BLURRED LINES

OK, I know that video was controversial and the odious Robin Thicke was pilloried but ... there's something about it ...

"If you can't hear, what I'm tryna say (hey girl, come here)
If you can't read, from the same page
Maybe I'm going deaf (hey, hey, hey)
Maybe I'm going blind (hey, hey, hey)
Maybe I'm out of my mind (hey, hey, hey)"

I watched a Liam Neeson film last night - Blacklight - and you can imagine how dire that was.

But, to be fair to Richard who equates Liam Neeson to Laurence Olivier and his films to something Akiwa Kurosawa would have liked to have made, it was entertaining.

Many years ago literature was recognised as literature and comic books as comic books , There was a clear separation from a bit of fun and something a bit more serious. Video games, when the media emerged were just that - games and films were something different. The best films were often based on literature and had themes, plots and narrative. Today the lines are blurred.

Major streaming companies like Netflix are churning out the films (movies) and ex video game producers are writing, directing and producing those films. Often there isn't a lot of difference between the two platforms.

Somewhere along the line(s) narrative seems to have slipped between the cracks. It is no longer deemed to be important. As long as there is enough crash-bang action, some recognisable actors and lashings of sex then, apart from a basic story-line nothing has to make sense. I've noticed this more and more with the 'modern' films other that those made by real and serious directors and last night's Blacklight was a case in point. The premise of the FBI being headed up by criminals and waging war on American dissidents was OK but the execution of it wasn't. It was fatuous and downright silly. What bugs me though is that it doesn't seem to matter. Many, many people can be shot dead, strangled, stabbed and blown up without any police investigation let alone any moral scruples coming into play. The outcomes, like in this one, always come out happy-chappy and lovey-dovey and everyone goes on about their business after major mayhem and destruction. Is this a devious plot, like in 1984, to keep the masses happy? Maybe, since the old standby of religion has fallen by the wayside or taken over by AI.