This was actually inspired by @snarkandfury: ‘I’m so tired of the “it’s only a kids film/TV show/property based on an 80s toy it’s supposed to be shit” defence. It’s never OK to be shit’ who I think was inspired by a recent discussion on this ‘ere blog.
So simple question/set of questions:
Is it okay for something to not have any artistic merit whatsoever and to be shit, provided enough people like it? Does artistic merit actually stop something from being as entertaining as something more visceral? Or is merely being enjoyed by people at a visceral level actually an artistic merit? And does all that get cancelled out and become null and void if it turns out that not only is something completely shit, it’s also racist, sexist and homophobic?
I haven’t watched Transformers 3, on the general grounds that I saw Transformers and Transformers 2 was apparently even more awful. Plus Mark Kermode gave a whole host of good reasons why I wouldn’t want to, such as it being racist, sexist and homophobic, as well as astonishingly stupid.
I have, however, watched The Island, with the impossibly lovely and random Scarlett Johansson, which had a very good first half and an impossibly bad, very stupid Michael Bay second half.
But Bay says he learnt from The Island that what the kids of today wanted wasn’t the thoughtful, interesting first half but the explosions-laden second half.
So, apparently, the world is doomed because the next generation is composed of morons. Oh well.
Anyway, so convinced of this does Michael Bay appear to have become that in Transformers 3, he’s actually gone and reused footage from The Island. Because you know, when you have a reported $250 million budget, you really have to scrimp, save and cut corners to make ends meet. How bizarre.
Has anyone else noticed, incidentally, that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley doesn’t get a single line of dialogue in any of the Transformers 3 trailers. That’s something of a warning about her acting talents, I think.
In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, USA Network. Available on USANetwork.com
What is the secret of good drama? It’s a question that writers have been searching for, ever since the creation of theatre. Everyone from Aristotle onwards has had their own theory.
‘A compelling story’ is one of the usual requirements: the viewer/reader/audience have to engage with the story and want to know more.
Which, I think, is the biggest problem with Necessary Roughness, in which Callie Thorne of Rescue Me plays a therapist who bumps into Marc Blucas of Buffy fame on a girls’ night out. Blucas turns out to be a trainer for a professional football team and after Thorne cures him of his smoking addiction, Blucas thinks she might be able to help him fix the psychological problems that are holding back his team members – including one very expensive ball-dropper in particular.
And while it’s all executed well enough, the question that lingers over the whole enterprise is “Why are you telling me this story?”
