What Should Films Do?
Nothing. Films should do nothing.
That’s the short answer. The long answer is yet to be explored. But first, why even write this?
This piece is a continuation of a series of analytical articles we’ve published in the past few years. We try to tackle and understand problems within the film industry and society’s perception of it. Much like our How Do Movies Affect Society (an article in dire need of an edit) or The Importance of Entertaining Films, this text is about to analyse and present a (personal) opinion on a topic we care about. A topic that, we think, you should care about, too.
Again inspired by the Joker controversy, but also many other things, we here at OurMovieLife have decided to explore this. A question that many ask, and yet no one can, with complete fairness, give a definitive answer to: what should films do?
We started it off with this and we’ll say it again: nothing. Films, filmmakers, or any creators for that matter, have no obligation to do anything.
The key word here is should. What should films do? We answer with nothing because there is not one rule that all filmmakers need to abide to. There is not a law, or any written or in any other form agreed upon obligation, that movies should adhere to.
So, then, you ask, films can be anything? Films can do whatever they want or even, boldly and bravely, not do anything at all?
Yes. Yes, they absolutely can. That’s the beauty of it.
Before we lose you, we’d like to expand. It’s, in a way, like an ethics or morality question. Morality is not set in anything. It’s subjective. There are no actual rules as to what makes a person an appropriate and good human being. There are, however, suggestions.
Suggestions are good. Suggestions can be strong or weak. But the beautiful thing about suggestions is that they are, more or less, personal. Of course, there are such that adhere to a much larger group of people. For example, it is suggested by society that being arrogant and careless, as a human, is not good. It can become immoral or lead to immorality. There is not a law, however, that humans should not be arrogant. It is suggested they should not be arrogant by most people; but it’s not set anywhere.
And we can apply this principle to filmmaking. There are many things that can be suggested a film should do. But none of those are laws. And movies, unlike human ethics, have an even wider spectrum. Even easier to cross. Because, unlike human ethics, movies are art.
So, what suggestions are there for what a films should be? The following are our choices. Some of them are generally accepted, and some of them are much more personal. But these are not rules. These are artistic guidelines we believe films should follow. But it’s us and us alone.
A film should tell a story.
Always. The story is king, said a wise man once. Everything should serve the king.
A film should have a clear tone.
Or in other words, a film should be clear within itself. It should be self-aware and knowing of what it’s going for – both as a purpose and as an artistic form of creation.
A film should be rhythmically interesting.
A.K.A. it shouldn’t be boring. And it should make the viewer want to watch and care.
A film should be art.
Many things fall into this. But mainly, we’d say this: a filmmaker needs to be an artist first and a businessman second. They should be careless and bold and create art, regardless of what that might be.
But yet again, this is us. These are our four categories. You let us know in the comments below what yours would be.
So, a film does not have an obligation to change. It doesn’t have an obligation to emotionally impact. It doesn’t have an obligation to not presents violence or to be political. That doesn’t matter. It’s art. And art can and should be whatever the hell it wants to be.
Of course, there is bad art. But that’s a completely other subject. Maybe a topic for another article. Because don’t get us wrong: a movie can be anything it wants, but that doesn’t make it necessarily good. However, that’s not because it didn’t adhere to some rules on what it should be as an art form, but rather because it didn’t adhere to filmmaking and storytelling rules. Those are very real and do matter.
But again, that’s a topic for another day. For now, we’ll say this: a viewer doesn’t have to respect bad films in any way, shape, or form. They shouldn’t feel obligated to support bad art just because it’s art. At the end of the day, a filmmaker and a studio is asking for your time and money, so you can be as honest and brutal as you’d like about the art you experienced.
We’ll finish it off with this.
There is nothing a film should definitively do. There are suggestions. Both personal and general. Most filmmakers should, maybe, follow those. But they don’t have to. It’s art. It’s their art. So they can do with it whatever they want. If it’s good, great. If it’s bad, unfortunate. At the end of the day — at least the filmmaker was free. Whether they took that artistic freedom and made something good with it is only their responsibility.
But there is nothing that should be accepted of them. Art is endless and without limits — and so are films.
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— Pouty Boy