[quote=“Dex”][quote=“Col. Crazy Kenneth”]
IN LOTR, how did the big fucking elephant monster that Legolas killed and quipped to the dwarf guy about it, advance the story? It didn’t. But it was hella fun.
[/quote]
Character moments and world building are part of the story too. It might not have altered the main plot in a huge obvious way but it was part of what turned two uneasy allies into friends.
Plus, conflict and conflict resolution are a pretty big part of telling a compelling story. The big fucking elephant monster created conflict. Legolas killing it was conflict resolution. It’s the same as those movies where the main character has to fight an extremely large man. LOTR just happens to take place in a world where giant elephants exist.[/quote]
all true. but the rest of my post still stands. using LOTR as an example was a bad choice anyway, since it heavily subscribes to the whole “hero’s journey” thing, that has been completely overused by Hollywood throughout the times.
I give you a better example: Transformers 2, like it or not, was one of my greatest cinema experiences of recent times, and it was not about telling a story, but mostly about kick ass visual/audio experience. And they used 10 tons of CGI for that. Michael Bay is not the enemy of cinema today. The real enemys are those who still try to convice us that movies should primarly be about story. Next thing they tell us videogames should be about story as well.