The 2009 summer film season has about ended, and there has been no crowning achievement. No “Iron Man,” not even a “Dark Knight.” We endured the rising ticket prices, the hours spent in the darkened rooms with the crummy seats surrounded by blabbing neighbors, inhaling the redolence of stale popcorn piercing the air; but it was all for naught. One would suppose that the sheer output of films flushing through Hollywood gates would provide a greater number of memorable pictures. The summer season officially began May 1 with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and the roster of films for the four months past has been an avalanche of mediocrity; a catalog of insipid blockbusters appealing to juvenility, but masquerading as entertainment; a debased hankering after dollars without any concept of art.In an Aug. 7 article entitled “Open Wide: Spoon-Fed Cinema,” New York Times film reviewer A. O. Scott noted audiences wanted to relax, have a good time and enjoy a little escapism in our depressed times.”These are the truisms of summer, invoked every time some pointy-headed grouch complains about the prevalence of sequels, or superhero movies, or big, dumb popcorn spectacles,” Scott said. “We like big, dumb popcorn spectacles.”Even when bright spots exist for filmgoers, they were often overpowered by sheer banality. For every “(500) Days of Summer,” there were multitudes of “The Ugly Truth;” for one “The Hangover,” there were clones of “Brüno.”Critic John Simon diagnosed the affliction of American films as being due to “the sinister confluence of two unwholesome manifestations: rabid nostalgia and a frenzy for playing it safe.” The indiscriminate pursuit of profit has produced a cinema excited by bloated production values and a trumpeting of a 21st century version of American manifest destiny. Take as examples, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” With a combined gross revenue greater than $1.2 billion, on a combined budget of about $500 million, these films have clearly not been failures. But what did audiences carry home besides Megan Fox’s cantaloupes or Hugh Jackman’s chiselled bust? Should the destruction of Egyptian pyramids by the United States Army or the demolition of the Eiffel Tower by the G.I. Joes or the slaughter of Nigerians by Team X pass as our predominant form of entertainment? And talk about playing it safe; Ron Howard’s “Angels and Demons,” for example, was unable to exceed the treacly intellectualism of its source material — by the best-selling author and literary cobbler Dan Brown. Instead settling for a contrived compatibility between religion and science: “Faith is a gift I have yet to receive.” The problem with films like these is not only that one does not think about them when they are over; there is nothing for one to think about.One cannot pass judgment on the summer season without making mention of “Brüno.” Director Sacha Baron Cohen attempted to pass off a comedy that had something to say about celebrity culture, homophobia and our TV-bred society. What we got was a vulgar, dishonest and insincere work that would do Robert Flaherty proud.With the recession still in effect, the studios can be forgiven for tightening the purse strings; for producing films that appeal to our infantile yearnings, films which leave audiences content in the status quo — in short for releasing films guaranteed to make money. However, since the recession also affects filmgoers, is it not time we rejected the crass alternate reality and rediscovered our interest in films that championed story and plot over bombast? Instead of being spoon-fed cinema, we should determine the menu.Freke Ette is a political theory graduate student from Uyo, Nigeria. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_fette. – – – -Contact Freke Ette at [email protected]
Freke Friday: Infantilism and misplaced nostalgia mark summer films
August 26, 2009