Imagination is a dying art. That’s what I feel like every time I look at the up and coming movies that Hollywood is producing, or every time I browse the video game releases for something new.
More and more, I’m finding that there’s less in the way of new, interesting, original concepts in films and games. This has been going on for a while, granted, and I’m pretty sure there were some people who said the same thing two decades ago. It could also just be me making the full conversion from bitter, jaded, cynical young adult to bitter, jaded, cynical grown adult. But really… when every highlighted game at E3 is a sequel or a remake? When the movies are all just adaptations or rehashes of the same plot? For every Minecraft or Inception, there’s ten Call of Dutys or Transformers. It seems like it’s too difficult for the respective industries to take the time to develop something new and interesting, and instead take something boring or generic that’s been done to death and take the safe option for a quick buck.
Or worse… take a long dead franchise or highlight from people’s childhoods (which makes Transformers stand out even more as a culprit here) and then resurrect it for a generation who either doesn’t get it, or hates what you’ve done with it from the very moment it’s been announced. Like, say, Captain Planet. Or the Smurfs movie, the trailer of which made me want to kick puppies. Those two in particular are what drove me to write this post.
(Disclaimer: Not all adaptations or revivals are bad. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing the live action Tintin film, many of the comic book adaptations are thoroughly enjoyable, the Prince of Persia movie was actually quite watchable, and just because a game is a rehashed brand or idea doesn’t mean it’ll be instantly bad. But you know what I mean.)
Are we as a society really at the point where we cannot accept new ideas? Where we’re afraid to try something different or out there because people are so bland and shallow that they refuse to give it a shot? I know there are a lot of other reasons as to why this is, but a lot of them come down to money… development costs for entertainment are monstrously large, and the market is a crowd of people without imagination or jaded cynics like yours truly, meaning that it’s quite hard to make the money back.
But really, it seems like it’s getting worse and worse. Every year, that little spark of imagination seems to fade a little more. What are we going to be like when there’s really nothing original left? It really worries me to think about.
I suppose all I can do is continue what I do now – support those that are worthy of being supported, those people with the unique or the interesting ideas, by buying or approving of their works as best as I can. If anything, I guess I just have the pressure on me to try and create something as interesting and original as I can when it comes to my writing. Here’s hoping I can pull that off…
In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep sitting here and hoping that more movies like Inception or The Game are made and more games like Planescape: Torment or Shadow of the Colossus are developed. But somehow, I’m starting to doubt that’ll happen with much frequency. So what do you guys think? Are we losing our imaginations as time goes on?
I actually tend to wholeheartedly disagree with this type of sentiment, mostly because it’s not a new problem. We’re not really making any more sequels than we used to… after all, look at how many Frankenstein movies were made. We just tend to not remember the bad sequels when we look back, and the further back we look, the more it gets cut down in our cultural memories, until all that’s left is the classics.
For example, according to IMDb, in 1942 1346 titles were released. Of those, we usually know of two: Casablanca, and Bambi. Among the rest are such wonderful things as The Ghost of Frankenstein, and Jungle Book (Apparently there was a live action version?). So sequels and remakes of old properties have been around forever, and are always going to be around.
Another thing to remember is that we get the past all at once, but the present comes at us serially. Therefore, it’s easier for us to think that we produced better movies faster in the past, because we don’t really examine the pace they were put out at. If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend looking over the past three years, and figuring out how many movies you feel are truly good. Worthy of being classics, and all that. Then pick a random, three year period in the past, and do the same thing. I, personally, think you’ll find the numbers to be about the same, or possibly even in favor of the current era, just on the basis that we’re producing so many movies. But then again, that’s just my thoughts.
-Wally Caine.
And this is the kind of discussion I hoped would spawn if I kept running this blog. Still, you raise a whole bunch of valid points and I must concede on them. I imagine if I did look back closely, there’d be just as many instances in the past of concepts and unoriginal ideas being reused and adapted constantly to the point where they’re really not remembered. I suppose that’s why things like Plan Nine from Outer Space or Manos: Hands of Fate exist.
Perhaps that just means I have more in common with the older generations who sit there and see everything they loved as youths be reinterpreted into something they really aren’t? Who knows.
Nah, I just think our society is getting increasingly lazy with entertainment. And honestly, I’m not sure whether this or your theory is worse.
Although, Draco and I both think that a Captain Planet musical might be worth doing. On rollerskates/rollerblades, too.
Could be a combination of things too. People so unimaginative that the only way they can get by in the world is to take the lazy way out as much as possible. Kind of makes one worry, huh?
Still, if that Captain Planet musical existed, I would go see it in a heartbeat.