In this exploration of liminal spaces in transitional narratives, we discuss the novel 'Station Eleven', the films 'Children of Men' and 'Barbie', and Hollywood's ‘cinema of denial’
I’d not considered that the stagnation of cinema might be the result of a refusal to confront reality but it’s an interesting theory. I agree that the majority of film releases in recent years have felt pretty stale. I think it is ironic that this idea of a comfort blanket is resulting in lacklustre entertainment which is anything but comforting. In fact, when reading this, I was most reminded of the use of soma in Brave New World to sedate the masses. Dystopia is surely here!
I enjoyed this essay, especially when read alongside last week’s. Thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to read it and interrogate it. The verbiage around why this has happened is nuanced. For example, I'm not sure "Hollywood" refuses to confront reality as much as it has decided people don't want to pay money to be reminded about it. It's an age-old mistake Hollywood makes that has led to several creative and box office downturns. I can also provided endless examples of Hollywood doing the opposite and both producing box office gold and helping to define and understand the cultural experience of its audience. Which I'll be writing about later this year after my notes are complete... Yes, very ironic!
"it has decided people don't want to pay money to be reminded about it"
Well, when I think of the astounding success of the so called "comfort literature", I'd say maybe they're not totally wrong (not saying I like this. Just noticing and thinking about it).
It's a chicken or egg problem, of course. Most people don't want to be challenged. They want comfort. But then, when you challenge them -- which is the point of art -- they show up all the same. The 70s were that. The 90s. Hell, even the 80s and early naughts were still fixated on telling stories about the real world and existential threats. JURASSIC PARK is about the risks of doing things without thinking about the consequences - the story of any number of dangerous techs. I'm loathe to believe people stopped caring as much as streamers convinced us everything was unimportant, disposable, and, thus, nothing more than a cheap fix.
Brilliant article, you managed to connect one of my favorite books and the best film of the
21st century. For me, the scene you describe of Theo and the woman descending a staircase in the middle of a horrific battle is as powerful as any cinema moment I have ever experienced. It gets me every time. Amazing what happens when artists are left to do their thing. I find that even the better comic book films feel committee generated and creatively stunted. Imagine how awful Barbie could have been with just a little meddling.
I think there are superhero films that are wholly unique and truly pieces of art, but, yes, most of them do feel committed generated and prevented from becoming anything truly singular or consequential.
Very interesting piece, Cole! I'm thrilled we agree on Children of Men. ;) Coincidentally, both COM and Station Eleven are adapations that seem far superior to their source materials (which rarely happens!).
Now I must re-watch COM and relive Theo's brilliant character arc. 👏🏻
Hi. I just wanted to say that this was the best thing I have read on Substack so far, although I should admit that I have been here for less than a week.
I love this. Have you seen The End we Start From Though? Cuz...it's the best post-apoc movie of all time IMO, and nobody has seen it except me and like three people who I forced to see it
Thank you! Not yet, but I am very much looking forward to it. I've heard great things. There are two brilliant, largely forgotten films from the Fifties -- nuclear terror films -- I can't recommend enough. FIVE and THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL. The former is virtually unavailable; I caught it on TCM one day and it was a miracle. If you find it, let me know how. As for the latter, it stars Harry Belafonte and Mel Ferrer, amongst others, and even manages to tackle race (virtually unheard of in Hollywood cinema of the time).
I really enjoy the way you are , effortless it seems, able to covey the essence of the book or film. I say this even though I’m not a huge fan of dystopian movies. Never managed to watch a whole Mad Max movie 🙄. I have, however read at least 3 times the “Passage” Trilogy by Justin Cronin. Unfortunately I don’t have the ability to use the right words to describe its magnificence. Have you read it?
First, thank you for the lovely note. I don't know if it's effortless -- as you can guess, it took a lot of training to get there -- but today, yes, it seems easier than it used to. Second, Cronin's trilogy, I'm sorry, I haven't. I just looked it up. Sounds fascinating!
Brilliant read and my favourite genre of story, which I personally call 'quiet' or 'contemplative' sci-fi (also see: CONTACT, ARRIVAL, KNOWING, INTERSTELLAR etc), though not sure if there's a more official term?! Interested to know whether you've watched the TV adaptation of Station Eleven? I enjoyed the book immensely and the adaptation a lot, but even though they are thematically the same, the TV show's plot veered sharply away from the novel's, and unnecessarily so in my opinion.
Hm, I'm not sure if there is a proper term for it. As for the TV adaptation, I have seen and very much enjoyed it. As a screenwriter who's been confronted by books of a similar nature, my opinion of the matter is that St. John Mandel's novel was unadaptable in its original form because it lacks any kind of serious narrative engine like you find in TV. I would have appreciated, say, a 150 to 180-minute more faithful adaptation of it in the vein of THE ROAD, but, for the small screen, where you have to unspool a story over that many episodes, where each episode has to tell a story while also telling a larger one and inducing audiences to come back, changes were required. The solutions were, I thought, pretty damn impressive and, in a few instances, I preferred to the book. In others, the book is vastly superior. But that's just my opinion, of course.
Another great piece - but a bit of a downer! I appreciated the hope in the end, and for bringing Station Eleven to my attention. It sounds like something up my street, in fact resonating very much with the post-apocalyptic light-searching climate-crisis-metaphor of my first full length novel Children of Shadows (the novella beginning of which is on my Substack ;) )
I don't always aim to be hopeful as much as to try to help us look at and understand art and culture in new ways...but in general, I do try to find the hope. In this case, I hoped to show the dissonance between what Hollywood cinema could be providing us (as optimistic as that hope might be) and the reality of what Hollywood is giving us. I've been meaning to check out some of the novella. My apologies that I haven't yet. As you might have noticed, this Substack requires a lot of work - more than I anticipated, as much as I'm enjoying it. Still struggling to balance it, my professional writing work, and family time.
You definitely achieved your goal with this piece, and no need to apologise! The work you put in is appreciated by many. Thank you for the time you dedicate to sharing your insights on here. I've moved to just a monthly newsletter now, to give myself more time for my fiction, more opportunity for research, and my first bit of paid writing
I’ve thought a lot about this “refusal to confront,” and how it makes film/TV feel empty or dishonest. You touched upon one major issue in the article when you mentioned Hydra.
That issue is “strong emotions risk cancellation.”
If you arouse any kind of strong emotional response in the audience, you risk a social media mob coming down on you, mostly made up of people who cannot regulate their emotions. Nobody wants to deal with that, so they play it safe — and the result is the cinema of denial.
However, strong emotion is what creates great storytelling. From the “extreme” cartoons and comics of the 90s to the irreverent comedy of the 2000s, from the extreme despair of 70s cinema to the extreme hope of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, even the anime boom of the 90s with its heightened violence and drama, strong emotions have driven the most memorable pictures.
As an author, I’ve *tried* to avoid commenting too much on current conditions out of a fear of being seen as didactic, a finger-wagging scold who hates fun. But after the above epiphany, I know now that commenting on our current condition is the key to unlocking the strong emotions that create great stories.
It’s not a matter of writing ripped from the headlines propaganda that ages badly, but looking at how addressing these conditions can make audiences feel your art more deeply. I think the fantastical approach is the best one, as it gives the audience something more to sink their teeth into than the core thematic concern (poverty, race hatred, climate change, etc.) I find that when I do this, I like what I’m writing more because it feels more meaningful, without losing the cool factor.
P.S.: I ran into a video that you may find interesting. It’s about how shōnen (boys’) anime has changed in recent years to be darker, perhaps reflecting the pessimistic time we now live in (90s shōnen anime was more optimistic.) https://youtu.be/JXO7I7hv1-8
I’d not considered that the stagnation of cinema might be the result of a refusal to confront reality but it’s an interesting theory. I agree that the majority of film releases in recent years have felt pretty stale. I think it is ironic that this idea of a comfort blanket is resulting in lacklustre entertainment which is anything but comforting. In fact, when reading this, I was most reminded of the use of soma in Brave New World to sedate the masses. Dystopia is surely here!
I enjoyed this essay, especially when read alongside last week’s. Thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to read it and interrogate it. The verbiage around why this has happened is nuanced. For example, I'm not sure "Hollywood" refuses to confront reality as much as it has decided people don't want to pay money to be reminded about it. It's an age-old mistake Hollywood makes that has led to several creative and box office downturns. I can also provided endless examples of Hollywood doing the opposite and both producing box office gold and helping to define and understand the cultural experience of its audience. Which I'll be writing about later this year after my notes are complete... Yes, very ironic!
That sounds fab. I look forward to reading it!
"it has decided people don't want to pay money to be reminded about it"
Well, when I think of the astounding success of the so called "comfort literature", I'd say maybe they're not totally wrong (not saying I like this. Just noticing and thinking about it).
It's a chicken or egg problem, of course. Most people don't want to be challenged. They want comfort. But then, when you challenge them -- which is the point of art -- they show up all the same. The 70s were that. The 90s. Hell, even the 80s and early naughts were still fixated on telling stories about the real world and existential threats. JURASSIC PARK is about the risks of doing things without thinking about the consequences - the story of any number of dangerous techs. I'm loathe to believe people stopped caring as much as streamers convinced us everything was unimportant, disposable, and, thus, nothing more than a cheap fix.
Brilliant article, you managed to connect one of my favorite books and the best film of the
21st century. For me, the scene you describe of Theo and the woman descending a staircase in the middle of a horrific battle is as powerful as any cinema moment I have ever experienced. It gets me every time. Amazing what happens when artists are left to do their thing. I find that even the better comic book films feel committee generated and creatively stunted. Imagine how awful Barbie could have been with just a little meddling.
Cheers 🍻
I think there are superhero films that are wholly unique and truly pieces of art, but, yes, most of them do feel committed generated and prevented from becoming anything truly singular or consequential.
Very interesting piece, Cole! I'm thrilled we agree on Children of Men. ;) Coincidentally, both COM and Station Eleven are adapations that seem far superior to their source materials (which rarely happens!).
Now I must re-watch COM and relive Theo's brilliant character arc. 👏🏻
I'm glad you liked it! And enjoy the CHILDREN OF MEN rewatch. I watch it about every two years, I find, and it *never* disappoints!
Hi. I just wanted to say that this was the best thing I have read on Substack so far, although I should admit that I have been here for less than a week.
Ha! I will accept that compliment, thank you. There's a lot of great writing here, so enjoy yourself. I hope to see you around, Woo Kim!
I love this. Have you seen The End we Start From Though? Cuz...it's the best post-apoc movie of all time IMO, and nobody has seen it except me and like three people who I forced to see it
Thank you! Not yet, but I am very much looking forward to it. I've heard great things. There are two brilliant, largely forgotten films from the Fifties -- nuclear terror films -- I can't recommend enough. FIVE and THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL. The former is virtually unavailable; I caught it on TCM one day and it was a miracle. If you find it, let me know how. As for the latter, it stars Harry Belafonte and Mel Ferrer, amongst others, and even manages to tackle race (virtually unheard of in Hollywood cinema of the time).
I really enjoy the way you are , effortless it seems, able to covey the essence of the book or film. I say this even though I’m not a huge fan of dystopian movies. Never managed to watch a whole Mad Max movie 🙄. I have, however read at least 3 times the “Passage” Trilogy by Justin Cronin. Unfortunately I don’t have the ability to use the right words to describe its magnificence. Have you read it?
First, thank you for the lovely note. I don't know if it's effortless -- as you can guess, it took a lot of training to get there -- but today, yes, it seems easier than it used to. Second, Cronin's trilogy, I'm sorry, I haven't. I just looked it up. Sounds fascinating!
Ok.. I’m so excited that you might like it. Let me know if you can’t find a copy as I’m happy to lend you mine. 😉
Brilliant read and my favourite genre of story, which I personally call 'quiet' or 'contemplative' sci-fi (also see: CONTACT, ARRIVAL, KNOWING, INTERSTELLAR etc), though not sure if there's a more official term?! Interested to know whether you've watched the TV adaptation of Station Eleven? I enjoyed the book immensely and the adaptation a lot, but even though they are thematically the same, the TV show's plot veered sharply away from the novel's, and unnecessarily so in my opinion.
Hm, I'm not sure if there is a proper term for it. As for the TV adaptation, I have seen and very much enjoyed it. As a screenwriter who's been confronted by books of a similar nature, my opinion of the matter is that St. John Mandel's novel was unadaptable in its original form because it lacks any kind of serious narrative engine like you find in TV. I would have appreciated, say, a 150 to 180-minute more faithful adaptation of it in the vein of THE ROAD, but, for the small screen, where you have to unspool a story over that many episodes, where each episode has to tell a story while also telling a larger one and inducing audiences to come back, changes were required. The solutions were, I thought, pretty damn impressive and, in a few instances, I preferred to the book. In others, the book is vastly superior. But that's just my opinion, of course.
Another great piece - but a bit of a downer! I appreciated the hope in the end, and for bringing Station Eleven to my attention. It sounds like something up my street, in fact resonating very much with the post-apocalyptic light-searching climate-crisis-metaphor of my first full length novel Children of Shadows (the novella beginning of which is on my Substack ;) )
I don't always aim to be hopeful as much as to try to help us look at and understand art and culture in new ways...but in general, I do try to find the hope. In this case, I hoped to show the dissonance between what Hollywood cinema could be providing us (as optimistic as that hope might be) and the reality of what Hollywood is giving us. I've been meaning to check out some of the novella. My apologies that I haven't yet. As you might have noticed, this Substack requires a lot of work - more than I anticipated, as much as I'm enjoying it. Still struggling to balance it, my professional writing work, and family time.
You definitely achieved your goal with this piece, and no need to apologise! The work you put in is appreciated by many. Thank you for the time you dedicate to sharing your insights on here. I've moved to just a monthly newsletter now, to give myself more time for my fiction, more opportunity for research, and my first bit of paid writing
You're a wiser human being than I am!
Can I get that framed?
I’ve thought a lot about this “refusal to confront,” and how it makes film/TV feel empty or dishonest. You touched upon one major issue in the article when you mentioned Hydra.
That issue is “strong emotions risk cancellation.”
If you arouse any kind of strong emotional response in the audience, you risk a social media mob coming down on you, mostly made up of people who cannot regulate their emotions. Nobody wants to deal with that, so they play it safe — and the result is the cinema of denial.
However, strong emotion is what creates great storytelling. From the “extreme” cartoons and comics of the 90s to the irreverent comedy of the 2000s, from the extreme despair of 70s cinema to the extreme hope of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, even the anime boom of the 90s with its heightened violence and drama, strong emotions have driven the most memorable pictures.
As an author, I’ve *tried* to avoid commenting too much on current conditions out of a fear of being seen as didactic, a finger-wagging scold who hates fun. But after the above epiphany, I know now that commenting on our current condition is the key to unlocking the strong emotions that create great stories.
It’s not a matter of writing ripped from the headlines propaganda that ages badly, but looking at how addressing these conditions can make audiences feel your art more deeply. I think the fantastical approach is the best one, as it gives the audience something more to sink their teeth into than the core thematic concern (poverty, race hatred, climate change, etc.) I find that when I do this, I like what I’m writing more because it feels more meaningful, without losing the cool factor.
P.S.: I ran into a video that you may find interesting. It’s about how shōnen (boys’) anime has changed in recent years to be darker, perhaps reflecting the pessimistic time we now live in (90s shōnen anime was more optimistic.) https://youtu.be/JXO7I7hv1-8
This is the best I’ve read from you. All my writing is towards this and it is a delight and inspiration to read yours.
Putting it in the vault for future mining.