Movies - What Ever Happened To Humans

I do not go to the movies anymore and I rarely watch them on TV. Where I now live, we do not get Turner Classic Movies and that is about the only place you can see the kind of movies I like. You see, call me old fashioned, call me a troglodyte, but I like films that focus on Human Beings.

There is more, much more, to life than explosions, car chases, monsters of various sorts, and superheroes. There is also more to Human relations than sex. Sure, a bit of any of those things is okay, as long as they are within the realm of a Human story.

Let me give you an example. Back in the 70s, there was a fine movie called Two Lane Blacktop, starring Warren Oates, James Taylor and Dennis Wilson. The movies was about a cross country car race, and those parts were pretty cool, but the real story was the interaction between the characters. Compare this with complete drivel like any of the Fast and Furious movies.

Another example. Going back to much earlier times, you find the wonderful Treasure Island, a story of pirates, treachery, and lost treasure, starring Jackie Cooper. as young Jim, and Wallace Berry, as the lovably villainous Long John Silver. The pirate story, while certainly entertaining was really just a backdrop for a fine story of a boy on the verge of manhood dealing with his first exposure to the adult world of greed and underhanded dealings, Jim becomes a man when he finds himself able to forgive Silver's double dealing as he realizes that none of us are all good or all bad. Thought of as a child's story, Treasure Island is a movie that families can see without anyone feeling embarrassed and it is hard to find a more entertaining adventure yarn. Today, instead, we have Pirates of the Caribbean featuring Johnny Depp as a simpering drunken psychopath. All of the special effects cannot compare to a rich story of Human interaction.

Human Beings are the most fascinating creatures we know of, walking enigmas full of contradictory emotions and capable of great heroism and great villainy, occasionally brilliant and often amazingly stupid, but always fascinating. Throughout history, great tales have been told about our actions, our thoughts, and our emotions, yet today, our films focus more on Transformers and Alien Planets, on insane would be heroes in spandex tights and one dimensional sociopaths, on things blowing up and completely idiotic gun battles. What ever happened to Humans?