Why are Modern Hollywood Movies so PRETENTIOUS?

#disney #ringsofpower #hollywood

Hi guys! In this video essay, I take you down the memory lane of my college experience in lit. class, and discuss both the interpretation and the creation of modern movies - from Barbie to The Rings of Power to Disney's Snow White - and why, sometimes, they're pretty pretentious.

Intro: 00:00 – 00:39
Lana’s experience in lit. class: 00:39 – 02:30
reading into things too much: 02:30 – 02:58
from Barbie to the Rings of Power: 02:58 – 06:05
Why does everything *have* to be deep?: 06:05 – 10:24

[guygadbois]

The ROP actress is just saying "you have to give me money because I'm black" but with a lot more words.

[ToastburnerB]

At some point Hollywood forgot that the best way to deliver a message is to have it wrapped in a good story, and now believe that the message makes the story good.

[RoseBaggins]

And amid all this clamor for diversity, they ignore the one fantasy series that most fantasy fans would love to have an accurate remake of, one written by a woman to boot, Earthsea. But no, they don't want to actually look at actual diverse stories beloved by many. Then again, with how they have been butchering fantasy adaptations nowadays, I wouldn't trust them with it.

[samhui]

Sometimes a story is just a story, and attempts to over-analyze often results in distortion of the author’s work. Tolkien was very clear that his work was not supposed to be allegorical at all. The reason literary works like The Lord of the Rings or Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or movies like the original Star Wars Trilogy endures across generations is because they express timeless universal human themes that resonate with audiences worldwide, and attempts to “reimagine”, “reinterpret ”, or “ inject” current sociopolitical ideologies just degrade the original work. Personally, I have never enjoyed any remakes, reboots, or adaptations, with the exception of Peter Jackson’s LOTR.

[DEATH-THE-GOAT]

_"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”_

- Sigmund Freud

[anonymussicarius]

An important aspect too often forgotten in regards to deeper layers is also, that the forefront has to be able to stand on it´s own merit. In modern times it seems to be forgotten that if a text, piece of art etc. is only valuable because of it´s "message" then it isn´t worth a "bloody dime"!

[jacqueline__]

Pretty sure that poem is "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes (Sylvia Plath's husband btw). I love that poem.. doesn't sound like your teacher was stretching too much. It's an inner monologue of this creature who's kinda arrogant, sees itself as godlike, is on top of the food chain, feels no remorse for killing bc that's what it was created for. It seems like the poem's drawing a distinction between human morality and the laws of nature, but then you look at what ppl do (esp what the nazis did) and realise maybe we're not too far off.

[spacegirl]

As a writer myself, scraping for the "meaning" behind blue curtains drives me nuts. No. It's just a blue curtain. The room is done up in blue. The inhabitant likes the color blue, therefore he/she wanted the room painted blue with blue furniture and accessories. That's it. It doesn't have to be deeper than that. Often it ISN'T deeper than that, but then I'm not a pretentious writer looking for accolades -- I want to tell a good story.

I just discovered your channel today, Lana, and I am so far enjoying what I'm seeing. Thank you for helping me feel better while I feel icky.

[mapowey]

you’ve put into words a lot of the frustrations i’ve been having with society these days. its refreshing to see someone talk about these topics without conflating them with their own personal emotional biases.

[mikedeck]

Yes, it's getting very silly nowadays. When Tolkien was working on his Middle Earth books, it was something he did because it amused him and his children. Eventually he figured he could make some money off of it. Don't think he ever foresaw that it'd become so popular. It was just a man trying to tell a story that he hoped the readers would find entertaining. A novel concept by todays standard.

[andres]

A very consistent analysis. Congratulations!

[jaceyking]

I think the problem with a lot of creatives (and with people being able to be self made creatives nowadays we're seeing it in everyday people as well) is that they are so constantly stimulated by things that are happening around them: lights, cameras, microphones in your face, big parties, red carpets, designer clothes, constant attention; that even without drugs (and let's be real, a lot of them are on drugs) it's like they are on a constant high needing that next hit. But all they are left with are these vapid empty feelings and they need to find something to give them meaning. And so they start putting meaning into everything. Everything has to have meaning, everything has to be brilliant, because if it's ordinary, well, it's ordinary. And because they are so overstimulated, being ordinary is boring and therefore meaningless. Basically, they all just need to take a massive chill pill.

[erictrobin]

Ironically, this makes it seem like art has no value if it is not connected to an ideological message that is utilitarian for political purposes (it is almost always about current politics)

[flow]

Very well explained, I just wonder why many people can‘t see beyond this surface level…

[fionnaitsradag]

I think this is why Tolkein disliked allegory. When every single thing has to represent something else, it gets annoying.

[mollof]

I have watch many writing tips video and many of them say you must have deeper meaning in your stories. Many who follow this to strictly (including myself before) will do it poorly.

[buffybrowncoat]

That is a Wes Anderson movie. I personally can't stand his movies because I think that they are a forced quirky with that "hey there is something here between the lines" thing that there really isn't and I haven't really loved any of them as of late.
I watched that Barbie movie really hoping that it would be a fun, light comedy but it was so off putting with all the disjoined forced messaging that I really had to muscle my way to the end against my better judgment.
I have found myself, as of late, really enjoying shows and movies from the past. They were so much better even if it was just a decade or so ago. Not to say that there aren't some good movies today but they are few and far between. It is the mainstream, commercial movies that are just not up to par anymore. It is just a shame.
Part of the problem is that they want the money in overseas markets so they will make decisions in both writing and casting, in a lot of cases, that is off putting to US viewers.

[cybertramon]

So once again, the issue comes down to Hollywood looking at all these great works and thinking their content alone is what makes them great, rather than loads of little things that can't be easily replicated, and stealing the content so they can pretend they're great too.
Also, I'm getting so tired of people thinking that their work is uncriticizable because it has the diversity stuff, even when the criticism is about how the works themselves are just terrible. Diversity is going from something that can be good when done well, to a shield to hide their fragile bloated egos behind.

[RageKroc]

Opinion: simplicity is comfort. example: if my bed had six mattresses a keycard ID and golden towel holder the shape of a phallus I wouldn't sleep on it. my bed doesn't need to be complex, it just needs to be warm. TLDR we should not abandon simple concepts and comfortable ideas for convoluted, ouroboros-style bags of hot air just because some celeb spouted a load of fancy words wrapped in a thin coating of nonsense.

[kalzium]

I think it is easy to overanalyze a creative work. In most scientific fields the simplest explanation is the correct one. To see in everything a deeper meaning contradicts this. Of course you can draw parallels to greek classics while analyzing modern media. To see something in everything is a trait of conspiracy theorists.