Animation Blog #9

Read Detheux part two. Identify a thesis (while there is one guiding thesis, many of his statements are worthy of discussion) and compose a blog (remember to use the guide for good blogging)




Many things were discussed in the reading, but one topic stood out specifically and that was that the United States has basically destroyed the entertainment and movie industry. The article basically says that the culture differences are shocking between the Americans and other countries on how they understand things such as film and animation. It references the movie trailer for the film Amelie and how this classic French film is shown as a way to enjoy the cinematic value of the film, from views of the French landscape to the well told storyline as well. Although in the American trailer the Americans have to be entertained 24/7 so the trailer has been ruined with the overuse of, "bangs, pops and zings," meaning the trailer was fast paced and hard to understand. Keep in mind how is film and animation supposed to grow, if the American industry keeps on "dumbing it down." For example with the movie Z for Zohan the movie was advertised as a kid friendly comedy by Adam Sander, but actually the film was considered to be very raunchy. With the popularity of the film industry in the United States the bar has sadly been set at mediocre.  With the United States monopolizing over film industries, people are not able to view other films as well. For example, the Disney Company has taken over the animation field. If any improvements for animation have come out, it is always through Disney. An interesting thing to consider is why has "North American popular culture" taken something that has depth and complexity, and almost invariably, transform it into something that is so very bland," this brings to mind the idea of remakes. Films that were considered to be classics have been ruined by being remade. An example of this is the classic horror film Psycho. Since the movie industry cannot come up with original ideas, they decided to reboot all of the horror films. The original Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock horrified viewers and became an instant classic. In the late 1990's a remake of Psycho was made with Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates, the film did not profit well showing, that you should not reinvent movies. As the critique by Xfinity Entermainment stated,"a blank expression and pale complexion do not make psychopath." I feel that the only way for people to truly enjoy the cinematic experience such as in France, we need to come up with new ideas and accept the idea of avant-garde films as well. 

1960 Psycho original film 

1996 Psycho remake