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What can we tell by the top ten films of 2018 so far?
1) Avengers: Infinity War
2) Black Panther
3) Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
4) Incredibles 2
5) Deadpool 2
6) Mission: Impossible – Fallout
7) Ant Man and The Wasp
8) Ready Player One
9) Hong Hai Xing Dong
10) Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2
Looking at this film, you can clearly tell that the film industry recently is mostly dominated by action films, taking up every single one of the top 10, with 4/10 of them being Marvel films. Looking at that, we can clearly tell that the public want mindless action films with familiar superhero’s. Art films and films that take years to make don’t get as much recognition, Marvel however, sticks to a formula of action, with comedy and a plot twist. With their massive budgets, these films always become big. However, you can also see that there are 2 Chinese films at the bottom of the list. These films are only shown in China; however, china is populated by over a billion people, meaning that a load of people get to see it. These films are usually used as some sort of propaganda, meaning that most of the public end up seeing it one way or another. And considering they’re starved for films over there, because Cina doesn’t get every film that America makes, they usually watch these films over and over because it’s all they’ve got. But as you can see by the list, America is clearly dominating the film market all over the world. Bollywood in India is another big film business, however, judging by the top ten list as of now, Bollywood isn’t as popular as America and China. Cultural films, art films and films just trying to send a message aren’t seen by as wide an audience anymore, this is because when people go to the cinema, they usually want to go to have a good time. A lot of those views at the box-office is children going to see a film, children wouldn’t care about the message of films such as ‘Love Simon’ or ‘The Shape of Water’. Action films appeal to a wider audience, meaning more opportunities to make money off the film, which is the main goal of company’s like Marvel, to make money.
My Response To Spike Lee’s Opinion On Directors
Spike Lee has said that white people can’t make films with black people taking the main role. This is my opinion:
I feel like Spike Lee does make a valid point, however, personally I think that a person of any color can produce a film about anything, if they make sure that everything is historically accurate and non-offensive towards anyone. Everyone alive today has as much experience of the times that “Django Unchained” (A film Spike Lee refused to see because it was directed by a white person) as each other. Because no one was alive back then, that still is today. Spike Lee can’t say that black people are the only people who can make films about black people struggling, because he has as much experience as anyone else. This suggests that Spike Lee is trying to bring back segregation, as he is saying black and white people can’t mix. He’s also suggesting that he himself can’t make films with white people in, limiting his ability to cast actors who may be perfect for a role.
However, there is another example of who can play what role in the BBC show ‘the elephant man’ in which, the main character is disabled. But that character is played by an abled body person, which has caused uproar among disabled actors who could have played that role. I think that this is wrong that an abled body actor played him, because someone who’s disabled in real life has felt the struggle that this character has. However, when it comes to Spike Lee, he hasn‘t been around when his ancestors were enslaved. If he wasn’t there during these events, he has as much experience as the rest of us. Someone like the Elephant man that’s around today, has the experience, and so they can really show it in their acting. That would also open the acting world to disabled people, meaning that many more jobs and dreams can be created for that demographic of people, which struggle to fund jobs, as even simple jobs like working in a shop are blocked off to some people because they don’t have disabled access.
Activity 2
This is a PDF for my Activity 2