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Boboss: That's a fascinating discussion, and one which can get very byzantine. Let's see how brief I can make this (and sorry for mild off-topicage, maybe it's the case that this discussion should merit a separate thread).
I'm not sure it's a question of being unfamiliar with the tropes of storytelling, more that he's using the wrong words to describe what they're attempting.
...Which would be in itself a little bit troublesome. People who tell stories, in whatever media they choose to do it, should be on top of their games with words - at least good enough with them to not commit the blunder you accuse him of.
Please don't be so hasty as to assume that, since directors work on a visual media, they should be exempt of the burden of being good with words, no - it's the exact opposite: Since movies are based on written scripts, however flimsy they be, a good director must be someone that's at least functionally good with words (see Polanski's work on "Rosemary's Baby" adaptation, for a glimpse into that forlorn time where love and respect for the source material was the rule of the game - but I digress), and then, on top of that, have the directorial/visual prowess/exuberance that will transform the text in striking moving pictures.
I haven't seen much examples of verisimilitude at play - not in this prologue, and not in "Batman Begins": Remember the scene where the mob boss Falcone taunts Bruce Wayne saying that his father begged like a dog before dying? Do you know what is wrong with that scene, and how it bespeaks for an unhealthy tendency on Nolan's part for empty, embarrassing theatrics (which, I'm afraid, will plague this second installment)? Because Bruce Wayne saw his bloody father die! Thomas Wayne died in front of him, so Bruce knew his father didn't beg! And Falcone knew that, too!.
And so it is that they just give you that world and you must accept it. It's all presented in a gritty way, with a visual style that tries to sell the harsh realities of street life as they are in our world (What was the example Nolan used, when he compared "Batman Begins"'s style to one of those 70's crime dramas? "The French Connection"? "Serpico"? It can't have been "Dog Day Afternoon", he wouldn't dare to film this robbery scene with the clowns if he had watched and possessed at least a miser gram of self-respe... Oh).
Verisimilitude is about the appearance of being real, about clever prestidigitation, about making a world which seems believable enough - but internally, and in a way not necessarily close to our own world.
More short and to the point: Verisimilitude can be picked apart - but if it's done right, it will be only after careful, cold analytical consideration, something that a true fan of the story will never do - I know I wouldn't (again, see "Rosemary's Baby" for a premise that reveals itself to be ridiculous once you pick it apart, but it's done so artfully you would feel a philistine if you tried to). After all, Why spoil the fun?
Bad realism is just embarrassing to all parts involved. |
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