Hollywood Making Cr@p for the M@sses: A Video by Taualumna

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

RE: 21 - Changing the characters' ethnicities is actually dumbing the movie down to make money.

How is it dumbing down? Making assumptions that audiences would rather see caucasion actors, without a doubt, but surely you're not saying that people are too dumb to understand Asian characters and can only understand white characters.

[Taualumna]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

How does just that change make the movie "dumber"?

They say that they made the main characters white rather than keeping them Asian to appeal to the masses because the masses don't feel comfortable watching Asian male leads that aren't foreign. To many, this is dumbing the movie down.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

To many, this is dumbing the movie down.

Many what? Who? Says who? You did this all throughout your video too, lots of 'to me' rationales and you kept saying "us" or "this part of the country" like you are the elected mouthpiece for... ??

But hey, good luck with the book.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

They say that they made the main characters white rather than keeping them Asian to appeal to the masses because the masses don't feel comfortable watching Asian male leads that aren't foreign. To many, this is dumbing the movie down.

No, that is pandering to racist and prejudiced attitudes. Dumbing down is entirely different. If they really wanted to dumb the movie down, the kids wouldn't count cards (too much math). The girls would shake their tits in the dealer's face or something.

Just changing a story doesn't constitute "dumbing down." The Nick Perry story was supposed to be the basis for the movie Lucky Numbers, but it was completely changed. I don't think that was dumbing it down, but changing it to appeal to a wider audience. If you didn't "get" Nick Perry (which you probably didn't unless you were from here) and the gravitas of HIM doing the fixing, you probably wouldn't get the movie. I mean, even though we keep hearing about how homogenized our country has become, there are still regional differences.

[Taualumna]

Nitty,

I didn't want to insult too many people, which was why i used lots of "some people", "to me" etc...

[Taualumna]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No, that is pandering to racist and prejudiced attitudes. Dumbing down is entirely different. If they really wanted to dumb the movie down, the kids wouldn't count cards (too much math). The girls would shake their tits in the dealer's face or something.

Just changing a story doesn't constitute "dumbing down." The Nick Perry story was supposed to be the basis for the movie Lucky Numbers, but it was completely changed. I don't think that was dumbing it down, but changing it to appeal to a wider audience. If you didn't "get" Nick Perry (which you probably didn't unless you were from here) and the gravitas of HIM doing the fixing, you probably wouldn't get the movie. I mean, even though we keep hearing about how homogenized our country has become, there are still regional differences.

But 33girl, aren't racist attitudes stupid to begin with?

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

Nitty,

I didn't want to insult too many people, which was why i used lots of "some people", "to me" etc...

Um, it's NittANy, like the lion, and the point is you came across as though you were trying to sound like an "authority" on...something...but you just kept spouting opinions without any supportive evidence or really, any point, it seemed. And now this thread is boring me as much as your video did, so I'm going back to the crap I'm supposed to be doing that I've been avoiding by playing here.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

But 33girl, aren't racist attitudes stupid to begin with?

They are many things, stupid being one of them. But on that same tack, you could argue that it makes the movie dangerous to watch because racist attitudes are dangerous.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

They say that they made the main characters white rather than keeping them Asian to appeal to the masses because the masses don't feel comfortable watching Asian male leads that aren't foreign. To many, this is dumbing the movie down.

Well, apparently those "many" need to have things dumbed down for them since they don't seem to understand what "dumbing down" (as opposed to pandering, playing to prejudices or the like) actually means.

[Drolefille]

I'm more concerned about using the @ as if it were a letter of the alphabet. Unless you were trying to say Cratp and Matsses.

And just because it caught my eye, to make a movie about hate crimes against Catholics you'd first have to find and choose one to make a movie on, or do a documentary style about a pattern of occurances. This would have to have a compelling story, we don't make movies over the boring crap (or was it cratp?). But it would totally become a movie if someone could actually write a good one. And America would watch it as much as they watch any crime drama these days.

But comparing it to the Holocaust? Irresponsible and illogical. It's just shy of a self-Godwin. The two are NOT comparable.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

DST

1. When is the last time you went to the movies?
2. What is the last good remake you saw?
3. What's the last movie You saw remade that was overhyped?
4. Name a franchise movie that you wish Hollywood would stop doing.

How is any of this about the dumbing down of movies for Americans?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

ok...

All the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remakes, The 39 Steps done 4 times,1984 and The Fly (which is due out AGAIN in 09),King Kong, even your aforementioned Wizard of Oz was a remake (not referring to the Wiz)

I think we are trying to say the same thing and with that awareness, there is much frustatration to see something fresh...technology has helped Hollywood stay in the game but the lack of great stories or worse the lack of EXECUTING a great story is what is holding Hollywood back.

Ooooookay...none of this about the dumbing down of movies for Americans unless people add their own spin.

Some people really enjoy remakes. Some of these people aren't familiar with the originals and others are familiar but like the breath of fresh air.

I happen to like the original Texas Chainsaw movies but even in the 1980s that movie was worn out by all the sequels. Then in the 1990s-2000s they decided to redo the original so a new audience (that isn't drawn to horror from the 1970s) can watch it. The remake wasn't bad. Night of the Living Dead was redone and the genre of the undead has been beaten to death (Dawn of the Dead's remake wasn't too bad).

I mostly watch horror and the remake of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Nicole Kidman was unnecessary because the original was so good. On a nonhorror take, there were even 2 different versions of my favorite movie, Imitation of Life and one wasn't that good.

As long as they don't remake my favorite horror movies The Exorcist or Poltergeist, I won't have to cut anyone. But if they do, there were talks of Dakota Fanning playing the lead in The Exorcist which will of course piss me off, that still won't be about the dumbing down of movies for Americans.

I get excited when I talk about horror movies.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Ooooookay...none of this about the dumbing down of movies for Americans unless people add their own spin.

Some people really enjoy remakes. Some of these people aren't familiar with the originals and others are familiar but like the breath of fresh air.

I happen to like the original Texas Chainsaw movies but even in the 1980s that movie was worn out by all the sequels. Then in the 1990s-2000s they decided to redo the original so a new audience (that isn't drawn to horror from the 1970s) can watch it. The remake wasn't bad. Night of the Living Dead was redone and the genre of the undead has been beaten to death (Dawn of the Dead's remake wasn't too bad).

I mostly watch horror and the remake of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Nicole Kidman was unnecessary because the original was so good. On a nonhorror take, there were even 2 different versions of my favorite movie, Imitation of Life and one wasn't that good.

As long as they don't remake my favorite horror movies The Exorcist or Poltergeist, I won't have to cut anyone. But if they do, there were talks of Dakota Fanning playing the lead in The Exorcist which will of course piss me off, that still won't be about the dumbing down of movies for Americans.

I get excited when I talk about horror movies.

They attempted a remake of the Excorcist 2 years ago didn't they or was it some prequel BS?


I missed it.

[33girl]

That was prequel BS. They've already had 2 sequels as well.

[Taualumna]

On dumbing down and ethnicity:

I found this from a site called Multiplicative Identity:

In 2007, Touchstone Pictures pulls the plug on "Deep in the Heart of Texas," a feature film starring Eva Longoria, about a fully assimilated Mexican American woman, saying there is nothing particularly "Latina" about an educated, professional shopaholic from Texas; meaning, the character is "too American" for audiences to believe as "Latina". (Meanwhile, Texas is no longer a majority-white state, and most Latinos there speak English…)

If the above is true, isn't Touchtone basically saying that America is "too stupid" to believe that a Latina can be educated and a shopaholic? (though another POV is that they didn't want Eva typecast...this character doesn't sound too different from Gabi Solis...she's probably an EDUCATED Gabi)