Introduction
Film is this incredible phenomenon in our society that can not be overlooked, it is an entertaining comfort activity that provides revenue and jobs while wowing the mainstream and providing content for people to over analyse, but When is Film Art? This is a troubling question, an easy answer for some, but this is not an easy question, there is so much to unravel with film that it is very hard to get a yes or no answer, the modern age of film has put blockbusters and Hollywood film at the head of the industry, some believe cinema is being tarnished by this modern age of movies. But there are diamonds among the rough, with directors such as Tarantino and Spielberg revolutionising the form and finding the line between blockbuster and good storytelling, through two parts focusing on the beauty of modern cinema vs the bland and pandering blockbuster. I will seek to discern if film remains an art form, and answer the question.
“When is film art?”
The 2017 film BladeRunner “A Series of Thoughts On Blade Runner 2049” (Douglas, 2017)
Part 1 – The generic nature of the Blockbuster
Blockbusters, a common staple of popular culture, the poster boy for capitalism, corporate greed and market exploitation, the term ‘Blockbuster’ refers to large production budgets, financial success and strategy in the market (Aceland, 2020). Blockbusters rely on “…herding, contagion, network effects, bandwagons, path-dependence, momentum, and information cascades – that contain the essential feature that demand depends on revealed demand.” (Walls, 2024) in order to make profit, so these films are specifically designed to create profit through these processes, using strategy and trends to create a perfectly marketable film that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars, these films are born and built to make money and exploit audience interest through exaggerated marketing to projects that will be deemed a “hit” based on consumer trends (Walls 2014). These films are the reason that the the film industry is now worth billions of dollars, films such as “Avengers” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” are staples of the industry, and have become household names due to their exceeding popularity.
Though the blockbuster has been around since Jaws in 1975 (widely considered to be the first blockbuster) only in the recent 20 – 30 years have blockbusters begun to spread across popular culture, a shining example of what a blockbuster film is becoming is the superhero film. In the past 25 years over 100 superhero films have been released (Jenkins et al, 2022)
“However, a reasonable case can be made that such a body of films has presented itself in the first two decades of the 21st century, and that this corpus of texts not only demonstrates a consistent set of generic characteristics – conventions of character, narrative, iconography and style – but also an evolving and developing genre form.” (Mclean, 2019)
The superhero Blockbuster has become so prevalent in our society that it began to create new trends and even new genre, superhero films revolutionised the idea of “multiverse” stories or alternative dimension and timeline stories that are now rampant in mainstream media with franchises such as “Spiderman” pioneering the genre. But what is the issue with this? Why does this question it as an art form? The answer is quite simple, it’s predictable. Blockbuster and especially superhero Blockbusters are becoming increasingly predictable and pandering, many stories follow a down on their luck character, who discovers a power or upgrade, leading to an eventual toe to toe with a villain with an undeveloped backstory and a similar or slightly alternate twist on the heros super power. This can be seen in “Iron Man” 2008, “Antman” 2015 this trope goes far beyond marvel with examples such as “Green Lantern” 2011 or “Man of Steel” 2013. This same trend as well as many opthers can be seen amongst these hundred or so superhro films that have been developed in the past 20 years. Now is this to say we should discredit the hard work of those hwo worked on these films? Absolutely not, the medium itself still remains as talented as ever, with production design, music composition and special effects improving exponentially. However there is something to be said about the purpose and meaning that is to drive these films, and is to make them engaging.
So is Film as art dead? No. And to explain why I will need help from a movie about dragons and a director with an alarming focus on feet.
Part 2 – The endearing nature of modern cinema
How To Train Your Dragon 3 -“In the end, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy crafted a complex coming-of-age story” (Phipps, 2019)
Picture this, you are five years old, sitting down ready to watch How To Train Your Dragon in cinemas for the first time ever, you watch the movie and you absolutely love the colourful dragons and the hero is relatable and at the end there is a massive battle with a gargantuan creature and the heroes are victorious, this is now your favorite movie. Now, picture this, you are 18 years old and watching How To train Your Dragon expecting it to be some childish flick about the power of friendship with outdated animation, But you are taken aback by the gorgeous soundtrack, the incredibly deep themes and astounding acting. Well that wasn’t what we expected was it? Therein lies a contradictory example to the common conception that kids films (and cartoon films) are just senseless, palatable entertainment to keep kids from being bored, but this is not always the case. “When it comes down to it, the beauty of the children’s movie form is that it has to capture and communicate big, complex ideas in easily digestible ways.” (Cho 2022) Kids films are an imaginative and creative way of expressing film and they are representative of what modern age cinema can accomplish, by creating a new medium in which cinema can be created, giving film as the art form momentum and thrusting it further into a new and creative future. Though they can be described as ‘blockbusters’ due to their focus on being marketable and palatable to children, there are prime examples of this being a double edged sword, a great example of this, is How To Train Your Dragon.
This is the beauty of what modern cinema has become, we are currently in an era of innovation where new and exciting ways of directing, presenting and creating films. animation is a terrific example of this, but there are more complex and mature films that are also being created, and not to create too great of a tone shift, but I could not help but mention… Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino has been one of the pioneers in film directing over the past twenty five to thirty years, creating filmography that is renowned by many as being incredible films, all receiving great praise from film reviewers and people alike and his films have brought in over 2 billion dollars at the box office. But how did he achieve this success? Why are his films so incredible? This all comes down to his style, Tarantino was able to master an amalgamation of different styes and genres from many different eras and ages of film history, he is known for his diverse and innovative scripts that focus on the characters as well as a large focus on violence. Tarantino films have been described by M Keith Booker as “largely lessons in how to borrow style gracefully” (Walter et al, 2017) and this I could not agree with more, but I believe it goes deeper than just borrowing style, it is adapting genre and creating his own style using experimentation. For example his film “The Hateful Eight” (2015) is a creative genre pastiche of western and murder mystery, while also blending the signature Tarantino violence, but “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2018) is more representative of a typical blockbuster film while still keeping his signature style of excessive violence witty and unique dialogue and characters. These films are an example of what his style can be best described as postmodernism “Tarantino and his movies can be classified as postmodernist films, because they reflect postmodern ideas, and postmodernism is an era and a movement which moves away from modernism.” (Marić, 2017) His films progress and build on pre existing genre by taking the marketability of blockbusters while building on the form and the medium using unique stylistic choices and themes. (e.g. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as a homage to old cinema and The Hateful Eight as murder mystery, western, comedy)
This is what the film industry needs, progressive directors and innovative animation are the shining light among generic blockbusters, both reinvigorating the form and creating momentum for the industry to balance the box office power with meaning and new ideas. This is when film becomes art, when it innovates.
Conclusion
So what have we learned? Well, despite the years of box office hits that pander to the market and have not a great deal to say, there have been many innovations in the industry that revitalise film as an art form. Animation, style and creativity are among the few that have revolutionised film and created a new interpretation of cinema as art and it is truely refreshing to see experimental and innovative films such as the aformentioned examples of Tarantino and How To Train Your Dragon. So to answer my original question, When is Film Art? Well, film becomes art when it shows us something completely new, when it has something to say and gives us something to think about, whether it be love, loss, passion, pain or even just a boy and his dragon. Film becomes art when we feel something.
Reference list
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