Overall then, hype – what is trending and what is not, what we are expecting and what we are not – is appearing to have its own effect on the place of films in the world that is entirely independent of the films themselves. Some films are glorified only to turn out to be spectacularly average. Extremely good films are left seeming to not deliver. Other films that are generally pretty decent are again sometimes shot down even while the popcorn is still hot, if the opinion that got out there first wasn’t on their side.
None of these comments about any of these films are in any way shape or form meant to be taken as absolute; film is highly subjective and everyone is never going to agree with everything. It is merely that the trouble seems to come when what is trending has a go at trying to make this the case. Looking briefly ahead into 2014 for a moment, Godzilla, Maleficent and Guardians of the Galaxy are easy to select from among the next expected blockbusters.
After the last attempt at Godzilla in 1998, most people would have gladly fed themselves to him on the roof of a car rather than sit through that sort of disappointment again. But human beings are endlessly forgiving, and there’s not much these days that eighteen years and Bryan Cranston can’t fix. Maleficent is also shrouded in barely contained glee, and just on the basis of the uncanny resemblance between this live action version and Disney’s 1959 animation it does look to be very promising. To say that Guardians of the Galaxy has no such basis for comparison is putting it mildly, yet Marvel’s most bizarre offering to date is making an enormous popularity bid ahead of its August release, a bid that parts of the movie-watching world are currently backing with great enthusiasm (although it might be possible to detect a hint of caution in the fact that many are stating ahead of time that its success or failure will depend mainly on a single character – one certain Rocket Raccoon). The hype is ticking steadily along, gradually building platforms from which all of these films may take devastating falls, possibly even whether they deserve to or not.
Yet, despite the fact that if we listen carefully it’s probably possible to hear whole populations of film-lovers quietly chanting about upcoming films “please be good, please be good, please be good…,” who isn’t excited to see what happens? Whatever challenges or unfair advantages over-exaggeration might give to films, realistically there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it.
We could attempt total isolation from the world, but where’s the fun in that? As much as it is important to the integrity and future of the filmmaking industry itself that films are received appropriately (Jack and Jill anyone?), film is meant to create opinion, however intense that opinion may be. It is designed to inspire, to transport, to delight, to repulse and to do everything in between – hype is the natural result of this.
A lot of people clearly love the films for which the world has gone crazy, the film company employees can all feed their children (and their children’s children) for the next twenty years, and no real harm is done. A few bemused viewers may be left wondering in some cases if they watched the same film, but part of hype’s job is to spread the word, for better or worse. The film industry would die without it. In amongst the gifs and memes and hashtags and retweets, some films may slip sadly under the radar, where others land directly in it when we all really wish they hadn’t (sorry Man of Steel), but generally, the talking about and the anticipation of new films are simply responsible for putting things somewhere where we cannot help but notice them. In this way, hype is the best agent in Hollywood.
For a full experience of the world of cinema, it is probably best to just accept the excitement and anticipation, while hopefully bearing in mind that a film is still a film is still a film, and that where some fall just short of the mark despite what we might have been led to believe, until they create actual virtual reality (ask me about all this again in ten years’ time), there are certain limits to how good films can really be. Our overall film enjoyment may well be greatly heightened by it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go watch 12 Years a Slave. I’ve yet to see it, but given that it has been heralded as ‘one of the finest films ever made,’ I am going to cheerfully expect it to be an enormous disappointment.