It seems as though movies have stopped generating their own ideas and have relied solely on adapting creations such as books or comics to get their huge blockbuster. However, through this depletion, the TV industry has stepped up and taken the reigns of innovation.
Movie franchises are what the industry thrives on; they are a guaranteed money-maker. When a book or comic has been developed and the reaction is phenomenal, a director knows he has the grounds to make a successful film.
When mentioning specifics, let’s bring in the well-known franchises like “Lord of the Rings,” “The Twilight Saga,”
“The Hunger Games,” “The Amazing Spider Man” and of course, “The Avengers”. All of these franchises have built insane fandoms, endless amounts of merchandise and stacks of cash. For all of these fortunate aspects, do we thank the fact that they were just very well-made or the fact that they wouldn’t have even existed without a prior reference?
Movies that are not on such a huge spectrum, like “The Notebook” and “Pride and Prejudice” have managed to be become classics in the eyes of the public. Novels and comics are other-worldly projects that have graced the entertainment industry and the film industry alone knows that when adapting these stories they have an “easy A” on their hands.
They are basically playing the safe card and even though it is difficult to make a movie that is good with effects and actors alone, they have the upper hand when being given an amazing story line. That being said, the impression is left that movies don’t have to try anymore and that originality isn’t a factor anymore.
The films that are nominated throughout this award season have either been based off a novel or a true story. For instance, “Gone Girl,” “Selma,” “Wild,” “American Sniper,” “The Imitation Game” and “Foxcatcher.” Films that are being recognized at the Academy Awards, the most prestigious award ceremony, are not original ideas.
So with movies losing their incentive to come up with their own ideas, who is going to step in and dominate? The answer is television. TV has become the media source where ingenuity is the guiding method.
TV creators have developed an impressive collection of shows that indicate the apparent revolution occurring on society’s televisions screens. There are countless ideas for shows that shake the dormant world of imagination.
Shows that are on the older side but were huge successes were not based on any other literary works such as “The Wire,” “Six Feet Under,” “X-Files” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” These were shows that created just as big of a fandom as the huge movie franchises seen today and did this with original content.
Contemporary shows like “Sons of Anarchy,” “Veep” and “Girls” are newer shows that have proved to embody the art of originality. TV in general understands how to create shows with ideas not done before and knows that society enjoys easy accessibility with entertainment;TV has that trend down pact.
On-demand internet streaming providers like Netflix thrive off making shows that are not the norm; shows like
“Hemlock Grove” and “House of Cards” are the breath of fresh air that people yearn for. They are twisted and fantastically unreal.
One creator that comes to mind when discussing sheer individuality is Shonda Rhimes who has made epic shows like
“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder.” Each show has a unique twist to it and is severely different from one another; there is no way to get bored of them.
Movies are at the top as of right now when it comes to factors such as money, followers and abilities. It is disappointing to know people want to see the books/comic books they fell in love with on the big screen so badly so imagination goes out the window. However, television is making its way up there slowly but surely. TV has what movies lost a long time ago: modernity.
