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Comment by daft_pink | Hacker News Reader

It’s not only that the films have the same basic narrative structure, but the way films these days need to check a series of boxes. You can’t have just an action movie anymore, it also must contain a romantic subplot, charismatic antagonist, light humor, diverse cast, visual effects, international marketability (topic not narrow to one countries audience) etc.

Before we had the same basic recycled narratives, but a film didn’t need to check every single box and some films were more directed at romance or certain audiences and only checked a few of these boxes.

Modern tent poles need to check every single box and it just feels so formulaic and boring.

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Children's animated films also require a fart joke or two.

My parents don't enjoy seeing films in theaters. So when they took us out as children, it was under exceptional circumstances. We went to see E.T. when it premiered. I remarked about Drew Barrymore's young character shouting "penis-breath" and my mother explained that if they didn't throw in a few profanities, the film would have been rated "G" and dismissed as a children's film. A "PG"-rated film was likely to gain more screenings in more theaters and capture a broader audience.

I hate the fact that every film feels a need for a romantic subplot.

Check out John wick, Mad max fury road or The Banshees of Inisherin.

Is that still as much of a thing? Maybe I'm over-indexed on comparisons with 1930-1960, but it seems to me that romantic subplots have been in decline--there are quite a lot of recent films that entirely lack such a thing--especially compared to back in the day. The academy's award structure of lead actor/lead actress seems like it was a better fit for days where you had to shoehorn that into everything. To the point that they stuck romance subplots into Marx Brothers movies regardless of if it made any sense. (Which is conclusive proof why Duck Soup is their best film, since the Groucho/Margaret Dumont romance subplot is better integrated into the film.)

I'd be interested in seeing someone do a breakdown of the frequency of romantic subplots in films; I have some guesses as to the possible pattern but this seems like a moment for hard data.

You might enjoy The Pervert's Guide to Cinema.

Ruined The Hobbit

I think it’s hard to say that any one thing ruined the Hobbit. like, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Fair. Foundational to the rot was the decision to expand from 2 movies to 3. Peter Jackson needs an editor.

Yes, it is formulaic and boring.

I generally have had to go back to movies pre-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark to find film less formulaic.

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