Often it’s cheaper to shoot a movie in a location other than the one called for by the script. The ‘Spaghetti Western’ is a good example of this. Many urban stories are also shot in the wrong cities for financial reasons.
Month: August 2014
Voice Actor Diversity
Regardless of whether it makes narrative sense for cartoon characters to have diverse American dialects, studios cast their voice talent to represent coveted demographic groups. This takes on a surreal quality as racial and ethnic minorities are assigned to various animal species.
Parental Improvement
A favorite family movie device begins with Dad working too hard at the office and not paying attention to his kids. This neglect often involves the mother, as well. By the end of the movie, however, the parents have learned how great their kids are, and they find some way to dedicate more time to…
Party Ending
The dance party ending is common in animated movies, and often carries on through the credits.
This Is Me
In a feature length animation it’s not uncommon for a narrator to begin by saying “this is me,” and following this up by a brief bio that establishes the main character.
Alien Linguists
Aliens miraculously learn and speak languages, exhibiting instant and complete knowledge of idioms and grammar.
Crisis Therapy
Troubled marriages are often repaired in movieland by crisis, bravery, and mutual devotion to a child or children.
Rainbow Coalition
Representatives of various ethnic minorities come together to fight for a common cause and in the process they learn that the prejudices they began with were wrong.
Serious Problem Simple Solution
To keep parents interested, children’s movies often address serious issues like climate change. But this is done in a vague way so that a simple solution can lead to a happy ending.
Hacker Junior
Pre-teens somehow know more about computer security than seasoned adult computer scientists. They can break into any computer system.