Only the Emotions Matter: Filmmaking's Shallowest Era - Michael UNPLUGGED
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- Опубликовано: 24 апр 2024
- #retroblasting #film #sequeltrilogy
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Michael parses the silly words of a growing movement of filmgoers that "only the emotions matter." 
Развлечения
“Don’t ask questions. Just consume product and get excited about next product!”
“Only thing that matters is the emotion” is not a very good excuse for bad writing.
Hear hear.
Without good writing there is no real emotion, only fake emotion on command.
I wish I could engrave this on a plaque and post it in every writers room. I'd give you Quote of the Month (and nominate you for quote of the year) if I could, sir.
😂 I hope it wasn't me that he was referring to. I say a lot sometimes and wouldnt remember. I wanna say this - that from an audience standpoint it kinda is all about emotion and relating. For the writer its about good writing to be able to elicit emotion from your audience. But I think what exists now is within audiences there are groups with predetermined emotions ever before watching a movie. This is the distorted emotion thats wrong to have - the emotion thats predetermined, overwhelming of the individual and impervious to common sense and objectivity. And sadly there are fandoms out there that have the distorted emotions - they'll see a garbage trailer or movie and care nothing for the quality (theyre just glad the movie was made).
Exactly. Only thing that matters is the emotion? Okay, then the movie makes me feel disgusted and ashamed for it.
"Then you're a disgusting and shameful person!" Wait, I though you said the only thing that matters is the emotion? You can't even stick to your own rules?
"Noo, we mean the emotion you are meant to feel!" Ohhh, you mean the emotion of the mob, as powerful and thoughtless as it is. You're in a cult!
"No, no, we mean if you feel bad emotions, then you're a bad person! That's what that means!"
Okay, then go watch baby movies. Stick to watching nothing but movies that were made for babies. Keep watching movies intended for babies and toddlers, have no bad emotions and feel amazed and captivated all the same.
"Everyone in Hollywood needs to go therapy." You are so right there.
Perhaps it's a bigger problem that most of them are in therapy.
Yeah they're all in therapy already, maybe it's the problem.
That's ironic being that I feel like exposure to Hollywood content is going to end up sending me to therapy.
Because these people need to be even more inward looking and self-obsessed.
"Emotions" are the frosting on top of the cinematic cake. You need the rest of the cake, the stuff that makes you think, to keep an audience engaged beyond a surface level. If you ate a cake that was only frosting, you'd only eat it once because it was too sweet. But if you ate a cake that had some substance to it beyond the initial hit of sugar and chocolate flavoring, you'd ponder that cake a bit... and perhaps have a second piece.
PERFECT analogy! 👏I'm gonna start using that!
Cakeman IV Frosty Justice was an ill advised studio sequel
I dont even need to wait and watch the video before liking. Michael is discussing modern filmmaking. I know this is going to be good.
I still remember the exact moment i walked out of The Force Awakens. It was when the good guys got onto Starkiller Base and everything they needed, and all the people they needed to interact with were handily nearby despite the thing being the SIZE OF A PLANET.
When he was describing his alternative version of the Force Awakens it’s like lightning . . . Just hearing it described was exciting.
Same! And Michael seemed like most of that.... was just off the fly!" Proof once again that if you actually love, (or even just respect) a property, good ideas for it can often flow naturally!
right!? havnt we all just thought of a hundred different and no doubt vastly superior ideas just like that? how the F was that thing made like that!? i personally like the idea of adding Han entering the ship and yelling at chewy then seeing rey in the seat pilots seat and he tells her to get out of his chair... ala how he took the hat back from mutt in crystal skull. wth is with hollywood thinking we want to see our heroes disrespected and denigrated and knocked down? even or especially for the purpose of fraudulently raising up another character? jesus we dont. theres a reason we love these characters in teh first place. so assanine.
Goosebumps, actual goosebumps!
@@troypeterson2156They don't think you want that, they want that and they want that because people with money, influence, and a activitist axe to grind also want that and tell them to make that happen.
That little verbal re-write you just did was amazing. I would have loved to have seen the movie actually play out that way.
I even loved his ideas for Rise of Skywalker from the last video! I still have never even seen it. Seriously. Michael exposed so many of the plot holes and sheer contrivances in part of his "Canon Is Overrated" video, that I literally can't make myself even try to watch it. So after he spoke about maybe just grafting in a dark Luke Skywalker clone as the 'big bad', that would have actually given me JUST enough interest to at least try to watch that movie!
Some people just want the keys jingled in front of them 😢
Best analogy of the difference between today's movies and what came before them, the journey vs the rollercoaster ride. One is an epic story that you leave the theater wanting to continue, the other is a short thrill ride that offers nothing after it's over except an emptier wallet.
Michael unplugs and I tune in!
Your unplugged videos are better articulated than my scripted videos! Great job sir!
its like writing a sequel of an ongoing continuing story and not reading the original story and just listening to someone tell you their favorite parts of it and just slapping together callback moments and just writing whatever based around those said moments that you only heard about. building a house without a floorplan or a foundation, they are unqualified for their own profession.
It’s the same for music too. It’s not about artistry, it’s about mass production of product.
A friend of mine, also named Michael, and I was told by someone that those movies were good because of the special effects. He said the story didn’t matter that much.
The Social Media generation has a short attention span....they enjoy flash emotions because social media made them awkward in social setting or reality.....they are babies....that cries for everything...hungry ,tired angry...
This problem is across the board in all genres. By comparison, I belong to a pet Facebook group. In this group they do rescues, adoptions, etc. During one of our adoption drives, someone attacked me for being a Baptist and suggested that we should all go back to the "old gods". When I asked what they were talking about, they said that we should go back to when Zeus, Hera, Hades, and the Olympian gods were running things. I shook my head, and said..."Huh? WHAT??" So they respond and said, "Yes, Zeus and the others ran the world and it was a paradise!" Then I reminded them this was "Greek Mythology" and I reminded them of the many horrific monsters that show up in those stories, and how grossly uneducated they are about those figures in that mythology. Remember, this is a pet's group and everyone in it supposedly loves animals. What did the ancient Greeks do? They sacrificed animals to the gods. This new generation has no idea what they're doing or what's going on. They have very little wisdom and no desire to better themselves. This new generation is the slacker generation...mentally, physically, and spiritually slacking.
I will never understand why people called JJ Abrams a storyteller on the level of Lucas and Spielberg!
It's BS marketing just to hype him up by the industry. JJ's proven that he's nowhere near Spielberg and never will be.
Michael has been saying this for nearly a decade, and is proven right every time. I'm recalling your DC/WB video, & the "Style Over Substance" message. Now we don't even get Style.
The biggest problem is that it seems as if everyone has forgotten narrative construction. Every major release is about experience or character and never story. I’ve seen the argument being made that culturally as a whole we are losing the ability to differentiate good narrative storytelling from the bad and there’s a certain degree of truth there given what passes for acceptable these days. If one looks back to the past it’s crazy to think that the general public was much more aware of story structure and would make even literary or Shakespeare adaptations successful on a regular basis.
Any of this stuff would NEVER have made it out in the past and would’ve been laughed at for the poor construction and storytelling. No studio would’ve ever accepted this in the old days nor would a publisher for print media.
It is at its worst with series and franchises with continuity or legacy to deal with. The worst case for me is EON’s handling of the James Bond films in the Craig era. They discarded the character and the series legacy to follow and imitate other films/trends and then use the supposed and completely unearned emotional beats and experiences of the bloated messes they produced as a counter argument.
Writers have always been the most under appreciated people in Hollywood but if more writers stopped trying to save the cat and instead wrote with guts and more studio heads actually gave a damn about pictures that mattered things could finally turn around. That is sadly wishful thinking.
I think the thing that bothers me most about the sequels is the lost potential. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are genuinely likeable and charismatic actors. Oscar Isaac was criminally underused, and say what you will about ROS (which was generally terrible) the three of them together had great chemistry. Keeping them apart until the final film was boneheaded. All three of their characters (Finn especially) had interesting setups that could have been ripe for exploration in the hands of better writers. Instead, we got what we got.
The entire sequel trilogy was a wasted opportunity. And they waited entirely too long to make it. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford should have been in whatever sequels decades ago. It’s a colossal shame that the three of them were never on screen together again in these movies. I wanted to see them on one last adventure, most of all. What we got instead was Luke Skywalker sitting on a rock alone hiding from everybody else.
"Stop asking completely logical questions!!!"
This perfectly describes the last few years.
Man, when you’re describing your alternative explanation of how they get on board the falcon I honestly welled up with “Chewie get us out of here”. I’ve paused your video ‘cause I just had to lyk, brilliant Michael, absolutely brilliant 💕
Thanks for the kind words and for understanding what I'm driving at.
Had almost the same reaction myself! My eyes actually widened for a few moments: 😮 So BRILLIANT in its simplicity!
Got such a Harlan Ellison "hold their feet IN the flames" vibe from this. This is brilliant!
Damn, I miss him.
This is news to no one, but one of the big reasons that these people get so defensive, even when you're trying to come up with ways to make the final product better, is that they view any criticism of their interests as personal attacks. As soon as that happens, the line between interest and obsession blurs and, unfortunately, makes it very hard to reason with these people. That's great for the companies that have a guaranteed army of loyalists, it's terrible for pretty much everyone else.
Loved your take on this, Michael. Just that brief, head canon dialogue between Rey and Han and that "garbage" ship. THAT took me back 'emotionally' to EP 4 with Leia and him. THAT is authentic emotion because those first films had story telling at the forefront. THAT is what these films could have been, even just riffing from your own mind. Nailed it again, sir.
Yes! For me, that's really the key of this entire video: AUTHENTIC emotion vs. MANUFACTURED emotion. And like Michael said, it's so baffling how many actually prefer the latter!
It's embarrassing to see Gen X filmmakers like JJ Abrams & Rian Johnson swing and miss so badly on the Star Wars franchise.
I genuinely got goose bumps when you were describing that alternative get away, bravo!
Many people are gradually forgetting how to use their brains
We will never get another subtle moment like Luke putting his arm around Leia on a medical frigate again in Star Wars
We got such moments in Andor but I am sure it was a freak mistake that Andor bypassed the Disney crapification machine
@@jaztermareal yes but honestly, does anybody care about the characters in Andor as much as they do about the original trilogy characters? I sure as hell don’t. I only found Andor half-interesting and the rest was a total and utter slog. I’ve no intention of revisiting it anytime soon.
I have to say... considering you just riffed that 'Escape from Jakku' scene, it made so much more sense than what we got
"It used to be a journey, now it's just a rollercoaster."
Great punchline & perfect summary. Once again, thank you.
And personally I'm not too fond of rollercoasters
So happy to see a copy of "Withnail and I" in your Blu-Ray collection. That movie is incredible.
Doesn't surprise me at all, Michael clearly has great taste!
Modern Hollywood: Sound & Feelz Signifying Nothing.
It's a tale told by an idiot.
I walked away from Hollywood and American TV well over a decade ago. Each time I see the new hotness coming up, I'm reminded that I'm still not missing anything.
Excellent point. The reason a lot of modern movies don't resonate with me is you can tell they are aiming to get an emotion/reaction from the viewer, but it doesn't feel justified.
The Star Wars sequel trilogy is full of that. Example: Rey kissing Kylo Ren in Rise of Skywalker. That was out of nowhere. They had interacted with each other, but there was never a sense of physical attraction from either of them.
they were like robots kissing in that film. just soulless trash imo and it made no sense.
Absolutely loved this.
I agree I used to look forward to the next marvel movie and the next Star Wars movie now I actually avoid them
@@georgeaitken2719 Same.
This is actually more common then you might think. People get different things out of media, and for many just having emotional moments is enough for them to say the films good. Like when I tell my mother that something was poorly written she says she doesn't care.
In many ways this reminds me of the shift in marketing and advertising from long ago. The ads used to attempt to convince the consumer based on the merits of the product and then it shifted to how you feel about the product (soda/beer ads, etc). It's attention deficit. We only need enough "feels" in the marketing/trailers to get enough tickets sold for short term gains rather than really fostering the next generation of fandom.
Thank you!
Emotions are the result of an intense experience or story, NOT the other way around...
Your therapy suggestion made think of the scene from the original 80s *"V"* miniseries where the priest gave the bible to the alien leader Diana and suggested she read it. She later admits to him that it made her feel a certain way she's never felt before and also vulnerable. The priest becomes encncouraged.
But then Diana, the lizard alien, switches gears and says those emotions are very dangerous and not neccessary then fries the priest with her weapon then blasts the bible to ashes. In much the same way I don't think current Hollywood would respond too well to a structured, compitently guided journey of self discovery.
Most likely they're all on a spectrum and were left flailing there then abused.
Such an awesome series back then, next to nobody remembers it now...
GREAT analysis man!
“I WANT TO FORGET” followed by a crack of the whip.
You know what I felt at the end of The Farce Awakens? My eyes rolling back into my skull. 🙄
That alternate Force Awakens opening scene you came up with was really cool.
Speaking of streaming, Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Prime in May. I’m looking forward to that
Really?!? Cool!
Oh man, we could go on for days on this topic! This might be a good topic to bring up in a live stream for us all to have a group therapy session!
Excellent video! Oscan Wilde once said that there is no such thing as a bad story - only a story badly told, and that rings very true to me.
I totally agree. As you told us the scene with the millennium falcon I was really thrilled. Wow. That would be a storyline. Thank you Michael.
This just makes me think of the fact that one of the earliest _Star Trek_ things I ever saw was _The Wrath of Khan,_ and I was invested in the whole story, and was emotionally bulldozed by Spock's death at the end, because that entire film was a satisfying journey. Even now, knowing that Spock is brought back, watching that TWOK affects me emotionally, because it is so well made. Conversely, I had watched the original and prequel _Star Wars_ trilogies countless times before seeing _The Force Awakens,_ and while Han Solo's death was a bit of a jolt the first time I saw it, it's just an empty event now. It had no motivation. There was nothing noble or important about it. It certainly didn't tie into any sort of broader narrative themes for the film.
In both cases, the character died because the actor wanted him to. Nicholas Meyer and Harv Bennett took Leonard Nimoy's request/demand as a creative opportunity. JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy took Harrison Ford's as a box to check off in their laundry list of a movie.
Spot on the money with this video. I didn’t love Rocky because of music cues, I loved it because I got invested in well written characters and an excellent third act.
Damn, I could picture that scene in my mind, and it worked on every level! Good writing comes from good knowledge AND good experience!
Just re-watched some Batman: the animated series episodes, e.g “heart of ice, appointment in crime alley…”
They always make me tear up.
Because they’re well written.
I felt nothing for the Star Wars sequels.
Someone once called the movie “ready player one” as “Funko Pops: the movie”. They just want you to go “OH! OH! I know that thing!” And that’s all.
Great video as ALWAYS Michael. Your riffing of one scene in the force awakens was better than the whole movie.
This was such a great take, thank you for the video. I think that we both feel the same way about the writing and the movie industry, especially with titles that they keep on feeding the public just using nostalgia or forced/non-organic emotion. One of my favorite videos of yours was the one where our generation, born around the 80's, can't seem to let things end (Terminator/Star Wars/Dr. Who even, I would now say Ghostbusters). The public, largely, will just accept anything with movies that don't have a great story so long as it has something they recognize - "I remember it once being good, so I trust it still will be. That's a title I recognize, so I'll go see it even if they bastardize the whole thing." I try to have the conversation with people around my same age. A lot of them, who I wouldn't call movie buffs, are happy with just that ("How was the new Ghostbusters movie?" "It was good" "Really, what was good about it?" "Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murry are still alive making a Ghostbuster movie". I've lost hope with current movie makers. They don't tell a great story with worthwhile dialog. Buying DVD movies that were made 40, 50 or 60 years ago. That's my *new* going to the movies. It's new to me and they can tell and write a great story.
You touched on something that I hadn't really thought of. There isn't much alien language in Disney star wars. The existing characters all keep their cannon languages but I can't think of many new non droid characters who dont speak English. Did Disney think subtitles would distract people from the feels?
Brilliant analysis.
Hell yeah more retroblasting 💪
Excellent video! I completely agree with your opinion of The Force Awakens and where Marvel Studios has been taking things, but I feel the same way about Rebel Moon (both parts).
13:08 nice! Just that part got me in the feels haha
Brilliantly said. Precisely how I’ve felt for years, even the TFA scenario is Very similar to what I was thinking as I left the theater.
Very well said Michael. Kudos.
Could not agree more!
I watch Nerdrotic's and others' videos but Michael is always way more nuanced and thoughtful in his critique of movies and pop culture
thank you for the very kind words.
You nailed it. Good on you !!!!
Allen Dean Foster should start a writing workshop that every Hollywood writer would have to take in order to keep thier union card. Maybe also include some other really good retired screenwriters and novelists as guest assistant instructors.
Dan o Bannon, for suspense and horror, if you can line up whoever wrote the 96 Matilda for family content, for comedy id actually get tim Allen or Jerry jhul. ( From the Muppets), or even mel brooks. But a.d f. Would be lead teacher, and they would ALL have to take the class AND PASS IT to keep Thier union cards. I chose foster because, though he's flexible to other people's visions, he writes in such a way as to explore the concepts already there and expand the depth and detail. And because I.m.o. he understands characters on a deep level. Not just going for illogical cheap feels.
This is a great idea Michael! Woulda loved to have seen Han introduced like this.
It's an extremely pernicious and destructive idea, but it's just a rebranding of 'you have to turn your brain off.'
I think it was Park Chan-Wook who said 'if I want to turn off my brain, I'll take a bath.'
So many moments from good movies in the past that got to that emotional payoff but took you on a well scripted journey to get to that point...and how movies are now, it's the equivalent of shaking keys in front of a baby to make them laugh...have people now become that banal? Also, very good example of that being from raiders of the lost ark when Indie thinks Marion died, everything that led up to that moment paid off in the emotions you got from Indiana after. Also a scene popped into my head the moment you mentioned people being directed to feel emotions, it's from tmnt the secret of the ooze, when shredder is introduced to tokka and razar. Shredder: Babies! They're babies!
Professor Jordan Perry: What did you expect? They'd come out quoting "Macbeth"?
Shredder: They are stupid!
Professor Jordan Perry: Well, they're not stupid, they're infants.
Rahzar: [knocks Tokka on the head with a metal pole] Bang!
Tokka: Ow!
Professor Jordan Perry: Okay, they're stupid infants.
Well spoken!
Michael, please just rewrite the sequel trilogy. The few minutes of just giving us that rewritten/reshuffled segment of The Force Awakens was just on point. Just in those few minutes you showed more care for story and characters that I really haven’t seen since reading the original Thrawn Trilogy. Zahn knew our beloved original trilogy characters just like I think you understand. Seriously, write it and I will buy a copy even if it’s just fan fiction. Love your channel!
Thanks for the very kind words, man. Much appreciated.
That sequence from the Force Awakens you mentioned is literally the first thing I thought of when reading the title of this video. "Only Emotions Matter", that is the mantra of a lazy writer.
I love my wife dearly but she will watch anything that is put in front of her. She can tell and appreciate when it’s well written and produced but after really observing how she consumes media I realized that she probably represents the majority. Most folk aren’t that concerned over what they ingest and don’t want to overthink on what they watch or listen to.
This sucks for the minority of us who after growing up through a few decades of things getting better. Then we had to watch a lot of genres drop off a cliff into an abyss of crap. Don’t know how to fix it but it’s nice that I found channels like yours and others that share in the desire to have structure and continuity that makes sense in story writing. It will have to get better again at some point I just never imagined how determined the 1% who control it all would be at staying the course of suckage.
What really nails it home in my cynicism is that I used to think people got ahead by talent and hard work. I really respect competent professionals, even ones with difficult personalities, as to me the results are what matter at the end. Just wish this ethic applied to the things I like in western media. I’m more into eastern stuff as of late. Go figure.
Those that run solely on emotions are often the ones that create problems in our world today, not just with movie goers. Facts, data, logic all go out the window with such people.
Spot on! This probably explains why I have been enjoying foreign films far more recently and feel more emotionally satisfied after watching them than I have more recent american stuff.
I enjoy these deep-thought videos.
I had the experience of a person on a message board having asked for movie recommendations, and after having several people offer suggestions, proceeded to reject almost all of them for the shallowest of reasons, often stopping after 15 or 20 minutes of watch time but still giving ratings for them. And this was a person in their mid 30s. But they have the mentality of a small child. And this is the same perpetual child mindset of people who are writing modern Hollywood film and television.
Bravo!
Totally agree 👍
I very much so agree with the points you brought up in this video. I’m in gen z, and currently in high school. It seems that so few people my age have appreciation for good story telling. That really scares me, because pretty soon my generation is going to be the ones taking over control in Hollywood, and if there isn’t appreciation for good film, good films aren’t going to get made.
yup that a good shuffle.
thanks for this Michael! really sad that these studios are just creating for the sake of content and the absence of good writing and execution have taken out the cultural footprint that these legacy franchises have established before. there are a few outliers there though. i hope one day you'd get a chance to see Andor (i believe it is in physical media already) and i can say that the writing quality is quite better than other disney star wars content
Thank goodness for a true voice as clear and succinct as yours; your content over the past 12 plus years includes structure and appreciation for your audience.
(It has also included insight, humour and incredible quality of production, to name but a few clearly effort full attributes Sir)
I truly hope that your voice and influence travels towards Disney and Hollywood in general, in the same way that it has had an effect appon Hasbro and it's affiliates/competitors.
Without Retroblasting's bravery, commitment and honesty - it seems extremely likely that the toy manufacturing landscape would be entirely vapid, having not been brought to account..
Let's hope that Francis Ford Coppola isn't offered several billion dollars by Disney - that way, we'll never have to suffer Anthony Corleone's alpha- spaghetti Mafia empire..
A true fan, and greatful for what you do mate 👍
This is an interesting idea, and a good one for a video.
Feeling on its own is unimpressive. We all get feelings every day that come and go.
But feeling mixed with thought is what makes something last. When you experience one, it goes hand in hand with the other.
It's the same as having self-awareness with the drive to act on it.
Both are great together, but less impressive when apart.
Sadly, the modern world is very much more focused on emotion than thought these days. Especially in the reasoning department.
Similar to Koyaanisqatsi. A life out of balance.
25 mins ride home from work. This will definitely help!
I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees these films as roller coasters. It's unfortunate that you didn't get to do a rewrite of The Force Awakens shooting script. I'm with you on this topic 100%.
The best thing John Boyega has ever done is the criminally underrated Attack The Block and omfg I wish they'd do the sequel. One movie that actually deserves one
I 100% agree with you. People who say the only thing that matters is how I feel are just foolish.
You mentioned JJ....I think he was definitely one of the main catalysts for this trend. Trek 2009 seemed to kick off this Idea of emotion over substance in genre films. The moment I saw Spock punching Kirk in the face while rage screaming, I knew Trek was done.
Good watch
The moment I saw this pop up I knew Michael was going to have something valid to say.
These fast food feels being slopped out by Hollyweird are nauseating.
100% on point!
Michael, speaking of good writing and Doctor Who, have you ever seen/heard of the British TV series “Press Gang”? It ran from 1989 to 1993 and was entirely written by Steven Moffat. It stars Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher. It’s ostensibly a kids show but is very well-written and is definitely enjoyable by adults. If you are unfamiliar with it, I highly recommend it and I think you and Melinda would really enjoy it. It is available on DVD in a region 2 box set (probably the best it will ever look unless it’s somehow released on Blu-ray as it was filmed instead of recorded in on videotape).
I can only admire the fact that you still have the strength to argue with these people. The only thing that matters is Star wars in the title, no matter how little it has to do with it. The sooner we stop being attached to these brands, the better. That people begin to look elsewhere, perhaps at something that is not in the hands of soulless corporations without an artistic vision.
Why the hell was this in my notification when I'm not subscribed to this channel? Explain this sorcery?!?
RUclips doesn't just show subscription notifications. It also makes video suggestions.
RUclips doesn't show you everything you subscribe to. It also shows you other content. Figure it out. Also, there's the door. You're welcome to leave. We won't miss you based on this comment.
If we're listing the three most important factors in good filmmaking, "emotions" should be number 47.
Great video as usual! I can always rely on you to give a take that is both unique and compelling.
As an aside, I think it's a good idea to note that while some components of a story may be absurd or fantastical, there is usually a method that allows a story can maintain a coherent plot with these elements
Using Star Wars: A New Hope, for example, there's no reason r2d2 should have a personality. He's effectively an appliance that can rogue. This doesnt make sense in the real world, but in star wars it works because although fantastical, it remains a constant. Its just part of that world's fantasy, and the writers didnt change that based on what would be easier (at least in A New Hope)
Contrasted with the exmaples in the video, coincidence without explanation is the opposite of a constant in a story. A constant is something characters can use their agnecy to interact and manipulate, coincedence removes the feeling that the character's actions matter
Your video reminds me of a Star Trek convention I attended 15 years ago where actor Malcolm McDowell said (during a Q&A) something to the effect that "if i get the emotions right, that's all that matters." Now granted, McDowell was speaking as an actor and not as a writer (which I don't believe he is). However, like you, I wonder if this attitude is more prevalent than most realize in the entertainment industry today. Leonard Nimoy, who was a writer as well as an actor, was interviewed a couple of years before his death and talked about wanting to cameo in Star Wars Episode VII as his Star Trek character, Spock. When the interviewer pushed back asking how that would work exactly, Nimoy indicated that canon was largely overrated (not sure if those were his exact words) and that it would be great to bring together the fans of both franchises around him playing his much beloved character in a Star Wars film. Wish I could remember where I read the interview. But I think you may be hitting on something, Michael.
Your ability to just riff and think outside the box on things such as force awakens is fantastic. It *should* be really simple writing to put the characters in the situations and build some credible plot and context to set a script up, but they have been failing for years, I agree.
Dial of Destiny is another classic example. Just feels, *we're going to make it like Raiders* and then it is everything but Raiders.
Thanks for your passion about this Michael.
Excellent video Michael, the real tragedy here is that just 20 years ago this video would never need to be made. It's a testament to how pop culture got consumed by a ideology over the last 10 years ( first comics , then tv shows & movies ) that we are now were we are at ie. rock bottom. When I'm on Amazon looking for blu-rays films or tv shows to buy most of what I purchase is 15 years or older & I don't think I'm the only one doing it. Modern Hollywood content ( not entertainment because they don't know how to do it ) is absolute garbage.