5 ms·
It's hard to disagree, fiction is made-up stuff having only so much in common with actual reality. And sure there's good and not-so-good fiction and the movies
by jrapdx3 12y ago
It's hard to disagree, fiction is made-up stuff having only so much in common with actual reality. And sure there's good and not-so-good fiction and the movies show it. When he brought up the possibility of a great story not based on idiotic behavior I too immediately thought of Apollo 13, truly spellbinding in its entirety.
Then again, if idiocy sells, it's natural that producers will make idiotic plots a priority, though if only limited to movies, there wouldn't be much to write about. The bigger thing it points to is the way really important discourse has increasingly become infested with the very same attribute.
After all, in recent years TV news has become more or less devoid of authentic news reports. Calling TV news "sensationalistic" is hard new, not only failing to qualify as factual, but even if intended as entertainment, it's lousy fiction every bit as idiotic as a B-movie. People do watch it though, and that what counts.
To the extent idiot plots are the standard in national and local politics, it's far more damaging than the movies, but perhaps the point is the same roots underlie a whole gamut of idiotic forms. But where are the rest of us who are not idiots? What trouble do we go to express our non-idiotic ideas where it does some good? (I suspect posting here is more or less like preaching to the choir.)
Ultimately fiction is so much less compelling than real life. I love a good story well told, but it pales next to the meaning of actual experience, provided one is tuned in to experience as it is. The article hints at something not quite said. We humans so often accept fiction and discard reality, we don't or even refuse to see what we are seeing. Maybe that's the definition of real-time "idiot plots" playing out all around us.
Easy enough with movies to know fiction when we hear it, the trick is to hear our own inner voice, and make that distinction within.
- anigbrowl 12y agoA related problem in society is the assumption of ignorance; if someone expresses a passionate opinion and you demur, it seems more and more common for your interlocutor to assume you don't know some key fact in their worldview rather than solicit the basis of your disagreement. Of course you can use this to your advantage, insofar as it's easier to get people to give you information by expressing disagreement than by asking questions. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cunningham's_Law http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cunningham's_Law
- icebraining 12y agoThen again, if idiocy sells, it's natural that producers will make idiotic plots a priority But on the other hand, the phenomenon doesn't seem to have nearly the same effect on a much more commercial platform that films: TV, which is filled to the brim with shows showing teams of cops, medics, etc working hard and unbelievably competently to "save the day" again and again.
- dkarapetyan 12y agoAh but there it is again the same problem but reversed. Most of the public is retarded and helpless and needs constant saving.
- TeMPOraL 12y agoThat used to be the case. Nowadays you have teams of two or three, which are at the same time up against the external threat and the institution within which they work. Lone heroes saving the day in spite of the incompetence (or corruption) of their colleagues. And then there's this recent influx of zombie movies - the libertarian paradise, where no one tells you what to do, there is perfect free trade facilitated by the proliferation of firearms within general population, and where everything that moves in a group larger than 20 is a mindless mass trying to kill you.
- icebraining 12y agoNowadays you have teams of two or three, which are at the same time up against the external threat and the institution within which they work. Lone heroes saving the day in spite of the incompetence (or corruption) of their colleagues. While they are small teams (were they ever big?), with regard to "fighting the institution", frankly, that's not the impression they leave me. They have their moments of rogue colleagues or corrupt departments, but for the most part, what I see is a small team backed up by a larger institution fighting Evil (criminals, terrorists, etc). I'm talking about the mass market, mind you, not The Wire but NCIS, CSI, Law & Order, Hawai Five-o, Criminal Minds and all that crap. And then there's this recent influx of zombie movies - the libertarian paradise, where no one tells you what to do, there is perfect free trade facilitated by the proliferation of firearms within general population, and where everything that moves in a group larger than 20 is a mindless mass trying to kill you. Which movies? I had to admit I haven't watched recent zombie flicks, but The Walking Dead has been the most successful show, and it's pretty much the opposite of that description. It's constantly reinforcing how much the breakdown of The System sucks and gets people to kill each other.