Film

Oftentimes, particularly if a movie is an adaption from a longer novel, fans moan and complain about key details and scenes left out. Sometimes it is even released later that those scenes were filmed and subsequently cut to save time. "We'll watch a 6-hour movie that is an exact replica of the book," they say. But would we? And more importantly, would movie theaters play them? In the ever growing market for adaptations, it might be time to examine the pros and cons of making longer, more accurate films.

Does a film require narration to reveal a character's personality in a film? To what extent can visual details and dialogue override the necessity for a narrator? Director Terrence Malick specifically uses narration in his overall body of work (ex. Tree of Life and Knight Of Cups) in a unique and powerful way, but a movie such as Blade Runner (the original 1982 cut) featured narration that offered little insight that was not already obtained from the dialogue/visuals. What films use narration in a unique way that is integral to the film? What films implemented narration, but may not have required it? Offer a comparison between specific films, examining the extent to which narration contributes to each one.

There are probably thousands of comic books, with hundreds of heroes and villains. Surely, getting new iterations of Spiderman and Batman for the third time (for Spiderman, the third time in the last two decades, the last one being in 2014) isn't really necessary nor is it pushing the boundaries to new ideas. Why are we getting new iterations? Is it because the general population will only pay to see superheroes they know? But with the increasing superhero overdose, wouldn't studios make more money if there were new superheroes with new villains and new powers being put on the big screen?

In the wake of the massive success of "Deadpool," many other films (mostly superhero movies, a la "Logan") have decided to also jump into R-rated waters. Is this transition going to have an overall positive impact on the industry, or is it just a needless aping in an attempt to make lightning strike twice?

How can the issue of cultural and linguist translation be tackled? Can it even be tackled at all? While a film may be able to translate the language, some cultural references are usually lost, especially when taking into consideration a unique language and culture like Japanese for example, and attempting to translate the language and culture relevance to an American audience. No easy feat.

Take a film like Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” as an example – there’s something culturally amiss in the translation, so much so that more than one English version has been released since the original Japanese release in 1988.

There’s much room for exploration of what makes a film translation either good or bad, and this would make for an interesting project particularly if explored by bilingual folks who are fluent in both the linguistic and cultural nuances of the original film and its subtitled release.

Film audiences love plots centered on time loops, time travel, body switching, and similar phenomena. From Groundhog Day to Freaky Friday, to the myriad of specials where a character wishes it were Christmas every day, we can't seem to get enough of this type of plot device. Why though, when we know by rights, these devices should be stale?

A few reasons come to mind. Perhaps it's because characters in a time loop or body switch are doing what we want to do–get another chance at doing something, or see how the other half lives. Perhaps it's because we want to reassure ourselves time is dependable and thus, these things could never happen. Of course, these are only two possible explanations.

I've been asking myself for a long time what made minions from the movie series Despicable Me get so out of hand in merchandise and web presence. With the third movie soon coming out this topic could get a lot of attention. People tend to be in one of two categories: they love minions or they hate them. But, why Minions? There are plenty of slapstick sidekicks in cartoons but none have blown up to quite such proportions. There's a lot of them, they aren't identified as individuals, and they don't talk, but until they became mass-produced cringe inspiring merchandise, they contributed a heartfelt dynamic to the family image in Despicable Me and that's now been forgotten. Did they catch fame so quickly because of their central role in the movie or was it just their slapstick humor that caught people's attention… or was it something more subtle? From memes to merchandise Minions are presented as androgynous. Is this what made them so marketable? A non-gender creature appealing to anyone? In a world with so much gender controversy, maybe Minions were the solution to a time full of uncertainty and a need for PC? Study the marketing strategies presented for Minions, and perhaps on a anthropological level, explain their success.

Discuss the potential box office and/or critical draw the upcoming Wonder Woman film may or may not have. Will it improve DC Entertainment's cinematic standards? How will it affect Marvel and their plans for more diverse films? Could a Wonder Woman film help shape a more diverse landscape of superhero franchises, regardless of critical or commercial success? Consider previous failures like Elektra and Catwoman and why they might have failed.