Saturday 10 March 2012

Beginning. Middle. End.

On Thursday I logged onto Twitter and as I usually do checked what was 'trending'.

There with the usual celebrity names and 'Stop KONY' was #6wordfilmplots. This got my curiosity going, so I clicked on it. The hash tag was pretty self explanatory. The feed was full of people describing the plot of films in 6 words. As I started reading down the list some were very humorous.
"Extraterrestrial phones home, arranges pick up." - Obviously E.T.
 "Big ship can't sink. It sinks." Titanic.
Well this got Grace and I thinking, what do we actually watch films for? They never actually consist of anything. For example...
 "Robots fight. (Can't expand Transformers to 6 words)"
But, yet we all still watch films on a daily basis and pay extortionate prices to see films at the cinema.

This definitely applies more nowadays with all the different genres of films. I've lost track of how many times I've watched a 'Rom-Com' and predicted the ending - BUT I still buy them and watch them over and over again.

This makes me wonder, do we like them 'nothingness' films? The male species pay to see films like Transformers when it only shows robots fighting for two hours. I suppose the answer is that we enjoy the entertainment and taking me back to my A Level media days, The Uses and Gratifications Theory....We watch films and TV as a talking point socially and also to escape from every day life. You can't do this with thrillers or horrors.

This is why I buy 'Rom-Coms' and love them.

Definitely enticed by this
DVD cover.
Today I watched the film 'Remember Me' released last year *SPOILERS*. I'm not going to lie, I saw the film for a fiver in Tesco's, my main reason for the purchase being that it had Robert Pattinson in it - definitely no wasted time in that!

I was definitely not disappointed with this bargain buy. After 15 minutes of the film I found myself actually intently watching the film rather than intently watching Mr. Pattinson (named Tyler).

As with any other film I did find myself predicting the ending. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. As I watched Tyler and Ally (his new girlfriend) my assumption was that they would have their up and downs, but ultimately end up together. I was definitely right in one sense, they certainly had their ups and downs as we learnt more about tricky relationships with their fathers. But, as soon as I saw my predicted ending and they were back together, they linked the story to September 11th 2001, also known as 9/11, the day the twin towers were attacked.

The techniques used in the film were very good. The audience never saw Tyler die, but only saw the reactions of all his loved ones. Throughout the film these techniques definitely kept me interested, unlike some films. I'd definitely give this one a watch.

'Remember Me' was heading in the right direction and all new films should follow suit and preferably lose the predictability.

The answer is...we shouldn't be able to describe our favourite films in six words. I know I certainly can't.

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