The state of creativity

The other day I went to see J.J. Abram's Star Trek in theatre. While i'm not a Star Trek fan, I loved it. I admit i'm a little bit of an Abrams fanboy, but that is what drawed me in, but what made me love it was the originality in an otherwise completely bloated and drawn out franchise. Without giving too much away, they come up with a very cool way of explaining why this new take on Star Trek isn't just a retelling, but instead kind of a parallel timeline that is different than the old Star Trek tales (which now gives them an excuse to make sequels and do whatever the fuck they want without pissing off Trekies and even gain their support).

What wasn't so enjoyable was what was shown before the movie began. There was a trailer for a movie version of G.I. Joe, The Land of the Lost, and the sequel to Transformers. Adapting cartoons, tv shows, and action figures to live action Hollywood blockbusters is nothing new, but it seems as if these films contribute to about 90% of what Hollywood creates now. 

What is more unsettling is that the writers just came off of a strike and demanded more money. In return, they create garbage like this? The argument could be made that these films are coming out, due to the strike and making films based off of other mediums with a story already intact was easier to work on than an original story, but this has been going on for a while. I know that unions are created to stop workers from being bullied and protect them, but what happens when the unions become the bully? The Writers Guild should have stood up and fought against having to write crap for the studios rather than money, but then again people continue to watch this crap.

When I was a kid, big summer blockbusters were films, like Jurassic Park. Yes, that is an adaptation of a book, but literary adaptations just feel right, whereas having Will Ferrel star in a Land of the Lost movie just seems like someone wanted a paycheck for as little creativity as possible. Quentin Tarantino is a non guild member and his Inglorious Basterds looks to be like one of the few original films out there this season.

The only way I can think to end this first blog is to ask the writers, what happened? Alan Moore never cared about money. He just wanted to write the best stories he could and in fact has recently refused paychecks for the movie versions of Watchmen and V for Vendetta. Stop writing crap for Michael Bay to turn into another hideous film full of explosions and bring back the creativity!