Re: Random Thoughts
01/04/15 10:20 pm | #23817
Kat is right- but I understand the sentiment Mo is saying.
"going postal" was a phrase prior to the (very poor) videogames, and Uwe Boll capitalized it, with his usual poor feature film, although Postal may actually be his "best" film, to date. The problem, is that there's little message behind the "shock value", similar to Kat's Serbian Film example.
It's pretty easy to push to envelope, but neither Serbian Film, nor Human Centipede, etc, will be remembered within this decade. Achieved, yes- because we live in the information age. But it's pretty easy to rattle off "taboo" and easier to film it, as "shocking". I would hope, sooner rather than later, that the trend doesn't warrant making it.
There's a difference between the "shock value" in Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (interrogation scene), versus Postal, or Human Centipede, because Quentin Tarantino actually has some craft, around it. I think the basis for this sentiment, lay in the term itself, coming out from the Marquis de Sade. The way he "went about it" was so intellectually perplexing, that his name, is the basis for the word "Sadist". We're a bit different in the last few centuries, but the point is-- there's been cannibals, and rapists, and everything under the sun- since the dawn of time. Shock for shock's benefit, is base. When there's actual craft behind it-- that's what lingers. Reference (Jack the Ripper), etc etc.
Partially why I'm writing this, is a very nice actress I've known for ages, filmed a sadist sexual/nude scene last year, and she thinks it's "great" when in fact, I'm sorry/angry at her, because the film is utter shit, and the shockingness of the violence-- will be lost within a year, yet her rape/exposure, will last forever. People do very stupid things, and to be frank- what's "shocking" in a timeless sense, is how human beings can be so smart, yet make such stupid decisions, at the same time.
Thankfully, we have videogames, where a simple reload, can alter our dialog options.
