For those who have watched the Family Guy Movie, this title should ring a bell. This segment (as is the segment seen in the aforementioned film) addresses an incessant rage deep within that has been incurred due to some or other news and or arbitrary conflict that has come to my attention. Thankfully the title of this series is aptly named due to the title of this blog that is home to my little meanderings.
Recently I have come to know through various sources that Disney’s The Lion King will be re-released in Real 3D sometime in the future. Needless to say this has infuriated me considering my moral outrage concluded in my first article (which addressed 3D stereoscopic and it’s comparison to standard cinema). For those who haven’t read said article, I ended by stating that I hoped (for the most part) that we would never see old classics reborn in 3D.
The Lion King is a beloved memory that I had the privilege of sharing with my family and friends for many years and probably in some capacity it inspired the current direction of my career…I will not see its memory destroyed in the name of cold hard cash. Not so long ago, I had admiration for Walt Disney’s legacy company that faithfully produced the first traditionally animated feature film to be released in a number of years, now I cannot express my disappointment enough as I feel the passion of Disney has been lost in favour of greed.
Not only will The Lion King undergo the 3D conversion process but many other classics are rumoured to join their more contemporary brothers that came several months ago in the form of Toy Story and its sequel. So now I ask myself, was the Toy Story conversion a means to an end or merely a precursor for Toy Story 3 (which is a Real3D film)? I watched the tale of Woody and Buzz back in ’95 three times and many more times time’s on VHS, to be honest it has lost a bit of it’s relevance but nevertheless remains an archetype of 3D animated features glorious beginnings.
Please tell me that cinema as an art form hasn’t died…please tell me that the medium hasn’t truly fallen to greed. It started with the blockbuster but the financial benefits of 3D just perpetuate the blockbuster mentality that so many contemporary film and critics makers are trying to change. Every time news such as this arises, I feel even more lost as I continue to hope that in my twilight hours the remaining memories of the films of yesteryear aren’t reduced to flickering flames of cinemas primordial past as 2D, nor mere shallow, commercial translations that serve to disgrace their former splendour.
J, I totally feel the same way! 3D has butchered films! Some liken it to the advent of colour in film, but that's crap! Colour and sound were achievements, 3D is a gimmick to make money! The fact that we have to spend R60 just to watch a film nowadays is severely off-putting and upsets me massively!
ReplyDeleteSadly though, Disney's first priority, even when he was still alive, was to make money first, entertainment second. It's better to look at the auteurs like Chuck Jones and Tex Avery, that did it for passion and achieved greatness, case in point that WB animation closed its doors due to bankrupcy!
The reason I alluded to Walt Disney is because I remember watching special features on when he worked with classics like Alice In Wonderland and I genuinely saw a passionate sparkle in his eyes...I guess he changed as the decades went past.
ReplyDeleteYou do provide an interesting point though as to your analogy with the advent of sound and colour in film. Perhaps my next article should be technology's effect on cinema.