Has the West lost their creativity?

I was wondering with the latest movies.etc being made based on past works. Does it sound like the west is losing its creativity?

Hmm? Really? Why do you say so?

Oh I see your point...

The latest movies mostly are based on comics or books that have been already done from Surrogates to I, Robot.etc. They seem to be looking back on the fiction side for inspiration for movies. Sometimes, this causes adaptation decay as well.

Avatar seem to be different becos it was written, and dreamed up by James Cameron 14 years ago.

So the west seem to be using old books and comics for basis for new movies which seem to be a huge resource but like fossil fuels, they might run eventually.

Hmm our admin's got a point here... I watch both eastern and western movies.

The eastern movies dun seem to have this problem, they seem more creative in a sense. Some asian movies copy some western concepts but the story is not based on some old comic or book. They had to come up with it by themselves.

Yeah like say James Cameron's Avatar
If you look thru the CG effects and gadgets, it's a science fiction take on Pocahontas.
But however I cannot commend more until I see the movie itself.

Before you critic a movie, it's best to watch the movie yourself to be fair to the movie makers and the staff.

However, I do see Tendou's point when I see the movie, Eragon.

Forget the point about scale/feathered Dragons and the Cg effects. It looks like a medieval version of Star Wars. It's like the writer is a Star Wars fan and just replaced the characters with his own. But the influence is so strong that the audience's eagle eyes can tell right away.

The West has really used up most of her ideas. I wonder why films always have recurring themes. Why every film seems to have the same CG effects even after every breakthrougH. Now I see the East not onl catching up on technical effects, but also on plot... Now I really enjoy watching Eastern films more than the Western ones!

I agree everything now appears to based on an old work or even a classic.

And speaking of East and west, now the West is now counting on eastern stuff for ideas. In a way, it's like idea theft.

Idea theft... that's the first time I heard such a term.

I think the tokusatsu genre is one victim of idea theft... Head to live action heroes section on this forum to get an idea.

For Example
Power Rangers came from Super Sentai
Masked Rider came from Kamen Rider
Guyver came from the Guyver Manga.

Another thing is nowadays movies are just remaking old classics or adapting old comics. Nothing new is coming out these days like what Spectre has said. Anime is also facing the same problem.

Relying on old comic books or novels have a problem to them; adaptation decay. And I do not have to tell others that the movie versions tend to have left out sometimes important aspect of the story. This on the other hand can affect the popularity of the book especially among what Sabrina said, people who do not read the book.

People who have read the original will have their eyes sharpened to a spear point and can immediately tell you if the filmmakers have not adapted their beloved work properly.

Really? I never thought of this..

But dun the west have their own legends in the first place?

REBEL wrote:

Yes they do but as i mentioned before most multicultaral countries like American and Australia dont have a specific legend, though the West also has the advantage of a variety of legends. The Europeans have their own legends but they arent a big movie industry.

Even so... those legends have been overdone for the last few centuries..

But i don't have a good opinion of western cartoons, you see, and i don't have the taste for live action drama.

Ive only got the impression that western cartoons got bad after the 90's.
And yes *sigh*

Just by looking at the gaming industry alone, i can feel entertainment is going down.
Its all about the hardware that not everyone can afford.

Anime is having its big downfall this year as well.It begun failing since 2007.

...............And it wasn't that great even before that!

The problem i feel shows i watch nowadays is that they lack the "pull" factor.

I nowadays watch, finish, and is done with it for the time unless its finished its run.

"It is from innocent children that I learned what happens when
a young soul is held away from the breadth and meaningful nuances
of stories for too long. Little ones come to earth with a
panoramic ability to hold in mind and heart literally thousands
of ideas and images. The family and culture around them is supposed
to place in those open channels the most beautiful, useful,
deep and truthful, creative and spiritual ideas we know. But
very many young ones nowadays are exposed almost exclusively
to endless "crash and bash" cartoons and "smack 'em down"
computer games devoid of any other thematic components.
These fragmentary subjects offer the child no extensive depth
of storyline.
When I have taught children as an artist-in-residence in the
schools, I have found that many children were already starved
for deep story before they had reached second grade. They
tended to know only those from sit-com television, and they
often reduced their writings to these drastically narrowed
themes: "A man killed another man." "He killed him again and
again. Period." "They lived, they died. The end." Nothing more."

Could this be another factor? Food for thought for everyone...

This discussion is getting exciting.

They call it cultural imperialism.

"Artists around the world are on guard against “cultural imperialism,” the aggressive export of Hollywood storytelling techniques and the squeezing out of local accents. American values and the cultural assumptions of Western society threaten to smother the unique flavors of other cultures. Many observers have remarked that American culture is becoming world culture, and what a loss it would be if the only flavorings available were sugar, salt, mustard, and ketchup.

This problem is much on the minds of European storytellers as many countries with distinct cultures are drawn into a union. They are striving to create stories that are somewhat universal, that can travel beyond their national borders, for local audiences may not be numerous enough to support the always-growing cost of production. They are competing with intensely competitive American product that aggressively courts the world market. Many are studying and applying American techniques, but they also worry that their unique regional traditions will be lost."

Don't worry about our tradition being lost. As long as kids listen to stories and like them, it doesn't matter whether the story is traditional or modern. As long as we hook their tastes, and that the tradition is really valuable to the society, I believe we can still keep most of our wonderful stories.

I hope one day, I will just give a story to my kid before bedtime, "Once upon a time, Sang Nila Utama visited our island and heard a Lion roar..."

Are we going a bit out of topic?

But it's true if you expose your kid to his native culture when he's young or even as a baby. You will find that he/she will find a sense of belonging to their own culture.

For me I will tell them not Snow white, or Cinderella but stories like Nu Wa or The Butterfly lovers. So instead of caucasian characters in his childhood, my child will have black hair asian heroes.

I think the childhood factor is could be one big reason for the lack of depth in stories in movies today.

Maybe parents were too busy till they forgot the stories they grew up on?

Fortunately, I liked Mu-lan, which Disney made... I love Mu-lan!!! (Though the Disney story is kind of twisted, sad)

You should watch the upcoming Mulan movie made by Chinese directors...
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