MovieChat Forums > The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) Discussion > I'd like to say something on the reactio...

I'd like to say something on the reaction of this film

posted 11 years ago by BuzzHanks
6 replies | jump to latest

Let me just say that I can respect and understand your feelings, both sides of you, towards this work of fictional entertainment. You want more than to be entertained, you want an experience. You probably want some light to settle the darkness spreading over your life. You want to see the type of medium that you think deserves to be made when you think of the title, concepts or genres: the best that it can be in itself. Yet, as I have painfully learned, whatever one expects, they shall not get. You may expect something to be good, only to be disappointed in bitter frustration and negativity. You may exepect something to be bad, only to find it a pleasant surprise.

The truth is, you will always find both in EVERYTHING you encounter in your life. You make the choice as to which of those affiliations you associate with. I have heard most prominently a phrase that sums it up, and not just to pacify the negative side: “You may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can change your attitude”. You always have a choice. You can choose to side with the negative. You can choose to side with the positive. Rather more beneficially, side with a healthy combination of both, the only greatness in what feels right to you, the choice you can live with for the rest of your life. Acknowledge the negatives, but see that they made the positives better. Not everything can be 100% perfect. It will not happen. Some things only need to be just good enough in order to make the bigger picture better. If every little thing were 100% perfect, then the bigger picture would be ruined, because it created more negativity about it. Positive and negative will ALWAYS coexist; they are one and the same. Whatever you decide does not make you any more positive or negative than the next person. Yes, there will be disagreements, but it is absolutely impossible for one to agree with 100% EVERYTHING the next person, even if they were backed up by billions of majority, believes in. Not just in fiction, but in life in general with regards to its offerings. This thematic element has helped me get through. I do wonder why people live in fear of others, letting them be controlled as if part of a robot assembly line, or a slave of flying monkeys. Yes, you must listen to others.

Yes, you may need to know of others’ experiences of something you indulge in, but ultimately, it is all YOUR choice in the end. What one may find positive, you may find negative. What one may find negative, you may find positive. If you do not venture out, you will not gain anything. This is YOUR life, YOUR experiences, YOUR feelings and viewpoints. You WILL have to face both positivity and negativity in both large and small amounts from time to time. Do not let them control you? Its how u deal with them that shapes who you are, and it is not always the common way to do so. There is such a thing as right and wrong, but only to you. If you are always right, you are wrong. If you are always wrong, you may indeed be wrong, but at times you may be right. ”It is not hard to make decisions if you know what your values are”. If you know what u want, you think of the best way that suits accomplishing it that makes sense to you and that would fit into the bigger picture of what your life. Guaranteed, there will be many others that will not agree and will attempt to stop you. You can choose to let them dictate you, or fight against them. At times, you will need to do both; letting them dictate you can open your realization to something previously overlooked that could make your decision better. But if you always let them do that, then you will not grow. You will not experience. You will not live. You will have regrets where it is too late to change it, and will be angry at your ignorance for not listening to yourself, or others. You will need to fight them as they do not agree with you, and not standing up to them will at times result in failure of your goals, and the destruction of your confidence and self worth, the annihilation of your development of you as a person as a whole. You may fear being wrong, but nothing will ever come to being as scary or wrong as betraying who you are, including your values, beliefs and bigger life picture. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. Better to die with passion fighting for what you believe in instead of being controlled by others. Why live if you are just a mere puppet? If you like your life like that, then so be it, but if there are foreseeable complaints, then do not come crying to me.

All in all, we are talking about a subjective experience that is different from one to another. If you already know that you do not like concepts or mediums like this, then do not bother. If you are unsure, read summaries, watch trailers, or just do not bother. If finance is an issue, then either do not bother or ask someone you love, repay them later, or just flip a coin; whatever it lands on does not need to dictate the precise answer, but it will show you which outcome you feel more emotionally invested in. Better to just do it then waste time and energy worrying about it, unless you are surer than not on one side of the positive/negative structure. You do not need a critic’s consensus; chances are they will be very wrong with your own view and you may end up missing an experience that could change your life, or getting into an experience that ruins it. Trust yourself, not anyone else’s. Who cares if it gets panned or acclaimed? In your view, it means something. Your favorite medium may get panned; your least may get honored. You may want to view something in a different light, but is it really necessary? It could have consequences on your well-being or others’. This medium could be all that you or one other has for solstance, a source of inspiration into something better, like a reinvisioning, or something similar that is improved. Do not let others prevent you from living or dying, for that is experience, that is life, that is enjoying

[–] alexisprobablyonfire 11 years ago

What the hell are you talking about?

[–] Rob_Brown78 11 years ago

Also, it looks like he's copying and pasting this in other forums. I just saw it on the "Eragon" board, a movie that came out nearly 8 years ago. I think it's safe to say that THAT ship has sailed...

[–] BuzzHanks 11 years ago

no cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it. So you think I am a madman? I do apologize as it was not my intention and i do get carried away i admit, but I am noticing that u have replied to ALL of my posts and have gone on all of the same boards as me. If u wanted to ask me out honey, all u had to do was ask. But even if u did, i would have to turn it down as you are being a madman urself to movies that people, even if opposed to the majority, do indeed care about.

Yes u r allowed to express ur opinion, but u do it with respect. I am sorry to overlook that and cause a misunderstanding. The reason y i care so much about opinions is because its negative opinions that have swayed some of these movies from doing so well. U have hard of "Word of mouth", I presume? Despite the negative reaction overall, many fans, even some who have NOT read the books, loved VA, Mortal instruments, etc. despite its negative critical and financial reaction. So much so that the studios are actually considering doing sequels to them. Yet it is not set in stone and by helping things out like the awards shows will show popularity for the film. after all, Wizard of Oz, Blade runner etc became cult classics many years after they initially flopped. Whats to say that this could not happen here? Winning these awards could show that the public does care about the movie and want more sequels and could introduce new people to these movies that maybe overlooked them. After all, some things just have to be given a second chance at times:

Look on some of the Eragon boards. I have encountered quite a few that have stated that they liked the movie much better the second time that they saw it. Some even said, and I quote “It was not as bad as the book”. I also saw a similar thing to Lone Ranger (2013) where people stated that it wash much better for them the second time. Plus, if these sequels are made, they could be better than the original which is what most people thought for the Twilgihts, Hunger games, and the Harry Potters from the 3rd onwards. They were all "second chances" given to the franchises.

Consider how much of a long shot it was for:

- George Lucas to make Star wars. EVERY single film studio turned it down and Fox happily gave up the merchandising rights without pause to him. Imagine what the world would be without Star wars, as it came VERY, VERY close to not happening, only happening because Lucas perceviered. Imagine if I was George Lucas and u were every other film studio exec except for Fox. The majority of people at the time thought SW, much like VA was garbage and that was just from the script.
- Pixar. Go watch The Pixar Story if you do not believe me on this. They faced failure every step of the way. Disney wanted to make every Toy Story something dark and crappy on a par with their DTV sequels. Go watch The Black Friday Toy Story. Is that the one you/others would have wanted to see? If Pixar had not perceveered after the movie fell down b4 them, even having to endure creating that BF reel, then there would be no Toy Story. Imagine a world without them. Look at how every Toy Story turned out. Look at close to all of their other movies. Imagine if they had given up. Not to mention a similar ambitious story on the making of Tron. Yes, that film did not do so well initially, but it inspired a lot of other films like Pixar and reassured them that computer graphics could be put to good use in film. Like John Lassetter said “if there was no Tron, there would be no Toy Story”. He also goes by the theory that “just because something has not been done b4 does not mean that it could not be done”.
- J.K. Rowling and her Hp series. 12 publishers turned down the Hp books. Look at the books/movies for them. Look at how they inspired kids to read. The movies r the top grossing film franchise of all time. Imagine if JK had giving up.
All of the above was considered a long shot at the time to happen. The people involved did not give up and perceveered at every opportunity to get these projects, things that they were passionate about doing, accomplished the way that they wanted them to.

You seem to know an awful lot about the reality of what makes this stuff work. Why don’t we work together to achieve this goal of helping these sequels get made for the fans and giving it another chance for the general public? It is a longshot but we can make a difference. Afterall, Steve Jobbs was among the many changed the reality to where we r now. Without him, there would be no iPods, etc. not as much of an extensive use of technology. Why should we settle for things being as they are when we know that they can be potentially better? Correct me if I am wrong, but are u happy with the way that things with what we are talking about are as good as they can be? Don’t let the “long shot” ness of it stop you. What better way is there to live then to fight for what you believe in? Imagine if Martin Luther King had not had that belief to do his speech. Where would we be now? To quote a friend of mine “if you continue to do something, continue to try, something can happen”. Even if u do not believe in it, why not help others that do want it. How would u feel if u were in our positions? Not everyone is stoic and fine with things as they r. Heck that is why these people above acted the way they did and where would our world be now without them?

[–] benman46 11 years ago

What exactly has this to do with film?

[–] gloria_e_evans 10 years ago

Nothing. Just a rambling nut.

[–] MrsOcean 10 years ago

Exactly!