07-12-2018, 12:43 AM
(07-11-2018, 01:44 PM)Hintergrund Wrote: No wonder the new movies are crap. They wanted a rehash of the old story - but the Heroes from the original trilogy have grown old, and don't really have useful advice. The younger generations would be Artists, maybe "Prophets" - but what kind of story does that combination allow?
Another response, but this time about movies:
Are you aware that the Golden Year of American cinema (1939) is now almost 80 years (roughly a saeculum) away? I used to disparage movies rich in special effects for largely being intellectually empty and having bad writing -- but have you actually gone to the movies lately, or at least rented recently-released movies?
True, Dunkirk and The Darkest Hour are both British -- and it may be more than coincidence that they reflect events of 78 years ago. But the British and American film markets have much overlap. OK, Churchill, the optimal leader for a Crisis Era figures heavily... but contrast Donald Trump to Churchill, and Trump does not stand up well.
Speaking of special effects -- I used to consider special effects more a distraction than a contribution. On the other hand... Marvel seems to dispel this. I have seen an unusual number of recent releases... and, yes, I can tell you that Winchester, which is about some elderly women with rocks for brains build an eccentric house for keeping some spirits away from them.
Yes, I love classic movies for superb acting, directing, and script. Cinema is the definitive twentieth-century art form, and people will remember the twentieth century more for movies than music, sculpture, painting, or literature. But let us remember that the technology is more advanced, and I would not cast off Doctor Strange or Black Panther, movies that dispel some of my long-standing belief that special effects are a cover for weakness of acting and script.
There has never been so much creative talent in any time as there is today. There has never been a better market for high-quality productions. Fourth Turnings can be Golden Ages of creativity -- just think of the Golden Age of Cinema... and the Big Band Era (the time producing the highest quality of popular music ever written, unless you wish to consider Haydn and Mozart "popular" in the sense that the Beatles were in their time... in the latter part of the 18th century. Both Haydn and Mozart stand up well today.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.