3 ms·

The trend to do ever more sequels, prequels, reboots, other stories in the same universe etc has a really awful side-effect that everything is always explained.

The trend to do ever more sequels, prequels, reboots, other stories in the same universe etc has a really awful side-effect that everything is always explained. There is no mystery in any of these things that won't eventually be explained in full and therefore no gaps left for the imagination of the viewer to fill in. The original Matrix film in my opinion would be significantly more interesting if all the loose ends hadn't been conveniently tied up in subsequent films. Imagine if we hadn't seen how Anakin became Darth Vader? As a kid I imagined a much more terrifying journey that turned him to the dark side. The prequels could never live up to that. Edit: ...and on the other hand, imagine a "Duel" prequel where we get to see the truck driver's backstory. Consider how dramatically this would reduce the stature of the original film. (p.s. If you haven't seen "duel" you should).

tcbawo 7y ago
When Steven Spielberg created Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he showed the interior of the spacecraft which he now regrets. There is something to be said for capturing the imagination of the audience and leaving them wanting more. Also, midiclorians.
- agumonkey 7y ago
  I didn't know he said this. An interesting comparison point with books, although they're more detailed than films, they also dont touch the same part and leave us dreaming more.
agumonkey 7y ago
It's a deeply interesting subject IMO. I think it taps into existential crysis in a way, the nature of post ww2 youth oriented culture, immature notion of art and even the ubiquitous computer era we're in. As you say, sometimes, things don't need an explanation, they're as great as they can be. It's more magic than logic and it's exactly right. It's a normal reflex to want to dig more but if you forget to make the explanation a good story with its own sense of magic/appeal.. you just killed your subject. So many movies did that, even gore movies reboot trying to explain the jail time of a serial killer. I really believe that the computing era gave this notion that more facts and logic equals better. Before people did entertainment for it and made it good enough to fulfill its duty, with a form of art. It can be an action movie, an adventure thing.. it didn't have to be PhD level of truthiness. And the existential crysis.. so much of reboots feel like a desire at reliving virginal moments of our childhood. It's slightly (if not more) backward, it's better to take a leap of faith and create new instead of making our own little inception sublevel jails.

tcbawo 7y ago

When Steven Spielberg created Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he showed the interior of the spacecraft which he now regrets. There is something to be said for capturing the imagination of the audience and leaving them wanting more. Also, midiclorians.

agumonkey 7y ago
I didn't know he said this. An interesting comparison point with books, although they're more detailed than films, they also dont touch the same part and leave us dreaming more.

agumonkey 7y ago

It's a deeply interesting subject IMO. I think it taps into existential crysis in a way, the nature of post ww2 youth oriented culture, immature notion of art and even the ubiquitous computer era we're in. As you say, sometimes, things don't need an explanation, they're as great as they can be. It's more magic than logic and it's exactly right. It's a normal reflex to want to dig more but if you forget to make the explanation a good story with its own sense of magic/appeal.. you just killed your subject. So many movies did that, even gore movies reboot trying to explain the jail time of a serial killer. I really believe that the computing era gave this notion that more facts and logic equals better. Before people did entertainment for it and made it good enough to fulfill its duty, with a form of art. It can be an action movie, an adventure thing.. it didn't have to be PhD level of truthiness. And the existential crysis.. so much of reboots feel like a desire at reliving virginal moments of our childhood. It's slightly (if not more) backward, it's better to take a leap of faith and create new instead of making our own little inception sublevel jails.