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> they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic be
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic,
I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic because in general, a the American myth[0] has been pretty much optimistic and triumphalist (until recently, with People's History of the United States maybe the first popular work challenge the myth). Eastern Europe on the other hand has endured centuries of misery. As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies.
0. The American myth goes that our forefathers came to a wilderness, built the colonies, fought and won against the super power of the age, marched West and conquered the rest of the continent, fought a war to ensure Union and free the slaves, industrialized, saved Europe twice from the Germans, became a super power, saved the world from Communism, landed a man on the moon, and is the shining city on a hill that people all over the world aspire to come to, and other countries envy. Like all myths, there is a lot that is not true, but a lot people in the US embrace this myth.
- 082349872349872 6y agoThere are definitely national trends to movies. Compare the "american ending" (in which everyone gets their just deserts on-screen) with the "french ending" (which occurs in media res, allowing its viewers to debate what likely happens next). I've noticed these national trends even occur at technical conferences, where anglophone endnote speakers tend to summarise the proceedings into a coherent narrative ("conclusions"), while francophone endnote speakers tend to enumerate a bunch of loose ends that might be addressed by the next conference ("future work"). (Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?)
- SSLy 6y ago>(Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?) India of course.
- Hitton 6y agoIndia manages to make even non-superhero film look like superhero one. Japan made also quite a few superhero films.
- MagnumOpus 6y ago> What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies I can think of a smattering of Japanese ones like Ogon Bat, there's the Western European Uderzo/Goscinny "heroes" of Asterix and Lucky Luke, and Hong Kong's martial-arts based superheroes steeped in Wuxia tradition. (And of course Bollywood and Mainland China have shamelessly ripped off Marvel/DC heroes and plots.)
- watwut 6y agoAmericans like clear delineation between good and bad. Hero must be likable. Ending must punish the bad and reward the good. If something bad happens to character, it is punishment.
- mrep 6y agoHave you seen the mist, cause I would not classify the ending of that movie that way.
- ghostDancer 6y agoI think he's talking generic. Most(not all) of the USA movies are good/bad clearly defined, even physically the good guy is handsome while the bad guy is not, is a "trope". It's more clearly defined than in movies from other parts of the world.Not always and not in every movie, not every character but most of them. If you prefer you can tell is a Hollywood thing.
- cyberdrunk 6y ago> As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies. I think you missed perhaphs the greatest tragedy (apart from both world wars and the Holocaust, which also very disproportionally touched Poland, as Poland hosted by far the most Jews in Europe at that time), which was the introduction of Leninist/Stalinist variant of Communism. Hitler was a monster, by he ruled over us for just a few years, while the communists destroyed societies for decades...
- brnt 6y agoThat's one of my 'jokes' with my Polish half of the family: Poland chose just about the shittiest place to be in: a plane between Prussians, Russians, Austrians... By the way, don't forget the most important internal divide in Eastern Europe: orthodox vs catholics.
- muro 6y agoOrthodox vs Catholic became much simpler after Turks invaded Europe. Austrians got along with Russia reasonably well.
- d3ckard 6y agoYeah, Austrians did.
- ciceryadam 6y agoYeah, no. Try to tell that to Serbs and Croats.
- userulluipeste 6y agoDon't forget the Mongols/Tatars. There were serious raids even in 15th century and Poland's mostly plain and open landscape made things so easy for the raiders!
- TeMPOraL 6y agoI don't know. A remark I often make with my family is: Poland is about the optimal spot on the planet! We have mild climate, no weird weather events besides an occasional flood, no earthquakes, volcanos, etc. We have sea access and mountains to scale. We're just about enough developed a country for a comfortable lifestyle. Our crazies, both left-wing and right-wing, are just mildly crazy compared to countries around us. We have enough resources to live off and sell, but nothing so substantial as to induce a resource curse (and in particular, no oil = nobody will come to bring us Freedom). We're not the bleeding edge, but also not the lagging tail. We're comfortably average.
- 6y ago