Originally Posted by adidasss
ok.....those are not good arguments and you know it,
They're not arguements submitted as alternatives to your suggestions. I'm saying that
CoG, as an example of the american public turning out to see a "foreign" film, had a few issues of it's own that can also account for a less-than-stellar financial outcome.
...most people don't go to see films that are close to home, if that were true, people would not have gone to see the titanic or say, the matrix, not to mention lord of the rings and a billion other films, but they did so in milions,
yes, because those films have very relatable central characters.
CoG starts out and ends with a very relatable narrator, but his through-line takes a back seat through the entire middle section of the film.
the meandery part is your personal opinion,
See above where I walked you through it. I can get the felt board out and some hand puppets if you still don't get it, Aristotle. (see, I can be a smartass too.. isn't this fun?)
...and as far as the biopic part is concerned, it isn't a classic biopic because the story is not about the photographer, he is only the narrator,the objective observer of the story,
"Classic" or not, we lose the emotional through line and the most sympathetic character when we lose sight of the narrator. This could have been worked around in a few ways, but it wasn't. As a result, people didn't walk out of the theaters and immediately insist that everyone they know go see it. That's called "word of mouth" and it's as crucial for a financially successful film as marketing. For illustration, see
Dukes of Hazzard, which had a ton of marketing and publicity and was choked to death the second weekend by word of mouth.
...the story is about a gang war that broke out in the favelas of rio de janeiro in the 70's, and come to think of it, my impression was that there's plenty of that going on in the US ( black and hispanic people in the ghettos lead fairly similar lives to those of black people in the favelas no?).....
Yep, and how many of the characters in the film did you see heading to the cinema? I'mna go out on a limb here and say that the box office bank of, say,
Lord of the Rings was not generated from the 'hood.
so my question is still unanswered.....i'd still go with marketing or simply the fact that the general american public is not used to seeing "foreign" films.....something that will undoubtedly ( or hopefully ) change one day......
I did answer your question and I just went back and illustrated it. You can read what I'm saying, and realise that we're pretty much in agreement (only I'm making a more detailed analysis of the situation) or you can decide you were right before we started discussing anything and try and pretend I don't know what I'm talking about again. That was neato.
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