What's the appeal of seeing buildings destroyed in movies

[I Am The 99%]

This is something that bugs me for a long time now. After so many years of watching tons of action and superhero movies, I have reached a point where I don't get excited anymore by the formulaic and predictable movie plots and especially the very popular and repeated trend of city destruction and superheroes punching and kicking with the bad guys.

If you notice almost every blockbuster that comes out features a grand battle with city destruction and buildings falling down.
Recent movies that come to mind are TIH, MOS, The Avengers, AOU, BvS etc.

What's the point if we keep seeing the same plot unveiling in front of our eyes just with different characters and different names?
And honestly, what's so exciting and fascinating about cities being destroyed or people trying to kill one another? I think after sometime it becomes pointless and boring to watch the sme concept over and over again.

I would so watch a nature documentary instead or non action and thought provoking films like Interstellar, the Prestige, Solaris, 2001 etc over a blockbuster, heavy action superhero that repeats the same formula and plot concepts.
Thoughts?

 

[Guts]

It's meant to show how those architects were idiots for not designing a building that could stand against an alien invasion.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

This is something that bugs me for a long time now. After so many years of watching tons of action and superhero movies, I have reached a point where I don't get excited anymore by the formulaic and predictable movie plots and especially the very popular and repeated trend of city destruction and superheroes punching and kicking with the bad guys.

If you notice almost every blockbuster that comes out features a grand battle with city destruction and buildings falling down.
Recent movies that come to mind are TIH, MOS, The Avengers, AOU, BvS etc.

What's the point if we keep seeing the same plot unveiling in front of our eyes just with different characters and different names?
And honestly, what's so exciting and fascinating about cities being destroyed or people trying to kill one another? I think after sometime it becomes pointless and boring to watch the sme concept over and over again.

I would so watch a nature documentary instead or non action and thought provoking films like Interstellar, the Prestige, Solaris, 2001 etc over a blockbuster, heavy action superhero that repeats the same formula and plot concepts.
Thoughts?

Uh... good for you, I guess. You are just a better person. A person that is tired of block buster action films and super hero films yet signs up to a forum that pretty much thrives on just such films.

As for seeing films with similar plots or character types... Please look into comparative mythology and religion. Joseph Campbell an his proteges would be a good start.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

It's meant to show how those architects were idiots for not designing a building that could stand against an alien invasion.

Your avvy and this post go so well together.

 

[I Am The 99%]

Uh... good for you, I guess. You are just a better person. A person that is tired of block buster action films and super hero films yet signs up to a forum that pretty much thrives on just such films.

As for seeing films with similar plots or character types... Please look into comparative mythology and religion. Joseph Campbell an his proteges would be a good start.

"Better person"? lol
Why would you interpret it that way in the first place?
This forum thrives on superhero films but fortunately it is not just about that.

 

[Soapy]

I don't really know what kind of response you're looking for. Congratulations on liking documentaries I guess?

 

[I Am The 99%]

I googled the Cambell guy and seems a really interesting read. I get that story plots can be very similar and may originate from the same archetypes but with superhero movies and action blockbusters are just too painfully obvious that you re watching a clone.
The same cannot be said for non action and more deeply themed films.

 

[I Am The 99%]

I don't really know what kind of response you're looking for. Congratulations on liking documentaries I guess?

How about your thesis on this? Have you ever felt of getting bored with action and superhero movies or not at all?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I googled the Cambell guy and seems a really interesting read. I get that story plots can be very similar and may originate from the same archetypes but with superhero movies and action blockbusters are just too painfully obvious that you re watching a clone.
The same cannot be said for non action and more deep themed films.

As I said... You have the superior intellect and moral frame. Congrats.

 

[I Am The 99%]

Okay...Thanks for getting the point of the thread and congratulating me for being a better person than you. That's all I wanted from you for tonight.

 

[Kobra]

Uh... good for you, I guess. You are just a better person. A person that is tired of block buster action films and super hero films yet signs up to a forum that pretty much thrives on just such films.

As for seeing films with similar plots or character types... Please look into comparative mythology and religion. Joseph Campbell an his proteges would be a good start.

He actually has a point. It would be nice to see studios pushing the envelope a little more often. Most super hero movies are too basic and predictable. They don't have to be though. Nolan proved that.

 

[Victarion]

OP, I can see where you are coming from.

I like seeing my villains do some damage, and I enjoy it when my heroes have to make hard choices in dealing with those villains. Its a bit like when you're sometimes stuck with the choice of the greater evil vs the lesser evil, working to do the least amount of damage where some adverse effects may be unavoidable. Seeing my heroes face these kind of decisions in the face of a threat makes the movie more enjoyable.

Hand in hand with this, I do have to have a reason to hate the villain. In which case, them destroying stuff or killing people is a good way to accomplish that. Take Bane - I wanted Batman to end him with extreme prejudice. I ****ing hated Bane's guts. My dislike of Bane is what made their city hall rematch my favorite fight in the movie.

On the other hand - take Ronan the Accuser. He had potential that was ultimately untapped. We saw him do nothing villainous, so I didn't give a flip about what happened to him or anything, really. He was just there. Had he actually done something villainous, like turning that planet where they had the big dogfight into a smoking hunk of ash and ruin, I probably would've been more invested in the Guardians' dealing with him.

Finally, I think much of my preferences in this post come from my childhood love of Dragon Ball Z. In that one the villains always did a fine job establishing themselves as a threat - be it by destroying cities, blasting people into oblivion, or destroying whole planets. I wanted to see the heroes take these baddies out. It got me invested in the conflict.

So, without the villains actually killing people, wiping out cities or what not - or if the hero somehow manages to defeat the villain without any collateral damage when there probably would be quite a bit of it - that sucks all the fun out of the movie for me. I have no reason to be invested in anything that's going on.

edit:

Of the movies you listed, they do share that similarity, though I got most invested in BvS because I was rooting more for Batman's cold practicality and results than Superman's boyscout routine. It was massively simplified, the conflict between the two, but the root of it was enough for me to side with Batman in that conflict of ideals.

 

[I Am The 99%]

^^ Nice analysis Vic. Especially I agree with the Bane part. Yeah that was a good example of a villain that infused real tension and conflict compared to the generic action fest of other superhero flicks.

 

[Steyin]

The same reason there is appeal in a superhero or anything extraordinary on the big screen: it doesn't happen in real life and our brains can only envision so much, so to see these things "come to life" (even if they don't always match up with how we envision it would be) is fascinating.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

He actually has a point. It would be nice to see studios pushing the envelope a little more often. Most super hero movies are too basic and predictable. They don't have to be though. Nolan proved that.

Whether that's true or not the now banned member was basically using this as cover to tell us all just how very superior his taste and intellect was, while not grasping the irony of coming to a place where people are for the most part LOOKING for films filled with spectacle of one kind or the other. Super hero stuff, no matter how often people pull out Nolan, is pop culture comfort food. If one wants what one gets from a serious drama or the like or a thought provoking film of ideas... I suggest then that super hero fiction is not for them. Period. Even Nolan still had three films with City in peril plots that included scheming masterminds, and two doomsday for the city finales. The hero was still reliably the hero, the bad guys got what we the audience wanted to see happen to the "evil characters" and the good guy saved the day.

And... There's not a damn thing wrong with that in my humble opinion. We as a world culture have been telling such repetitive tales to one another for as long as we have been a distinct species able to pass on ideas to one another through narrative. And we will continue. I personally just don't have time for the Sophomoric elitism that poo-poos such things or judges all films or stories lacking because it follows a tried and true formula. Now I also have the self awareness to understand why those stories have their appeal but also what their limitations are. I'm not suggesting that all things are equal in quality or that there is always deeper meaning with CBMs or action films or that the lessons imparted are always the best (but seriously... I hope someone was self aware enough at the age of 18 to go down the road of understanding all that... Then again, I have seen some foolish and infantile conclusions drawn here on the Hype in my short time...) but these stories have always had a visceral appeal and let's not forget the free market component... People are still paying for these films. End of story.


And one last thing... I will never NOT think that folks like the OP who sign up for a place called SUPERHEROHYPE yet who want to do nothing more than shill some fringy type political BS, left, right or what have you... Yeah, those people are fracking idiots, and full of themselves too because that's what they are here for. To pontificate on their self perceived superior intellect or morality to the rest of us. So I say a not so fond farewell to the PBU who was the OP of this thread.

 

[dude stannis]

"I'm glad you're banned."

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

"I'm glad you're banned."

Or I could have just typed that.

 

[dude stannis]

Yeah, referencing the typical blockbuster, action heavy superhero movie that repeats the same formula and plot concepts... that's more film noir crime movie than aforementioned superhero movie.

 

[Reek]

All this talk has made me want to destroy a building. I miss that Rampage! game on NES.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

All this talk has made me want to destroy a building. I miss that Rampage! game on NES.

Apparently so does The Rock.

 

[dude stannis]

Starts a thread being a pretentious *****e nozzle.... Doesn't know who "that Cambell [sic]" guy is.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Starts a thread being a pretentious *****e nozzle.... Doesn't know who "that Cambell [sic]" guy is.

Yeah... That was... well it was... (sound of sigh)

Pretty much.

 

[Reek]

​

 

[Spider-Aziz]

If you notice almost every blockbuster that comes out features a grand battle with city destruction and buildings falling down.
Recent movies that come to mind are TIH, MOS, The Avengers, AOU, BvS etc.

You know something? With all the property damage shown in The Incredible Hulk, there is no full demolition of any building in that movie.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Why was this guy banned?