Help me understand human nature

[Colonâ„¢]

All those films were nominated or won the oscar for best picture. 4 of the 5 nominees of the 75' awards were character driven.

And almost all of them cheesy adventures, romances, sword-and-sandals, Robin Hood, pulpy crime dramas, westerns

That's classical hollywood.

[Colonâ„¢]

Never seen Forrest Gump or Amelie either?

[Ben Kenobi]

Altman already did it with MASH and subsequent movies and he wasn't the only one, nor probably the first.

Isn't the quintessential play, "Waiting for Godot?" and yes, it's a characteristic of post-modernism. Beckett wrote it after the second world war. Most folks define 'post modernism' as occurring after the second world war. Modernism tends to be the period just after the Edwardian period, around the time of the Titanic, just prior to the First World War.

[Elok]

Never seen Forrest Gump or Amelie either?

Yes, a good deal happens in both. Forrest overcomes his handicap to (eventually, briefly) win over his sweetheart, become rich and raise a child. Amelie finds someone else to bring happiness to her life the way she brings happiness to others. Neither drifts around listlessly while failing to grow or change or affect circumstances in a noteworthy way. Hell, Forrest apparently becomes entangled in half the noteworthy events of the mid-to-late Twentieth Century. Not sure what you mean by "character-driven," if those two are supposed to be grouped in with LiT. I liked both, along with Priceless, and Notes on a Scandal, and Ran, and several other movies which I would classify as "drama" or "comedy-drama," or otherwise "not action-adventure or sci-fi, etc." which is about all those three have in common. Character-driven? Barring disaster movies and such, basically all movies are character-driven.

Apologies for mixing up eras; I don't know how old you are, but I wasn't even a sperm at the time. I also had no idea when the hell two of the four you mentioned came out. Taxi Driver--was that the one that made John Hinckley whack Reagan? And I know Midnight Cowboy came out at some point when my mother was old enough to see it, because she told me about watching it. So basically, what you're saying is, for a period of perhaps two decades, a certain type of movie was fashionable?

[Colonâ„¢]

Yes, a good deal happens in both. Forrest overcomes his handicap to (eventually, briefly) win over his sweetheart, become rich and raise a child. Amelie finds someone else to bring happiness to her life the way she brings happiness to others. Neither drifts around listlessly while failing to grow or change or affect circumstances in a noteworthy way. Hell, Forrest apparently becomes entangled in half the noteworthy events of the mid-to-late Twentieth Century. Not sure what you mean by "character-driven," if those two are supposed to be grouped in with LiT. I liked both, along with Priceless, and Notes on a Scandal, and Ran, and several other movies which I would classify as "drama" or "comedy-drama," or otherwise "not action-adventure or sci-fi, etc." which is about all those three have in common. Character-driven? Barring disaster movies and such, basically all movies are character-driven.

I'll grant that Lost in Translation takes it further than most, but they're all structured the same way. The story meanders, going nowhere in particular and events are mostly shown to shine a light on the character.

[Sava]

Forrest Gump

"TLDW: ****** falls in love with slut who dies of aids."

[Elok]

I'll grant that Lost in Translation takes it further than most, but they're all structured the same way. The story meanders, going nowhere in particular and events are mostly shown to shine a light on the character.

Saying they're "structured the same way" is like saying food poisoning "acts the same way" as mild indigestion. The outcome is drastically, drastically different. The only other movie I can think of that's like LiT for sheer plotlessness is My Neighbor Totoro. Hated that too, but mostly because the dialogue was 50% small children shrieking at a glass-shattering pitch; even there, there were interesting visual designs, pleasant animation, and they did shoehorn an easily-resolved crisis in at the end.

[Colonâ„¢]

"TLDW: ****** falls in love with slut who dies of aids."

Exactly, the plot is fundamentally bone skinny. All the flab is just there to fill the character.

[Colonâ„¢]

Saying they're "structured the same way" is like saying food poisoning "acts the same way" as mild indigestion. The outcome is drastically, drastically different. The only other movie I can think of that's like LiT for sheer plotlessness is My Neighbor Totoro. Hated that too, but mostly because the dialogue was 50% small children shrieking at a glass-shattering pitch; even there, there were interesting visual designs, pleasant animation, and they did shoehorn an easily-resolved crisis in at the end.

Which also happens to be a popular movie.

Don't like it? Fine, but it's not true they only appeal to a niche.

[The Mad Monk]

Episodic Television. You're describing movies that work like that, where things more-or-less reset at the end?

[Elok]

Well, I suppose Totoro was huge in Japan. Here in America, I think it's enjoyed primarily by small children and anime nerds. And people who would watch "Studio Ghibli Presents A Cat Licking Itself For Forty-Five Minutes." Which I think overlaps substantially with anime nerds. Also, it's not really "character-driven" so much as "whimsy-driven."

TMM: No, because episodic shows typically have separate plots for each episode.

[Colonâ„¢]

Episodic Television. You're describing movies that work like that, where things more-or-less reset at the end?

Maybe character-driven movies are comparable with television series insofar they have a lot scenes that don't drive the story forwards.

[Colonâ„¢]

Well, I suppose Totoro was huge in Japan. Here in America, I think it's enjoyed primarily by small children and anime nerds. And people who would watch "Studio Ghibli Presents A Cat Licking Itself For Forty-Five Minutes." Which I think overlaps substantially with anime nerds. Also, it's not really "character-driven" so much as "whimsy-driven."

Yes, I already knew that you don't like the movie. I'm beginning to understand why DaShi is annoyed with you.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Saying they're "structured the same way" is like saying food poisoning "acts the same way" as mild indigestion. The outcome is drastically, drastically different. The only other movie I can think of that's like LiT for sheer plotlessness is My Neighbor Totoro. Hated that too, but mostly because the dialogue was 50% small children shrieking at a glass-shattering pitch; even there, there were interesting visual designs, pleasant animation, and they did shoehorn an easily-resolved crisis in at the end.

Huh... no appreciation of magic that is growing up, exploration of your environment, mystery, beauty of nature in all that...

If you cannot connect with that, I guess it makes Totoro pointless - one of the best animated films as far as I am concerned.

[Bereta_Eder]

Character-driven? Barring disaster movies and such, basically all movies are character-driven.

One silly aspect of particulalry hollywood movies (although there are gems but I'm talking about the majority) is that there are no characters. There are carricatures of people. Easily digestable and of course fake.

Another difference I've noticed between mainstream american cinema and european one is that in the first family is sacred and in the second things are much more down to earth and real.
There is an inherent conservatism in american cinema that makes you indifferent towards it. It's very restrictive in "artistic" sense and very predictable.

Mass culture in order to be "succesful" (penetrate as many markets and target audiences as possible) necessairily has to be stripped down to the least common denominator. In itself this creates that it is a priori not particularly worthwhile.

Or rather, it serves different aims than a product of art that can and does retain all of its "domestic" elements that make it more noteworthy.

Domesticity in mass culture is bleached off.
(says a guy who has seen LOTR and black hawk down more times that he'd like to admit)