The Real Problem with Formulaic Movies

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• I think this guy misses a lot in this and it feels like “hey, I just read this book, Let’s talk about structure”.

  When people say they don’t like formulaic movies, they mean that they don’t like movies that are just structure. Not that they don’t like structure. You need structure. It’s that they don’t like structure with nothing else. They don’t like superficial movies with bland or one dimensional characters. It’s not the structure, its everything built over the structure without trying to hide the structure.

  If I drew you a stick figure, you wouldn’t care, and you wouldn’t pay me $10 just to look at it. but what if I drew a stick figure and put a picture of Chris Hemsworth over it? still wouldn’t pay me $10 for it? What if I made it a sculpture and posed Chris in an action pose and dressed him as Thor? What if I made him flying through the air and reaching out for his hammer, and what if his face looks like he’s screaming and crying at the same time? What if he looks like the love of his life just died and he’s struggling to keep it together through the sadness and the anger. What if we add details like cuts and splashes of blood all over him, holes and tears through his cape, scratches through his armor and helmet. What if he looks like he’s really been fighting demons for 24 hours straight. What if it’s not just a statue of Chris but a whole display behind him showing what he’s fighting and trees and mountains in the background. Now would you maybe pay $10 for a statue like this? Or would you be complaining about how dull my stick figure is?

  A formula is more than just the structure.

  A symphony is a music structure, but that hardly describes the themes and instruments that are in it. And symphonies have 4 parts with their own sub structures that vary in tempo and timing.

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  What people want is something familiar, but different. There’s a famous quote about what a good ending should be: “Surprising, yet inevitable.” I think this should be applied to every part of storytelling and movie making.

  December 8, 2023 at 9:44 pm

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• Even inside a formula there is still a great deal of scope for variation and originality.

  People tolerated the Marvel films formula while they were showing something new, but their sheer volume has started to reveal their similarity and repetitiveness.

  The problem isn’t just the plot, it’s their pacing, palette, punchlines and performances are all now predictable.

  Formulas are fine, it’s boredom people hate.

  December 9, 2023 at 1:06 am

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