Ridley Scott was the director of two of the most critically acclaimed science fiction films, now he believes that the genre is so tired and unoriginal that it may be dead. At the Venice Film Festival for a special screening of his seminal noir thriller Blade Runner, Scott said that science fiction films were going the way the Western once had. “There’s nothing original. We’ve seen it all before. Been there. Done it,” he said. Asked to pick out examples, he said: “All of them. Yes, all of them.” The flashy effects of recent block-busters, such as The Matrix, Independence Day and The War of the Worlds, may sell tickets, but director Scott believes that none can beat Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Scott said “There is an over reliance on special effects as well as weak storylines,”
Beam Me up blog is the sister/support site For the Beam Me Up podcast. It contains links, discussion and material that might be or have been discussed on the show. Also links to new show listings and material. Be sure to check out the live stream every Saturday at 4pm eastern at http://www.wrfr.org/links.html and select stream
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Sci-fi films are as dead as Westerns, says Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott was the director of two of the most critically acclaimed science fiction films, now he believes that the genre is so tired and unoriginal that it may be dead. At the Venice Film Festival for a special screening of his seminal noir thriller Blade Runner, Scott said that science fiction films were going the way the Western once had. “There’s nothing original. We’ve seen it all before. Been there. Done it,” he said. Asked to pick out examples, he said: “All of them. Yes, all of them.” The flashy effects of recent block-busters, such as The Matrix, Independence Day and The War of the Worlds, may sell tickets, but director Scott believes that none can beat Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Scott said “There is an over reliance on special effects as well as weak storylines,”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Sci Fi might be dead in cinematic terms, but if so, only because of the brain-deadening effects of hollywood production and direction and dumbing down.
Sci Fi itself is alive and well: even in the 1940's, some SF writers were musing that perhaps everything that could be covered in SF had been covered. Well, 60 years later, we know that isn't the case.
The problem is transferring the ideas to screen, and then making them bland for the perceived lower common denominator..."Oh, he must have a sidekick"..."And can he have a talking car, too? Yeah, the kids would love that!"...or the more recent classic stupidity that was passed of as Sci FI: "Oh, let's kickstart the sun...mm, we'll say that it's 'stopped' and we need a big nuclear bomb to start it again! Everyone will love that, lots of emotion and tight sweaty singlets, and well, it's got nuclear in it, so it's sci fi!"...
I will have to say it is so nice to see a writer in the field with something more than doom and gloom for science fiction as a written art form. I think your attitude has a lot to do with how you present and promote yourself. Many who depend entirely on the print media are indeed hurting, you however have embraced a multimedia venu which allows you multiple outlets for your creative works.
As for your opinion of the silver screen as well as the phosphor, well its really hard to find fault there. Film science fiction has been following a formulistic approach for many years now and shows no sign of cleaning up their game. I had high hopes for I Robot when I heard it was in production and other productions of Asimov's works....and was treated to complete trash. I will have to say that I found AI entertaining, in a minor kind of way. I still find it hard to dismiss Blade runner even for all its production faults. But when directors take the "Lego" approach to film making, we can always expect a poorly built offering no matter how good the intentions. But your wrong in one respect....most of these films NEED a nuclear bomb set off in them. Vaporize the whole lot! lol
Yes, I felt similarly disappointed with I Robot, so perhaps a nuclear device would have been useful!
When I heard that 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' might be up for a remake, I shuddered...
Well yes, did you see who they are considering for lead? Reeves has about as much acting range as a brick. what a waste...
“There is an over reliance on special effects as well as weak storylines,”
About what genre can that NOT be said? None. Nothing that is designed to play in the local multiplex, at least. It's all a bunch of vacuous crap. Meaningless, predictable, poorly directed, all of the subtlety of a bungee jump.
Kubrick not only represents the standard against which all modern sci-fi cinema fails, but ALL of modern cinema. And modern cinema caters to the multiplex. The average modern moviegoer wouldn't make it past the first scene of 2001 if it were rerelesed. Why aren't they handing me the meaning on a platter? Who wants to watch a bunch of monkeys running around?
Of course there is independent cinema where real character development and deeper meaning sometimes makes an appearance. Unfortunately there is NO ONE on the scale of someone like Kubrick that makes good movies anymore. It's all self-serving, total sellout junk. This is what we've asked for, and now this is what we'll get. Nice going, America.
the brain-deadening effects of hollywood production and direction and dumbing down.
It is the nature of our era's omni-abundant entertainment media offerings that one can feast and feast and feast upon them until finally ....urp....getting sick of this stuff.....Waiter? Barf bag please!(...undignified noises rejecting the overabundant fare...) But then, (no surprise to Epicureans) following said purge, and a decent interval, that menu starts looking interesting again.
So don't fear, the sense of jadedness will pass. One will once again chuckle. "he's giving him HIS gruel, what?" as the villainous leader of the _______'s finally gets his comeuppance.
Perhaps if sci-fi film listings were sufficiently sub-genred (space cowboy/space cavalry, interstellar private eye, galactic merchant with tough exterior but heart of gold, Big Brother watching you, raddled dystopias, alien contacts, friendly or otherwise, etc, one could be free of exposure to the unpalatable.
Ron
I am sure we all do some sort of sub-genre filtering now. I know I find myself thinking...oh its "this type of movie" But you know its done in print...why not....however I think it would be more akin to an autopsy now.
Post a Comment