Have films and television really reached the stage where the story-lines are so predictable that the only entertainment is derived from the mindless scenes of violence and sex? I will use Spartacus as the example for this but I am sure the points to be raised are an overlay for the vast majority of contemporary television series and films.
Is it possible for me to really become immersed in a story where I know that if the main character is killed, in this case Spartacus, then the series will conclude? The people responsible for the development of Spartacus have tried to add suspense in each of the episodes. This suspense is completely lost by the fact that I know, as should all mentally capable people, if Spartacus is killed then there is no more money to be made.
Because of this, all I am drawn to is the scenes involving either brutal conflict to the death or sex; however, even the fight scenes themselves fail to fully engage me because I am already aware of the result.
However, this is not a review of Spartacus. As this post suggests, I believe that the majority of story-lines put forward have lost the ability to entertain the contemporary audience. In an entertainment world where nearly every concept is an alternative expression of an already used theme, I find that the only real entertainment comes through three styles of storytelling.
Firstly, a story which actively engages the mind disallows the viewer to ignore elements of it. For this I would use the recent film Shutter Island. This film does not provide a clear cut storyline. Rather, it provides a myriad of possibilities for its conclusion. In doing so one is not drawn to certain scenes of the film but instead becomes transfixed by the need to discover the underlying story that makes sense of what the viewer is seeing. It is the conclusion of such films that provides us entertainment. After becoming so immersed in discovering the truth, it is this truth which, at the risk of submitting to cliches, sets us free.
Secondly, the brutal nature of a story provides entertainment in that it does not try to hide elements of the story. The recent film 'Harry Brown' is perhaps the greatest demonstration of this. This film is brutal in its portrayal of elements of modern society. It does not try to smooth out the rough edges of its story but rather envelops the viewer in the real world, one which is inescapable. This form of storytelling provides entertainment in that it does not allow one to detach themselves. One cannot find comfort in the softer elements of the storyline, because these do not exist, and in doing so neglect those it finds unappealing. It is this brutal nature of storytelling that clutches an audience and imprisons them in the story; in doing so provides a great deal of entertainment upon reflection.
Finally, the choice must be made between the unrealistic and the realistic nature of the story. Films and television series that attempt to perceive the unrealistic as realistic are destined to provide little entertainment and simply annoy the audience. I would argue that the choice must be towards the latter option provided. Unrealistic stories, while providing some entertainment value in their ability to go beyond the norms, become progressively boring as there is little engagement of the audience. Instead these stories simply seem to throw scenes at the audience and hope that their technical enhancements will wow the audience into submission. Realistic stories on the other hand do not allow such things to take place. The recent mini-series 'The Pacific' demonstrates such, here I must thank S3 for providing an effective resource. This mini-series constantly entertained beyond its action scenes.
Real stories do not conform to the usual conclusion of hero victory and villain loss, with a dash of femme fatale thrown in for good measure. Real stories involve sudden and inexplicable alterations in the storyline and it is this element that entertains. The audience is unable to simply view the film scene by scene because at any point the story could shift and become something different altogether. It is this disassociation from the normal that provides entertainment.
So perhaps for me as a viewer story-lines have not lost all their entertainment value. I guess it is just that I have reached a point where the norms of storytelling no longer engage me and in productions that conform I become easily bored and view the story scene by scene because I am already aware of the ending. So for a production to entertain me it must be one of the following. Fully engage me through providing multiple plausible conclusions, be brutally honest or be a serious and realistic story, most likely derived from the truth.
S2
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