Following the discussion of whether money is destroying the arts, the New York Times discusses the same question in regard to movie. Before beginning any Hollywood production, the producers typically conduct an intensive research project to determine what, exactly, the public wants to see. Of course, the movie industry is focused on grossing the most sales; because of this, there is a long list of “must-haves” for children’s movies. For example, the modern children’s movie must include something cute and cuddly to please mothers, some sort of action or skateboard to appeal to boys, and many things that are square-shaped so that they can be more easily stacked on toy store shelves. This is the reason for some strange decisions that Walt Disney Studios have made recently, such as switching the 2010 movie’s title from Rapunzel to Tangled (in order to make the movie more appealing to boys and not have it labeled as an exclusively “princess movie”). This is also a huge contributing to the fact that many recent movies are just plain awful.
However, in the recently released Disney movie The Muppets, no such consumer research was conducted. The production crew was not given a long list of “must-haves” in order to “guarantee” big sales. Instead, the crew was simply told to “make a good movie.” And, in my opinion, they succeeded.
Many movies are trying so hard to please the masses that they settle for mediocrity. Secure in the knowledge that they have accomplished all the “must haves” on their checklist, they can sit back and watch the money roll in, without bothering to actually make a good movie. The Muppets did not resort to this. It is not trying to appeal to the general masses; rather, the production crew focused on making a good, funny movie that Muppet fans will enjoy.
Perhaps because it is not trying to be conventional, or perhaps simply because this is the Muppets we’re talking about, the movie is just plain weird. But weird in a good way. I enjoyed it a lot more than I have enjoyed children’s movies in the past. Since it did not attempt to be a cookie-cutter movie that appeals to the most people possible, I’m sure that there will be a great many people who don’t like it, but the people who do like it will love it. Perhaps if other productions focused less on completing a mass-production checklist and spent more time and energy on simply making a good movie, there would be more excellent films.
You can read the New York Times review of The Muppets here.
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Movies EVERYONE loves are movies not worth watching. This is true of television, film, literature, paintings, and even fashion (It was actually a famous shoe designer whose name I do not recall that said something about fashion everyone loves being fashion not worth creating). The best art is the kind of art that splits the population between LOVE/HATE. It is the kind of art that incites passion in a viewer, regardless of if that passion is positive or negative. It is the kind of art that invites debate and makes people think and wonder about the world around them. The Muppets are actually a good example of this principle. Personally, I enjoyed the Muppets. I thought it was a great movie with a great moral about truth and honesty and friendship. However, there are people who clearly did not enjoy the movie as much as I did. FOX NEWS hated the movie, denouncing it as nothing more than leftist propaganda aimed at brainwashing children into thinking oil barons are evil (Thank you to Yossi for blogging about that). And by denouncing the movie as passionately as I adore it, Fox News proves my point. If it was a movie that Fox News and I both loved… I would be a little scared… But I would also know that maybe the movie wasn’t as great as my initial impression of it.