Fictional Irrealism in Movie-making
After a grueling semester, it was nice going to the movies to get lost in its imaginary world during the holiday season. Sadly, however, I was not the only one lost. The US film industry showed an egregious lack of foundational realism, an essential ingredient in every good classic film. In the movie "Family Stone," for example, a man has sexual relations with his brother's bride--a conflict that is resolved as if they had gotten mixed up cookies that were just out of the oven. In "Rumor Has It", Kevin Cosner sleeps with mother, daughter, and grandmother, as if he were mixing sugar in his coffee, without any grave social consequence or moral anguish. Similarly, we see the same 'fictional irrealism' in Coca-Cola commercials, in which a polar bear family dance with penguins, with all of the happiness of the world. The sophisticated graphic realism of the ad ironically clashes with the reality of animal conduct--not too different when a lion stands a few feet away to talk to children in the movie "Narnia". (I hope no one gets any ideas.) The effects of such advanced computerization have reached such realism, that they ironically have a counterproductive impact in the fictional world of cinematography. In comparison with films such as "Lord of the Rings" or the last drama of the "Star Wars" sequel, in which computerized effects are used to create entities which do not exist or will never exist, such movies seem to be literally reconstructing reality--suggesting behaviors which, if done in the 'real world', would have gravely traumatic consequences. Should one use technology for the sheer sake that it exists, without evaluating its purpose and context of the drama in the first place? Should a film, or social imaginary, so egregiously ignore human and animal nature?