48. "I'm not saying Stone bears no responsibility" In response to In response to 47
In fact, I've already said at least twice that he does
I'm not saying it's all on the audience's shoulders, or that it's even 50/50 all the time.
And I will concede that film has that very power you described, over people as well as other mediums - except for maybe comic books, which is even more of a 'director's medium' than film : )
I mean, like I said over in the WTC post, I share your apprehension. I think your questions and concerns are very valid, and I would hope that EVERYONE would ask these very same questions you're presenting here (we won't all come up with the same answer necessarily, but at least we'd be asking). I wish more of us had been asking these kinds of questions 5 years ago.
The only place you and I really diverged was that I wasn't seeing where you were putting any faith in the audience to make up their own minds at some point. Which registered to me as dangerous thinking. I respect your faith in the power of stories, but if it's at the expense of your faith in the power of the people, well then, I dunno...
But you've acknowledged the audience bears at least some responsibility, and I'm hopefully making it clear that I feel Stone bears some as well. So um, I guess we're cool?