So last night, I like many others eagerly trotted along to see the new Batman film at the cinema. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has seen it can wholeheartedly agree what a fantastic film it is, with all the ingredients anyone could want from an action film - danger, excitement, violence, breath taking set pieces - all in all a triumph for Mr Nolan, who has once again flexed his muscles as a top notch director of the summer blockbuster.
However, something struck me as I sat in the dark, about three quarters of the way through the film. I actually knew how the film was going to end. No, I'm not psychic, or a genius, or anything like that, and I imagine ninety nine percent of people reading this blog have had the exact same experience. I just knew what was going to happen. Now, I won't spoil the film for anyone yet to enjoy it, but the film follows what you would describe as the conventional Hollywood narrative, I guess. This wasn't the thing that bothered me, however. Sure, I enjoyed the experience, but it struck me that this movie is going to be the biggest selling thing for quite some time, and all it is, is essentially a re-telling of the same old narrative device.
Every genre has it's own set of narrative 'rules,' be it in a Rom-Com, a horror film, or a biopic. All forms have a clear set of rules that happen, and demonstrate something that we the audience expect to see when watching the film.
Take the "Disney Formula" of storytelling, which I think we can agree, applies pretty much to most blockbuster/family film. Hero/heroine is sat at home, when life changing experience happens to them. They resist it at first, test out their powers, become competent and set out on a big adventure. Things go well to start with, but then the villian/obstacle steps in the way, things go wrong, allies betray you, and things get bad. As bad as they can, to an impossible, inescapable pit of bad (something that is not just metaphorically seen in The Dark Knight Rises). Then, shock horror, the central character finds strength from somewhere, be it an inner strength, or the help of friends who they thought had long since abandoned them, and with this new found strength, evil is overcome. People live happily ever after. Yay. Tears all around. Obviously some films deviate slightly from this structure, we may have a nice twist somewhere, some unexpected endings involving sacrafice or selflessness, but the narrative above can be applied to the overwhelming majority of mainstream cinema. Harry Potter, Spiderman, Star Wars, Lord of The Rings, every Disney film since nineteen fifty-something...all the same.
This isn't me getting on my high horse and complaining, because I'm the first to admit that I enjoy a lot of the aforementioned films, and taking them for what they are- an enjoyable couple of hours entertainment. Also, this isn't a form of cultural snobbery, as I've said, I am a fan myself. But, as human beings, what makes us actually want to watch, what is essentially the same story played out time after time with different characters? Why are films so formulaic, and more importantly, why do we lap them up, unchallenged? Why don't we get bored of watching the same thing over and over again?
I suppose humans are creatures of habit. We like routine. We get up, go to work, come home, eat chips, go to bed. And repeat. Routine and the expected, these are the things people enjoy. I imagine that people like the fact that they can go to the cinema, and engage with a film without having to actually think about it- if you fell asleep for ten minutes in Batman, you'd wake up and still have a pretty good idea what was going on, because you can apply all the cultural conventions that you've learned from your previous engagements with a film. It's safe, you know what you're going to get, you can leave the cinema unchallenged, happy in the knowledge things went the way you thought and knew they would.
From the film industries point of view, the reasons for them making these kind of movies is obvious. The clue is in the phrase 'film industry.' It is an industry based around making money, and lots of it at that. Why on earth would they change the approach to storytelling, when it makes shed loads of cash? From watching the trailers before The Dark Knight Rises, it is obvious they have no imminent intention to change either. The friends I was with pointed out that they couldn't believe the five trailers beforehand were advertising films based on comics, sequels, or re-boots of existing franchises. When they know people will flock to see Batman, why not give the public more of what they want, and make lots of money at the same time? Are there actually no original ideas for scripts than literally stealing storylines from comic books (Superman), television shows(The Sweeney), or sequels (half of Hollywood)? As Paul Weller once said, 'The public wants what the public gets...'
I still feel that in honesty, cinemas' strength lies in it's ability to tell a story. To me, the storytelling in film in the nineteen fifties and sixties is unsurpassed. The quality of the narrative in, say, a film noir movie, is just as good, if not better than anything that is scripted today- the only thing that has changed is the special effects, which can decieve people into believing they are watching a better product than they actually are. Because of the visual limitations of effects in early cinema, I feel this meant writers were far more creative than todays scriptwriters. Scenes had to be filled with great dialogue, gripping stories, cliffhangers, ala Hitchcock. Nowadays, a child could have scripted the majority of a film, but because of the stunning visual effects and CGI, the audience is far too distracted to even notice how formulaic and shoddy a script is.
An interesting theory is that of Theodore Adorno, from the Frankfurt School. He claimed that the world, many decades ago, was about a Culture Industry, and his theory in a nutshell, stated that every type of art form was basically stealing from previous generations, meaning that nothing could ever be original again, as after the nineteen fifties, everything had had been 'done.' Despite being a pretty pessimistic theory, in many ways, he was correct. In music for example, there are only so many chord progressions and notes in a musical scale to use, meaning that the limits had been discovered, and any song is essentially a re-hash of a previous one. The same does apply with film. I'm aware of the fact there are only so many ways to tell a story, and I don't expect a revolutionary way of telling a tale to immerse from nowhere, as we've been telling the same stories since we were cavemen painting on a wall.
Obviously there is an amount of generalisation in what I've said, as there are some very clever storytellers and filmakers out there who have a sparkle of originality in their art form. There will always be pioneers, be it in the independent film sector, mainstream cinema, or art house, but predominantly, the films that bring in the most revenue will always be the most formulaic.There are without doubt revolutionary pieces of art house film out there, and a lot of European cinema is far more innovative than anything Hollywood comes up with.
I've got to say though, I do highly recommend watching The Dark Knight Rises, as it is an epic, great peice of cinema. This isn't written in any way to attack what is a well directed action film. There are some stunning setpieces and visual effects that really are aesthetically pleasing, but that aside, it just essentially another superhero film.
I do really look forward to the day that we can see a summer blockbuster hit that just thinks slightly outside the box, something that strikes a slightly different chord with audience than what we've seen before. Or until the audience gets bored with being fed the same old same old. Until then, I'll just sit with my popcorn and enjoy the show with everyone else.
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