Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
Sometimes works of art (paintings, music, film, sculpture, architecture, literature, doesn't matter) are so profoundly influential as to become a part of the fabric of that medium. I think the Godfather is one of those films that inspired an entire generation of filmmakers to weave the special bits into everything they created since.
The problem with watching it now is that the craft of filmmaking has spawned from it and molded around it, and the things that made it special are now mundane. Try to watch Citizen Kane, or 2001 A Space Odyssey, or Seven Samurai, and you'll see every trope and flaw because their impact is no longer unique. But that's not because they weren't amazing films, it's because they have all be copied and modernized and lampooned to death.
With the Godfather, a film buff could talk for hours about the lighting, the symbolism, the mise en scene, the music, and how it was all seminal to half the movies made since. Watching it with virgin eyes, though, and you'll see reflections of Goodfellas and Casino and Scarface and Once Upon a Time in America and The Irishman and A Bronx Tale and Donnie Brasco and New Jack City and Road to Perdition and We Own the Night and The Departed and The Untouchables and probably 50 other movies I can't think of off the top of my head.
You can't help but see it as a relic, a source of inspiration for the movies you saw before and loved. That's why you don't see it the way they did, and why it seems over hyped.
And that explains why it was impactful movies in the 70s, but that doesn't explain why it's rated 2nd best movie today. If anything you provided arguments against that.
Because things can be appreciated for their historical relevance. It's like saying that the Sputnik should be forgotten because SpaceX launches 20 satellites with a single rocket every other month. Or that Michelangelo statues are overrated now that we invented 3D printing.
But again, for all it's historical relevance, nobody rates Sputik second best satellite today.
But I would still rate Michaelangelo's David as the best sculpture today.
Edit... Winged Victory though... looking up at it from the base of the stairs...
It's rated highly because the people who do the ratings are familiar with how impactful the movie was. They understand the quality of the film within the context where and when it was created.
If you were to compare a Manet to an AI generated photorealistic version of the same painting, an art buff would prefer the Manet. Someone who lacks the context and background might complain about the brush strokes or the imperfect color blending or the lack of definition in the faces, and say that the AI generated image is "better." That preference does not in any way diminish the quality of Manet's work or the appreciation people have for it.
When discussing art, "best" is always subjective. You're allowed to not like the Godfather. It's not my favorite movie, either, but I enjoy watching it now and again. People who love the film have written many books on why it's their favorite masterpiece. You won't win an argument with them that it's not among the best movies of all time, but then neither will they convince you to appreciate the movie if you didn't enjoy watching it.
not everybody who uses IMDB was born after 9/11.
this isn't a dig at gen-z for being "uncultured" or whatever, just pointing out that a substantial chunk of the population was able to experience the film before it became as "cliche" as it is today.
It's still better than 99% of all movies made in the last 30 years; you just have shit taste.