Just because something is about dreams doesn’t mean that it’s surreal. Because of the nature of what it is, it’s difficult to categorize what makes Surrealism a distinct genre like Fantasy or Science Fiction or romance or Romance or Action– because really, it can be all of those things. Take Jean Cocteau’s Le Belle et la Bete, a romantic Fantasy based on a fairy tale that is also a surrealist film. It is markedly different from Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, which is a Science-Fiction/Action film that is also a surrealist film. It’s not a genre of exclusion either– usually, if something is surreal, it’s easy to tell that it’s Surrealism. It’s not a medium either, because everything from film to painting to television to poetry can be surreal.
But Inception is not Surrealism.
I watched three additional films, in addition to the subject film, in order to help me judge what genre Inception is. One was Ocean’s Eleven (2001), which seems self-explanatory as I intend to judge Inception as a heist film vice a Surrealist film. The other two films were Kon’s Paprika and Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera— both of which were compared to Inception in this video essay by Kyle Kallgren. Paprika in particular is often compared to Inception due to similar premises. I’m going to use a few points from his videos, while also going more into depth with some of them.
05/03/2018
The Epic, the Serial, and Avengers: Infinity War
valeriemclean1919 Avengers Infinity War, Epic (genre), Epic Film, Film, Genre, MCU, Serial film, The Avengers, The New Yorker About Film, About Other Art, About Writing 4 Comments
SPOILER WARNING: I will do my best to avoid major spoilers, but as with any review, it’s a bit buyer beware. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, don’t get angry with me if you think I’ve spoiled something.
So, I definitely wanted to talk about Infinity War this weekend, and I was wondering what I might talk about outside of a straight review or a breakdown of my reaction to it, but I was given a great assist from The New Yorker, of all places.
Just… the hottest of takes right there Mr. Brody.
And yes, technically he’s right, but reading through the article it’s clear that all of these things that he’s saying that are technically true (none of the characters have proper introductions, it feels like the season finale of a TV show, the ending compels the viewer to put on the next part) are, I think, supposed to be interpreted as negative. But these criticisms are rather dismissive to all the people, films, and characters that allowed this movie to be made, like Homer, The Ten Commandments, and Buck Rodgers.
Those things do fit together in this context, of course.
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