JCC ITT Unpopular but Correct Opinions

This is only loosely related to your comment, but it got me thinking this...

...the Tragic/sorrowful/emotionally dark genre of “drama” is way too overvalued and given too much immediate respect way too often.

It *can* be immensely valuable as entertainment and art... but the sheer number of totally forgettable Award-Bait dramas that still get nominated, praised, and analyzed by a small group of people as everyone else either ignores it or forgets about it belies the bias they experience.

And this is not restricted to professional work - I’d even include the 7-8 minute long Dramatic Interpretation pieces kids across the world use for Speech competitions.

“Sorrow-Fast-Food” is just as niche as any other genre when you get down to the brass tacks.

More people have been moved and emotionally rewarded/shocked by the Guardians of the Galaxy movies knowing where to land a sucker punch in an otherwise joyful and jovial adventure than in hundreds of the usual “serious” dreck that fills up Oscar lists. Tahiti’s because the real key is mastering a broad range of emotions in your work, instead of just going “It’s sad, so therefore it’s good!”

I’m not saying people should reject dark drama and tragedies. I’m just saying we need to become more aware of what actually makes a few of the resonate and recognize that sometimes even well-acted and well-written ones don’t really contribute anything more to mankind than well-choreographed and well-acted action movies and blockbusters if neither really leaves a true impact as the years go by.

 

(For the record, my personal definition of the type of work I think gets favored is something that's banal as opposed to escapist or fantastical, but usually still entirely fictional - a tragedy can exist in either set-up, I just find it tend sot be more worthless to me if it's banal and "realistic" without having a basis in real life where that can be more justified.)

The sheer amount of times an escapist or comedic film or TV show gets passed over and ignored in award season in favor of some predictably cynical and banal pity party film or show is where my main argument comes in. Whenever an English school curriculum is dominated by Romeo and Juliet, Othello, or Hamlet instead of Shakespeare's comedies, histories, or adventure plays is where my argument comes in. Whenever I had to compete through a combined Drama/Humor Interpretation event in high school and had to have my "I turn into a dog!" comedy compete with a "I backed my car up and knocked my sister's head off!" drama and watched as the finalists were almost uniformly the drama kids even though I'd seen other comedy acts clearly show more range, timing, and skill, is where my argument is.

It's not *that* bad, mind you, and I think it applies unevenly to different media - for instance, as much as "grimdark" comics are often mocked and made fun of in that media, the medium's greater tendency towards escapism also mean that, to me, it weeds out most bad banal and cynical work (because they're rarely able to survive without serious quality there) or in video games (same principle), so the examples that make it through there are stronger.

Mostly, I kind of think that its more a bias against escapism than anything else - which to me is basically a uselessly self-imposed challenge on the part of critics, because I think it can safely be said that escapism is easier to write and to enjoy as an audience... but that also means that good creators have a much easier time hitting higher heights.

A good way to summarize it : a George Clooney film of Oscar-bait about some sad rich guy constantly traveling and being flawed ain't worth any kind of praise above something like The Dark Knight, Wizard of Oz, or either of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies... but the fact the Clooney film would be recognized as Oscar-bait having a greater shot at critical praise is bull.

Notice this, though...

...I'm not really arguing for a happy ending mandate, or even against tragedies per se. I'm mostly arguing against banal tragedies set in the "real" world, even if the time scale changes, and for escapism getting some serious respect.

Revenge of the Sith, for instance, is a tragedy, and the Shakespearean play MacBeth has some strong tragic elements... but both are also much more escapist than those types of films I don't like. ROTS doesn't stack up to MacBeth in quality, mind you, but both are better for kids who should expand their entertainment exposure. Come to think of it, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is likewise pretty tragic overall, even though the heroes save the day.

I *do* think that the limits of some tragedies and more cynical work needs to be accepted more, though. I mean, there's a point where many people can just shut off the "empathy for the sake of entertainment" button in their brain if they know that it's just going to be either boring or unpleasant... or both. That's a natural limit that better stories can maneuver around by doing more than trying to beat the audience with the depression hammer.