Chris Gore, Founder/Owner of FilmThreat/Author/Filmmaker: My concern is that most movies being written today (movies and television) are written by a generation that is influenced by other movies.
Film Courage: Is writing weaker today than it used to be?
Chris: I would say absolutely writing is weaker today and I’ve looked at this and I think the disappointment I have about it is that one we live in a time where media is so accessible in two clicks. You can see anything including movies that just opened in theaters whether it’s available on a streaming service or whether there are other means. So much content (and I despise that word) but I’ll use it. So much is available to us that what I fear is the current generation of writers are not influenced by life, they’re not influenced by great novels that they’ve read, they’re not influenced by classic films, they’re not influenced by travel where they’ve traveled the world, they’re not influenced by loves that they’ve had (great loves they’ve had) or loves they’ve lost, they’re not influenced by parenting experiences that they might have had or experiences with family or experiences real world (real life) experiences. My concern is that most movies being written today (movies and television) are written by a generation that is influenced by other movies. So there’s this snake eating its tale of writers influenced by other things they’ve seen rather than life experiences. When you look at the very first Star Wars movie George Lucas (I know I bring it up a lot) but Star Wars was influenced by many things. Serials from the 1930s from things like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. George Lucas famously just wanted to make Flash Gordon but had trouble with getting the rights. It was influenced by Marvel Comics, it was influenced by a tragic event where he almost died in a car accident and was in the hospital for a long period of time. That near-death experience changed George Lucas. Much of his influence was also from his father in his life who was a successful business person who he looked up to. A lot of his experience was growing up in Modesto, the obsession over car culture and hot rods. You see that in the character of Han Solo, it’s kind of a guy who’s into hot rods. The Millennium Falcon is a hot rod but so much of the influences that George had both from life and so much classic literature and storytelling were kind of thrown in a blender. Now you’ve got every Star Wars movie is just influenced by the last Star Wars movie or the last Star Wars TV show or what they call this horrible term Memberberries which is we’re going to sort of throw out these Memberberries, remember that? Remember that character? Remember this character? Remember that? and what it does is it takes the mystery half of the fun of some of these characters from the world of Star Wars…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Chris Gore is a writer, comedian, author and television personality who has built a solid reputation as a hilariously outspoken voice in the entertainment world. As a teenager, Chris founded the brutally honest magazine Film Threat, which began as a fanzine while he was a college student in Detroit. As Film Threat evolved into a respected national magazine, he relocated to Los Angeles. The print magazine was retired in 1997 when it was re-launched as a web site. FilmThreat.com found a huge audience online and was named one of the top five movie web sites by the Wall Street Journal. Chris has appeared as a film expert on MSNBC, E!, CNN, Travel Channel, and Reelz Channel. Chis has also hosted shows on FX, Starz, IFC and G4TV’s Attack of the Show as the show’s film expert. His weekly movie review segment DVDuesday was among the most popular on G4. Chris is also an author, having written The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made and The Complete DVD Book. His book The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide is considered the bible of the industry and is required reading at film school.
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