Yes, I probably didn’t emphasize enough exactly what I was referring to by “marketing” initially, and it’s confusing when talking about an industry in which that term usually refers to the studio advertising strategy. I still don’t know what else you would call it, necessarily, but I can see where my phrasing was misleading. My bad.
I appreciate your optimism and willingness to let Eggers do Eggers, and what’s incomprehensible to some person is going to be fine for another. I just think your optimism (and Eggers’) crosses into delusion if you think you’re going to be able to follow dialog like this, subtitled or not. The point I’m arguing, that I don’t think you’ve responded to other than to say you’re not concerned, is that we aren’t talking about writing a movie in “Ye Olde English”, we are talking about writing movie in a fundamentally different language than what is spoken today, and then, presumably, not subtitling the dialog (I would imagine that would be mentioned in the press release if that was the plan at this point).
I understand that my argument relies upon an assumption that the film Eggers’ is planning is mostly conventional, just written in Middle English. I stand by my assertion that that is a bad idea, even if it comes from a place of artistic purity. I don’t share your view that a creative idea which breaks the norms of storytelling is good based solely on its being different. It can make a film interesting, to be sure, but it doesn’t make it good. By way of example: The Last Jedi is a very interesting movie to me, in the sense that I’m flabbergasted Disney let Rian Johnson come into their multi-billion dollar franchise with the attitude of “this is all dumb and if you take it seriously, fuck you”. That level of anarchic glee in a Star Wars movie of all things is fascinating. I still think it’s a bad movie in the sense that it’s a slog to watch. I believe Johnson was so preoccupied with deconstructing the mythos that he sacrificed telling a good story in service of that idea. Much as I was arguing that Eggers would be sacrificing good storytelling sense in service of period authenticity.
However, to tie a bow on this whole thing, since I’ve taken up a lot of your time and I appreciate you patiently hearing me out, I acknowledge that my assumption does not give Eggers the benefit of the doubt. If he commits to the bit, I’m sure he will try to find other means of conveying information to the audience than spoken dialog. Its a visual medium, after all, and Eggers is a talented filmmaker. Until we know more about his execution of this idea it’s all much ado about nothing, I just have trepidations.
I’ve watched Simon Roper’s YouTube channel for many years, so the idea of cinema in a language I don’t fully understand isn’t as intimidating to me as maybe it is to others. It’s an interesting challenge that I’d definitely be up for, as I have an underlying interest in linguistics and old languages. The great thing about working in the horror genre is that you generally don’t need to rely on a scipt to tell your audience. It’s a genre that relies heavily on visual storytelling.
Yes, I probably didn’t emphasize enough exactly what I was referring to by “marketing” initially, and it’s confusing when talking about an industry in which that term usually refers to the studio advertising strategy. I still don’t know what else you would call it, necessarily, but I can see where my phrasing was misleading. My bad.
I appreciate your optimism and willingness to let Eggers do Eggers, and what’s incomprehensible to some person is going to be fine for another. I just think your optimism (and Eggers’) crosses into delusion if you think you’re going to be able to follow dialog like this, subtitled or not. The point I’m arguing, that I don’t think you’ve responded to other than to say you’re not concerned, is that we aren’t talking about writing a movie in “Ye Olde English”, we are talking about writing movie in a fundamentally different language than what is spoken today, and then, presumably, not subtitling the dialog (I would imagine that would be mentioned in the press release if that was the plan at this point).
I understand that my argument relies upon an assumption that the film Eggers’ is planning is mostly conventional, just written in Middle English. I stand by my assertion that that is a bad idea, even if it comes from a place of artistic purity. I don’t share your view that a creative idea which breaks the norms of storytelling is good based solely on its being different. It can make a film interesting, to be sure, but it doesn’t make it good. By way of example: The Last Jedi is a very interesting movie to me, in the sense that I’m flabbergasted Disney let Rian Johnson come into their multi-billion dollar franchise with the attitude of “this is all dumb and if you take it seriously, fuck you”. That level of anarchic glee in a Star Wars movie of all things is fascinating. I still think it’s a bad movie in the sense that it’s a slog to watch. I believe Johnson was so preoccupied with deconstructing the mythos that he sacrificed telling a good story in service of that idea. Much as I was arguing that Eggers would be sacrificing good storytelling sense in service of period authenticity.
However, to tie a bow on this whole thing, since I’ve taken up a lot of your time and I appreciate you patiently hearing me out, I acknowledge that my assumption does not give Eggers the benefit of the doubt. If he commits to the bit, I’m sure he will try to find other means of conveying information to the audience than spoken dialog. Its a visual medium, after all, and Eggers is a talented filmmaker. Until we know more about his execution of this idea it’s all much ado about nothing, I just have trepidations.
I’ve watched Simon Roper’s YouTube channel for many years, so the idea of cinema in a language I don’t fully understand isn’t as intimidating to me as maybe it is to others. It’s an interesting challenge that I’d definitely be up for, as I have an underlying interest in linguistics and old languages. The great thing about working in the horror genre is that you generally don’t need to rely on a scipt to tell your audience. It’s a genre that relies heavily on visual storytelling.