3 ms·

While the motivation for Facebook was probably over-dramatized, I don't think you can support for even a second the idea that Hollywood (whatever that is) doesn

by ojbyrne 16y ago

While the motivation for Facebook was probably over-dramatized, I don't think you can support for even a second the idea that Hollywood (whatever that is) doesn't understand the joy of building things for their own sake. After all, even the line "If you build it, they will come" is from a movie.

hugh3 16y ago
That wasn't about building things for its own sake, though, that was about building things in order to hang out with some ghostly baseball players. (Or something; I haven't actually seen the movie but I gather that's what it's about.) Doing something for its own sake (also known as doing something for the hell of it) may be a realistic reason for doing things in the real world, but it doesn't make much of a story. Drama is all about motivation, and about characters striving after the things they want, and if your character does things for no other motivation than "Meh, I was bored and I kinda felt like it, and it was sorta fun" then it's a dull story. I've got a story for you. Kevin Costner is a corn farmer, and one day he gets up and said "Y'know what? I think I'll build a baseball field in my cornfield". A few weeks later he's finished, and he says "Well, that was fun". Good story? I don't think so.
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  Sure, but the movie was called "Field of Dreams." I.e. he was motivated by dreams.
  - edanm 16y ago
    Yes, but not by "dreams" in the abstract sense of something you wish will happen, but by actual dreams, in the fantasy sense of something talking to you in your sleep.
    - ojbyrne 16y ago
      Right, that's my point. He was motivated by a dream of bring dead baseball players back to play baseball in a cornfield. An actual dream. It's about as tenuous a motivation as a movie could actually have.
    - hugh3 16y ago
      Or maybe one as a metaphor for the other. Still, it's not a great example. I'm struggling to think of examples of movies where characters really are motivated by doing stuff just for the hell of it. The only example I've got so far is the Joker from The Dark Knight. His motivation throughout is exactly what Zuckerberg described -- doing things because he can and because it would be interesting to try. It's not exactly a positive portrayal, though.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

hugh3 16y ago

That wasn't about building things for its own sake, though, that was about building things in order to hang out with some ghostly baseball players. (Or something; I haven't actually seen the movie but I gather that's what it's about.) Doing something for its own sake (also known as doing something for the hell of it) may be a realistic reason for doing things in the real world, but it doesn't make much of a story. Drama is all about motivation, and about characters striving after the things they want, and if your character does things for no other motivation than "Meh, I was bored and I kinda felt like it, and it was sorta fun" then it's a dull story. I've got a story for you. Kevin Costner is a corn farmer, and one day he gets up and said "Y'know what? I think I'll build a baseball field in my cornfield". A few weeks later he's finished, and he says "Well, that was fun". Good story? I don't think so.

ojbyrne 16y ago
Sure, but the movie was called "Field of Dreams." I.e. he was motivated by dreams.
- edanm 16y ago
  Yes, but not by "dreams" in the abstract sense of something you wish will happen, but by actual dreams, in the fantasy sense of something talking to you in your sleep.
  - ojbyrne 16y ago
    Right, that's my point. He was motivated by a dream of bring dead baseball players back to play baseball in a cornfield. An actual dream. It's about as tenuous a motivation as a movie could actually have.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    Or maybe one as a metaphor for the other. Still, it's not a great example. I'm struggling to think of examples of movies where characters really are motivated by doing stuff just for the hell of it. The only example I've got so far is the Joker from The Dark Knight. His motivation throughout is exactly what Zuckerberg described -- doing things because he can and because it would be interesting to try. It's not exactly a positive portrayal, though.