The Repeatable Genre Rant

Jarmila Fialová

I sparingly watch movies and TV shows. First off, most genres are and will continue to be cursed for me (looking mainly at you, romance, horror, crime and documentaries). This seems to sip over to other mediums to some extent, as even the books lining my walls are either sci-fi or fantasy. 'But that's not too bad, is it' you say. 'Just stick to those two and you will be fine!'

Oh no, that's not all. Because there is a second problem - all of these movies are getting sincerely predictable. In my beloved love of fantasy, I cannot help but notice that every. Single. Time. The. Good. Guys. Win. And it is no fun walking into a theater (having paid a not-so-small sum to get there), and knowing how all of this is going to end 10 minutes into a 2 hour blockbuster. Maybe it won't happen in this one, but in the sequel. Or in the movie after that. I always hope it won't happen, period. But deep down I know this is not the truth.

That is why romance, horror, and some other genres went out of style for me. For being made of the same dough with different sprinkles on top. I even talked about this to others, and they agreed with me - they'd love a movie where the big bad wins, not just to be taken down in the sequel. It adds a sense of uncertainty, a sort of spice, into the genre. Something like that is already happening in books, and history taught me anything, people eventually stark mashing it into other mediums as well. I know about the popularity of 'morally gray characters' - where no one is the bad guy. But that isn't the same. I think a lot of people tend to gravitate towards good/evil characters just for the alignment. Taking that distinction away does make it all more realistic - but even in the real world there are distinctly good/bad people. Taking it away completely leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth. One of the fantasy tropes is after all, a murky line between evil and good.

Plus, I'd be down for a stereotypical movie where the main hero makes it trough impossible odds just to get annihilated at the end. Or a movie detailing the rise of a villain. But for the time being, I will have to stay with my books.