the backdrop.
All movies are driven by people stories, but the '53 movie was the story of the people trying to save the world. This current movie was about one of the extras in that film.
There was a time when people in American had as sense of something larger and more important than themselves. This movie had an almost entirely opposite viewpoint, anything larger than the intensely personal was a waste of one's time, energy and focus. The entire message seemed to be "hunker down, hide, this too shall pass." Cruise even had a huge falling out with his older son that wanted to join the fight against the invaders.
I was truly depressed. Even a hopeless fight against a legitimate enemy is worth fighting, precisely because it is an act of hope and of faith, and selflessness.
I can only hope that the movies relative lack of box office success is reflective of the fact that most people in the country understand the negative impact of such a viewpoint. Otherwise, we are in a world of hurt.
I looked around and can't find anyone else making this comment, but the very personal, very narcissitic POV of this film really bothered me. Maybe it wouldn't have if I did not have the '53 version for comparison, but this movie seemed to sum up everything that is wrong in pop culture to me. The movie was about Cruise and his kids -- the destruction of the world was the backdrop.
All movies are driven by people stories, but the '53 movie was the story of the people trying to save the world. This current movie was about one of the extras in that film.
There was a time when people in American had as sense of something larger and more important than themselves. This movie had an almost entirely opposite viewpoint, anything larger than the intensely personal was a waste of one's time, energy and focus. The entire message seemed to be "hunker down, hide, this too shall pass." Cruise even had a huge falling out with his older son that wanted to join the fight against the invaders.
I was truly depressed. Even a hopeless fight against a legitimate enemy is worth fighting, precisely because it is an act of hope and of faith, and selflessness.
I can only hope that the movies relative lack of box office success is reflective of the fact that most people in the country understand the negative impact of such a viewpoint. Otherwise, we are in a world of hurt.
