The Films of M. Night Shymalamadingdong

innerSpaceman · 07-23-2006, 09:48 AM

Hehe, and I think I'm thinking that way about Lady in the Water.

But with no 'lousy twist' elements to complain of, I'm hearing/reading a lot of complaints about the "lack of realism" displayed by having every character instantly accepting of the sea-nymph tale without hesitation or doubt.

Most people, imo, just don't comprehend tone and style, and can't properly interpret what's shown to them. Given two things presented .... 1) an apartment building full of people; and 2) a bunch of people who instantly believe in fairy tales ... why assume that item 1 means the film takes place in our common reality rather than item 2 meaning the film takes place in a twilight zone world?

The assumption seems to be that item 2 is an "error" rather than the exact thing the filmmaker is aiming to convey.

I still don't think the story of Lady in the Water is very good ... but dimwitted audiences are not going to make its success any more likely.

Alex · 07-23-2006, 10:12 AM

Especially since the fairy tale explicitly says that the people will find themselves drawn to the vessel, so it seems fair to accept that they'd also be inclined to accept the reality of it when revealed.

But yeah, the first thing you have to do is accept that this is not a story based in realism. If you hold onto that then there's no way you can like the movie. In addition to being a fairy tale, the story structure very much reminds me of the formula for epic fantasy.

The rules of magic are always weird, convoluted, and don't really make any sense. A ragtag group is always brought together to fill standard roles. They always too easily accept their role in the larger picture.

One thing I've seen a lot of criticism is the brief animatio sequence at the beginning that establishes the basics of the mythology involved. The Fellowship of the Ring starts exactly the same way.

For me the movie was very much an epic fantasy story set in something approximately the modern world and told with enough restraint so as not to span 11 novels.

07-23-2006, 09:48 AM	#1
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Hehe, and I think I'm thinking that way about Lady in the Water. But with no 'lousy twist' elements to complain of, I'm hearing/reading a lot of complaints about the "lack of realism" displayed by having every character instantly accepting of the sea-nymph tale without hesitation or doubt. Most people, imo, just don't comprehend tone and style, and can't properly interpret what's shown to them. Given two things presented .... 1) an apartment building full of people; and 2) a bunch of people who instantly believe in fairy tales ... why assume that item 1 means the film takes place in our common reality rather than item 2 meaning the film takes place in a twilight zone world? The assumption seems to be that item 2 is an "error" rather than the exact thing the filmmaker is aiming to convey. I still don't think the story of Lady in the Water is very good ... but dimwitted audiences are not going to make its success any more likely.
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07-23-2006, 10:12 AM	#2
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Especially since the fairy tale explicitly says that the people will find themselves drawn to the vessel, so it seems fair to accept that they'd also be inclined to accept the reality of it when revealed. But yeah, the first thing you have to do is accept that this is not a story based in realism. If you hold onto that then there's no way you can like the movie. In addition to being a fairy tale, the story structure very much reminds me of the formula for epic fantasy. The rules of magic are always weird, convoluted, and don't really make any sense. A ragtag group is always brought together to fill standard roles. They always too easily accept their role in the larger picture. One thing I've seen a lot of criticism is the brief animatio sequence at the beginning that establishes the basics of the mythology involved. The Fellowship of the Ring starts exactly the same way. For me the movie was very much an epic fantasy story set in something approximately the modern world and told with enough restraint so as not to span 11 novels.
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