The Big Picture: Hollywood History 101: Part 3

[Nurb]

Now we just need to hurry along the current movie studio and video game industry collapse to allow both movies AND games to become really good again. Though with soooo much money involved I wonder if it's even possbile.

Though when things do collapse I bet they'll both blame piracy for their piles of shit driving away customers, just like the old movie industry blamed TV

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Really enjoying this segment. Condensed yes but accurate.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I'm curious to see if the gaming industry goes through this same phase in the next 5-10 years.

I was thinking the same thing. After all, we are about to get to an age were adults making games have experience them for most of their life (although I guess the bar for entry is higher for games than for movies)

I find this series of episodes quite fascinating. Not that I didn't know some of this stuff, but its really good to see it in such an orderly fashion.

I see two big hurdles for gaming. First, it has yet to be taken seriously as a medium, despite the fact that it has finally become accepted as a mainstream pastime. There are games that I think can be considered artistic, and many more that emphasize style and storytelling in addition to entertainment, but these don't tend to be well known.

Which brings me to the second big problem, there are almost no games that reach a very wide audience unless they're of the "summer blockbuster, popcorn movie" equivalent; we sort of started with Star Wars rather than building up to it. Off hand Portal is the only exception I can think of, but there may be others.

It's much easier, and cheaper, to pay $8 and see a two hour movie than to purchase, play, and finish a triple A game. Indie games may be a better source of games, and it looks like they're finally starting to get more attention. Perhaps we're seeing the beginning of the first golden age of gaming (at least since it was accepted as a mainstream medium) and it's the kids playing these games who will grow up and be our Spielbergs and Lucases.

On the other hand I'm sure I'm not the only one here who fondly remembers the games made right before the medium went mainstream, and kids who grew up playing those games are the sort of people you're finding in current game developement schools. This could mean they're poised to released deeper and more complex titles just as those kids introduced to the medium when it went mainstream are maturing to the point they want that experience.

 

[Littaly]

I've really been enjoying this history of Hollywood run, it's been informative, interesting and well put together, I'm totally looking forward to the last part. Good jub Bob

 

[Wolfenbarg]

This is probably the first time that I've gone out of my way to show this stuff to my friends. Usually The Big Picture is so polarizing that it's difficult to spread around, but this stuff is just plain great.

 

[uberhippy]

Wow, a 4-parter, this is truly a revolution in oppinion shows!

Love it, well done Bob

 

[BrotherRool]

This series is really interesting, thanks!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

And now we're pretty much back where we started.

Crash 2.0 here we come! Seriously though great job Bob keeping all of this interesting and presenting it with such a short amount of time. I wonder what the ugly stuff entails? That got me curious.

The really irritating part is you'd think the studio execs would recognize the pattern and take steps to prevent Crash 2.0; but no, apparently no one has any brains in Hollywood just artificial intelligence simulators that run on money.

 

[The Random One]

Great series, Bob. I know from your columns that you feel you have a kind of obligation to teach about movie history when you have an audience such as the Escapist's that will watch your stuff even though they're not that much into it. I'll honestly say it's working for me.

Also great choice of Nickelodeon clipart.

 

[Keith K]

Your serials are great, Bob, but the suspense is killing me.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Well made. I already know all of this information, but it's nice to hear it arranged and translated through the moviebob prism. Looking forward to "the really ugly stuff."

 

[TheRocketeer]

MovieBob, you've often pointed out how a great movie- like Star Wars- occasionally starts new trends, popularizes a school of thought, or reshapes the industry around them. Sometimes this is primarily what made the movie great, even more so than the film itself.

But what are some films that did the opposite, features that weren't just bad films by their own merits, but had far-reaching negative effects on cinema as an art and an industry, or society at large?

What film bears the most deplorable legacy in movie history?

 

[TheSchaef]

Bob is 2 for 2 so far in correctly identifying the (admittedly obvious) films that "changed movies forever", i.e. Citizen Kane and Star Wars. I wonder if he would agree with me on what is the Gen Y "Star Wars" in this vein. I wasn't sure if he quite arrived at that conclusion when (hint) he reviewed it, but I think it's a film that will be revered hereafter, not for what the film itself was, but what came in its wake.

 

[adamthecg]

That was great Bob, I'm really enjoying the Big Picture.

Could anyone tell me who the animated girl was at around 1.38? I just cant place her.

 

[octafish]

MovieBob, you've often pointed out how a great movie- like Star Wars- occasionally starts new trends, popularizes a school of thought, or reshapes the industry around them. Sometimes this is primarily what made the movie great, even more so than the film itself.

But what are some films that did the opposite, features that weren't just bad films by their own merits, but had far-reaching negative effects on cinema as an art and an industry, or society at large?

What film bears the most deplorable legacy in movie history?

Well... Star Wars.

 

[Urh]

This is true and is one of the numerous things left out or skewed to match Bob's view of this "big picture".

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is wikipedia lite at best and I'm constantly stunned why this is being lauded as anything but lazy moneymaking. Seriously, it's not informative, new or in any way a BIG Picture of anything except Bob's hideously askew view of the big evil Hollywood. I'm consistently surprised Escapist continues to fund this stuff.

While it is true that Bob's discussion of film history has been rather wanting, he did at least have the honesty to admit this in the beginning of part one. I took that as a disclaimer and as such took it upon myself to do some more reading on the subject. If Bob is guilty of anything, it is of being over-ambitious in trying to do a treatment of almost a century of history in only 20 or so minutes (I'm including what I assume will be part 4 next week), especially when you consider that there's a documentary based on "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" that clocks in at just under two hours. While Bob's videos aren't always the most informative (primarily due to time restrictions), it can be argued that they're at least encouraging people (well, myself at least) to go out and read up on topics they normally wouldn't have.

Plus, while TBP does contain quite a lot of discussion on various nuggets of pop culture history, isn't it also an opinion piece at the end of the day?

 

[SlothfulCobra]

It was my understanding that Lucas' dream was in fact to do a remake of Flash Gordon, but he couldn't because Dino de Laurentiis had already got his hands on the film rights. Also, after having read some of the early drafts of Star Wars, I can actually understand why Lucas' colleagues had some misgivings as to whether or not the film would work. Heck, Fox were having so much trouble getting Star Wars in cinemas that they initially had to resort to block booking (which had been illegal for nearly 30 years) to get it on screens. When you add to that the budget blowouts (a rather large chunk of change was spent on SFX shots that Lucas ended up discarding), and it's kind of a wonder that Star Wars was the big hit that it turned out to be.

This is true and is one of the numerous things left out or skewed to match Bob's view of this "big picture".

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is wikipedia lite at best and I'm constantly stunned why this is being lauded as anything but lazy moneymaking. Seriously, it's not informative, new or in any way a BIG Picture of anything except Bob's hideously askew view of the big evil Hollywood. I'm consistently surprised Escapist continues to fund this stuff.

That's not in particular very vital information, I can see why he left it out.

I didn't know most of this stuff before, even if it is a very broad and undetailed way of looking at it. I'm definitely checking out that book though.

 

[Unesh52]

Diggin this. Yep, still diggin it. Can't wait until next time. I love the history lessons.

 

[Darthbawls77]

Another great episode, the next one cant come sooner!!!!!!!!!