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Intellectual Stimulation In American Cinema

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McDoomhammer:

--- Quote from: umiman on June 26, 2008, 12:02:02 am ---This is quite unfair, the way you pose your question. 80% of anything is usually mediocre, bordering crap. Unless of course, it's such a thing that it can't be graded. You even stated that you're not considering the 10% which are good. So what on earth are we left with?

Your question would have gotten the same answers if you took away the "American" part.

--- End quote ---
You are right that things tend to follow a Normal distribution or 'bell curve' sort of arrangement (in this case being a graph of perceived quality against frequency).  That is, most around 50% and with the highest frequency in the middle, with few very good and few very bad.  Hence removing those few to focus on more applicable generalisation. 

But, the statment that 80% of anything is bordering crap is a subjective viewpoint, and as I understand it it's that subjectivity which is under examination here.  Is the middle, the average American film crap?  Or is it fair to say that the general standard of cinema is to solid, well-put-together things, with some really outstanding and some less so?

So yes, if you removed "American", you would still expect a normal distribution.  But you can still meaningfully compare the shape of the bell curves, how whether one set is better or worse than another.

Maggarg - Eater of chicke:
I don't watch films much, if at all.
As far as I can see though, the majority of American films advertised over here are hardly food for thought, unless you particularly like thinking about tired scripts and toilet jokes.

umiman:
McDoomhammer: Really? But we don't even know what constitutes "American cinema". Do we account only what Hollywood makes? No? Then what about home videos? What about  Youtube videos? What will we compare it with? Not every country has a huge enough filming industry. Not every country has the same standards as American filmmaking but would you fault them for that?

How would someone compare "crapness" bell curves between Hollywood and Bollywood? It wouldn't make any sense, they'd be producing for completely different audiences. It's like comparing statistical averages of people having fun in hell compared to people having fun in heaven.

Unless the OP states the question in such a way that answering it leaves no doubt in our minds, this question is statistically null. In other words, define the subject and explain what we are comparing it with. Of course, we could just ignore the fact that this is a serious question and just have fun with it. Then, I'd say 80% of American cinema is worse than sitting next to a person with loose bowel syndrome on an 8-hour flight in economy class. Heck, I'd go for the gusto and say 99% of it is.

a1s:
well I guess we can define a "film" as being anything that a movie theater will show for money, excluding serialized work originally aired on TV, and pornography. (so indie films are in, but home videos and corporate training films are out)
and "American Cinema" as all films in which no less then 30% of the staff are Americans, and no less than 30% of the budget is spent within America.
how does that sound?

"smart" can be defined as whatever made you think, and you presume would make others think too. (so if some scene in the movie made you think about you life, because it reminds you of it, that doesn't count)

Tylui:
I didn't read every word in this thread; so sue me.

You're going to get a biased answer, here on the DF forums.  We're a group of people who aren't afraid to think; who like the ability to imagine; etc.  We're going to judge a lot more movies as crappy and unintelligent than other people are going to.

Also:  A lot of American comedies are filled with this type of humor:

HA!  IF YOU ABBREVIATE YOUR THREAD TOPIC IT SPELLS "iSac".  LIKE AN iPod LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL SAC!

>.> *cough*

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