3-D

I've seen Avatar and I found it a very entertaining movie, nothing more, but certainly nothing less. James Cameron has done a truly remarkable job in creating a completely new world which also looked very beautiful. I saw the movie in 3-D, but I don't really know how important that was for my enjoyment of the film. That'll have to wait untill I see the movie in 2-D. What is obvious is that I was not the only one to have enjoyed the movie. Avatar has become the most succesfull movie of all time which has prompted studios to make more and more movies in 3-D. This development has divided critics. Some think it is great, some think that 3-D is the death of movies. I don't really like 3-D an I'll probably always prefer 2-D over 3-D. But I believe that me, and everyone else who doesn't like 3-D can't and shouldn't do anything about it. It is a logical development that is simply part of the evolution of film. Up until 1927 films didn't have synchronised sound. In the 1950's and 60's film started to become in color. In the 1980's and 90's movies started to use CGI. And every time some people protested that the new development would ruin the movies. And every time the movies survived and masterpieces were produced. If by 2040 more than 90% of the movies are going to be made in 3-D I won't be surprised, because 3-D, whether you like it or not, simply gives filmmakers more options to make their movies, just like synchronised sound, colored cinematograpy and CGI gave more otions to previous generations of filmmakers. And for those of us who by then still don't like 3-D, well bad luck for us. We'll simply be an anachronism. We can't and shouldn't stop innovation.

The reason for this post is the little 'controversy' that arose on this topic in the last couple of weeks. Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, two greatly admired classical filmmakers announced they would make their next movie in 3-D. Some people were shocked. They accused these filmmakers giving up on their craft and giving in to the hype or even of selling out. This is utterly ridiculous. First of all this people work for over forty years in the movies. It is only logical that they are interested in experimenting with a major new development in their business, especially for Scorsese who is known to have an exceptional interest in movies and who wants to know everything there is to know about them. I don't know much about Werner Herzog, but I know that he goes to enormous lengths to make his movies and is not afraid of life-threatening situations in the interest of his movie. And indeed, Herzog is obviously not going to use 3-D just because he can. First of all he is not even going to use hit for his whole film, but just for the filming of some rock paintings in a cave, because he simply thinks that by filming in 3-D is the best way he can do justice to them. One can certainly not accusing him of selling out.
As for Scorsese, he may also have a reason to use 3-D apart from interest in it. His next movie is The Invention of Hugo Cabret. In the movie he has cast Ben Kingsley as George Melies. George Melies is probably the first person to have made a science fiction film and the first one to use some kind of special effects in his movies.