Modern Movies: Why They're Better...

Clearly and beyond all shadow of a doubt, movies made post 1970 are better movies than those produced prior to that year. This doesn’t mean that all movies made before that year were bad, and it doesn’t mean that all movies made since, are good. Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, It Happened One Night, and Singing in the Rain, are all great and classic movies, and are in some ways Timeless. However, they, along with all other movies made during that time were hampered in such a way as to be, by default, weaker movies. Movies today are more natural in their acting, in certain elements more realistic, they are much more diverse, they are better written, they have better special effects, they’re in color, they have more edge.

It would be foolish of me to say that overall movies are more realistic now than they were pre-1970. Movies have never been entirely realistic and hopefully never will be. What movies are today, and weren’t before, is more naturalistic. Gone for the most part, apart from a few of Jeremy Irons’s performances, is the over-the-top, project to the rear stalls, melodramatic, turn your back to the person your talking to, kind of acting. In the modern movie era, actors at least attempt to appear more natural, as if they were just people. Pre-1970 you had over-the-top characters in realistic situations, where as now you have realistic characters in over-the-top situations.

Certainly, the seeds for natural acting were sown pre-1970 with the likes of Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, but they were the exception rather than the rule. And it would take the adoption of the ratings system in the mid-sixties for filmmakers to be given the opportunity to make movies that would showcase this kind of talent.

Along with the naturalistic acting did come certain realistic elements. When someone was shot in older movies, you were lucky to see any blood at all. On the rare occasions when it was shown, it was a small patch of dark, apparently already dried, on a white shirt. Now, and at times it certainly gets out of hand in the opposite direction, when someone is shot, you can practically feel it yourself, and showing blood is practically encouraged. Why is this important? Because movies are all about becoming immersed into the world of the movie. When something completely unrealistic happens in a movie, something we can’t believe or accept, we are pulled from the movie instantly. This is the moment we all turn into critics. We’re no longer in the world of the movie, but are in the world of the moviemakers and we are critical of that world.

This also applies to what is still laughably called ‘adult language’. While sometimes obscenities are overused in movies today, better overuse than not used at all. When people get angry they swear and to make a movie where no one swears, no matter what the provocation, seems to be ludicrously out of steps with reality. I’m not suggesting that every other word be ‘fuck’, but rather that a well-placed obscenity can certainly add to the naturalism of a movie.

In what may seem like an unfair argument, movies of today are much more racially diverse than they were in years gone by. Prior to the 1970’s, if you were a minority in a mainstream movie, you were either a servant or the comic relief, with the exception of a few rare individuals such as Sydney Potier. And even though I’m certain many people would say that we haven’t gone far enough in representing all creeds and colors in film, it could hardly be argued that we haven’t made advances in this area. Another area lacking in movie exposure prior to 1970 is sexual orientation. If we were to go strictly by the movies, we would be forced to believe that homosexuals didn’t exist before then. The fact that these attitudes were simply a product of the times does nothing to weaken my argument on this.

Along with use of obscenities I mentioned earlier, writing has improved in other ways as well, especially in terms of dialogue.  Characters in movies now speak like people actually do in real life.  They get to behave like people do in real life.  In short, characters written for today's movies resemble real people.

It barely needs mentioning since it is so obvious, but movies of the modern era have much better special effects.  Why is this important?  Again, it all goes back to keeping the viewer 'in' the movie.  A bad special effect just doesn't work.  Once you know it's only a guy in a rubber suit, the monster loses its effect.  You have to believe what you see for a movie to really work.

Modern movies have more edge to them.  Film makers today are given more freedom, especially with the rise of the Indie film maker, to make whatever kind of movie they want.  With less restrictions on content,  movies are more shocking, daring, and adult than they were ever allowed to be prior to 1970.  There are still family movies made today, but not every movie made has to be viewable by a twelve-year old child.

Lastly, the thing that bugs me the most about the people who prefer old movies, is the way they go on about  how they are in Black & White.  Just what the fuck is so special about a movie being in Black & White?  'Oh, but filming in Black & White is an art form,' they will say.  So what!  Life happens in color.  I see color.  How many directors from that era would have still used Black & White if Color film had been cheap enough to use all the time?  Oh sure, some would have stuck to Black & White, but they would have been the Artistes whose movies I probably wouldn't have wanted to watch anyway.  Take Casablanca for instance.  Great, great movie, but how would it have hurt it if it had been filmed in color?  I'll grant you that Black & White does lend a certain atmosphere to a movie, but a talented cinematographer can achieve the same effect in color.

There will always be people who prefer old movies over those being made today, despite the arguments painted above.  Perhaps they long for the evocative romance of the old days.  Maybe they're stuck like Norma Desmond in a past that has forever deserted them, leaving them stuck in tiny movie houses that show vintage films.  Houses that grow fewer and fewer each year.  As for me, I can't wait to see what new movies Hollywood will throw at us this year, next year, and for all the years to come.