Even more comments have been made about why there seems to be a glut of bad horror-comedy films. You know, the one where the ghosts go through slapstick comedic routines and horrible make-up effects?
Well, I’ve got news for you. The moviemakers are not to blame. The scriptwriters are not to blame. You are to blame.
Why do these movies exist? As hard as this may be for you to believe, these movies, which you have proclaimed you don’t like, are made because people watch it. You can deny this all you want, but the truth is, no filmmaker will make movies that no one wants to see. Why would anyone do that, unless it’s a film project for film school or they just have a lot of money to burn so they make a syok sendiri film.
We sit in our ivory towers, sipping our latte, complaining about this and that but we don’t see the real world that we never venture out to. We sit in our air-conditioned cars, in our air-conditioned houses and our air-conditioned offices, without even noticing the many different faces that we pass by everyday.
The enlightened humans that we are, we believe everyone around us appreciates the high-philosophy that we like to quote, to show off to equally “enlightened” people that we are cultured, educated and have good taste.
So if a movie looks like something we can make fun of — just because it is of the horror-comedy genre and the CGI is not like that of Hollywood, or it has a long title that either has the word hantu or kampung in it — then we really lay into it. We take it apart. We grill it. We saute it. We just don’t give it any credit at all.
And most of the time we don’t even go watch it.
That’s unfair and ironically shallow. But try telling that to the critics. The worst thing you can call a critic is “shallow”. Believe me, critics revel in their sense of superiority.
But I’m running away from my point. My point is, a lot of people actually like the movie that you don’t like. That’s why it was made. And that’s why it will continue to be made.
I’m not saying I like those type of movies. I don’t. But it’s personal taste.
To each his own, someone once said. There will always be people who like such movies as there will always be people who can listen to Lemon Tree song 30 times a day.
However, if you are serious at addressing this lack of appreciation for quality art, then the targets are not the moviemakers. Those guys are just making stuff that sells. Put yourself in their shoes. You need to mortgage your house to make your dream film. What type of film would you make? Your own magnum opus or a film you know will guarantee box office revenue?
If you are serious about improving the quality of art, then you have to improve the quality of the audience. Art is only as good as the audience.
So the target is the audience. You need to make the audience able to appreciate good art. You need to give the public a strong foundation for knowing what is good or bad quality.
It’s classic supply and demand. If everyone gangs up together and says “We aren’t going to watch this bad quality movie”, then no one will make that type of movie.
It all goes back to early education. I believe that it’s what we expose our kids to before they turn 12 years old. This is when tastes are formed and an appreciation of good art can be ingrained in their minds so that they can become consumers with good taste.
We have to inculcate arts education and appreciation at an early age, whether in schools or at home.
If we don’t actively do this, then we shouldn’t criticise what is produced in the market. We should just blame ourselves.
The writer runs some TV stations and a big production house. And yes, he’s never seen those movies either.
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