Sam Gerrett

An interesting and contentious article. However some things that, I feel, need to raised:

Genre will not be abandoned as long as it makes for a useful discursive tool as well as a marketing one (and philosophically speaking, genre is bound to notions of essentialism and structuralism – which post-modern films and thinkers have sought to challenge).

Also, the frame of this article suggests because *American* cinema is churning out remakes, sequels and a lack of ‘visionary’ auteurs that this is somehow symptomatic of the whole of cinema, which is rather short-sighted.

Genre is not a strictly American phenomenon – in fact the most inventive contemporary genre films are to be found outside of America – such as South Korea, Japan and Bollywood.

Of course the problem being that this list presupposes all the mentioned 10 are indeed talented. On that basis, I agree with two of the ten selections.

Excellent article Andrew that seeks to denormativise some of the most problematic of cultural issues in the media today. It is precisely the same problem I have with foreign language films being remade into American products. Typical of capitalism, it takes what was successful, culturally flattens it, borrows from what it can in order to maximise profit. With the accent issue in Mad Max, it is a typical case of having their cake and eating it. I’m glad I am not the only one fed up of this ‘trend’.

Interest perspective Kevin. I think this dichotomy between having a sophisticated narrative and aimless fun in an open world sandbox is a false one. I think they both can co-exist. GTA’s still trying to develop the form in that respect, which is why I feel it left Saint’s Row behind a long time ago. Really, Saints Row is a game in a similar vain to the original GTA. It doesn’t hold my interest in the sense that there’s nothing to pull me through in terms of progression because it is fun for fun’s sake. GTA benefits much better as a sandbox game due to cognitive mapping (which IMO can only work if there is a narrative element interesting enough to go along with the customisation/open world aspects).

No word on next-gen release yet but rumours are that’s what the release delay from May to Sept was over. Same for the for P.C version, just rumours but it is likely to come out on all of them.. in time.

Thanks for the comment per. It’s interesting that I disagree with almost every point you made haha. I agree the driving was perhaps the best gameplay aspect in the game but the shooting system was not too bad in my opinion. As for graphics, I thought they were stunning in 2008, and even if you think the graphics were poor, GTA’s forte has never been in creating the best looking game graphics. I agree, there is a monotony to the missions (and I think this goes back to the point I make about the move towards greater realism – which ultimately translates to less ‘unrealistic’ missions i.e. breaking into Area 51, or destroying building sites with toy helicopters etc.). In GTA IV it seemed the missions only were enjoyable if you were heavily invested into the story. Whereas in past GTA’s this did not need to be the case due to the outlandish gameplay elements (or, see Saints Row: poor storylines – but it’s not too much to its detriment).

Seeing as I am a firm believer (or is it that I just refuse to deny?) that film is inextricably tied to its politics it is refreshing to see this kind of article Ged. There seems to be a gulf between the kinds of British films that do well, particularly overseas (i.e. The King’s Speech) and the kinds that deal explicitly with class and/or class conflict. It is the latter group of films which is more vital, important and ultimately, truthful in depicting and engaging with the realities of this country. Though films like The Kings Speech, and our responses to them, are telling also.

I agree with Jon here. I’d like to add Night of the Hunter and Badlands (still Malick’s best) as some of the most influential and accomplished debuts (in American cinema anyway).