Especially in the realm of Star Trek but applicable to all adventure genres, a lot of people's preferences align with 'Is it light, cartoony, fun?' versus 'Is it dark, gritty, realistic'.
But how important is it to the substance of the story? I would argue that a story's 'Darkness level' is more of an aesthetic choice than a matter of substance. It affects the style of the story but doesn't change the quality of the story being told either way. Like, take a dark, gritty show and make it light and cartoony it'd essentially be the same story with a different aesthetic. And alternately, take a light, cartoony show and make it dark and gritty, it'd still be the same story.
I'm not saying this is a universal rule, and you don't have to reach very far to find clear exceptions. Kill Bill, for example, where the killing of Bill is the entire point. But I think if you took something like Westworld, lowered the body count and gave it the tone of a TNG episode it'd be basically the same story. Same as if you took Wall-E and made it realistic and gritty. Just with this aesthetic change, one audience would reject it entirely and another would heap praise on it.
And I think a lot of people are so married to an aesthetic it causes them to miss great films just because they see them as 'For kids', or just because a story is framed a little more violently. It makes sense if you're trying to watch something with children or just have something on to binge, but it doesn't make sense to me if you're really watching to enjoy a good story on its own merits.
What are your thoughts?
But how important is it to the substance of the story? I would argue that a story's 'Darkness level' is more of an aesthetic choice than a matter of substance. It affects the style of the story but doesn't change the quality of the story being told either way. Like, take a dark, gritty show and make it light and cartoony it'd essentially be the same story with a different aesthetic. And alternately, take a light, cartoony show and make it dark and gritty, it'd still be the same story.
I'm not saying this is a universal rule, and you don't have to reach very far to find clear exceptions. Kill Bill, for example, where the killing of Bill is the entire point. But I think if you took something like Westworld, lowered the body count and gave it the tone of a TNG episode it'd be basically the same story. Same as if you took Wall-E and made it realistic and gritty. Just with this aesthetic change, one audience would reject it entirely and another would heap praise on it.
And I think a lot of people are so married to an aesthetic it causes them to miss great films just because they see them as 'For kids', or just because a story is framed a little more violently. It makes sense if you're trying to watch something with children or just have something on to binge, but it doesn't make sense to me if you're really watching to enjoy a good story on its own merits.
What are your thoughts?
