Writer's Block movies as a Genre

[dreamdead]

In the 2012 Seven Psychopaths thread:


Honestly, if I never see another 'writers' block movie' ever again, I think I'll be just fine.

This made me deliberate on the genre, if such a term allows for a "genre," of films about Writer's Block. There's Barton Fink, Synecdoche, New York, and Adaptation, naturally, as well as The Lost Weekend and The Shining (both also about alcoholism, natch). What, however, creates the corpus or parameters of such a movie, since the examples above all come from disparate time periods and styles of filmmaking. Certainly the rise of the screenwriter to a place of prominence has helped push this movement, as has postmodernism with the collapse of the easy text and author dyad as a binary.

These films exhibit different gradations of metafictionality (is the basic lack of metafiction what saves The Shining from preciousness?), but is any film that goes off "the deep end" narratively guilty of drawing on any ploy (see Adaptation's third act) necessary to make the project work?

[Irish]

Off-topic: If you go into the thread, quote the post, and copy the results here, vBulletin 4 will create a little "arrow link" back to the original post (you basically need the username, semi-colon, post number). Like so:


Honestly, if I never see another 'writers' block movie' ever again, I think I'll be just fine.

I mention this because it's a cool feature that I just noticed recently.

[Dukefrukem]

Also a feature that was on the old site and every VB forum since the dawn of time.

:lol:

[Irish]

What, however, creates the corpus or parameters of such a movie, since the examples above all come from disparate time periods and styles of filmmaking. Certainly the rise of the screenwriter to a place of prominence has helped push this movement, as has postmodernism with the collapse of the easy text and author dyad as a binary.

I don't think there's any commonalities worth talking about. Most movies you can think of don't share anything outside of using the writer-as-protagonist as a device. And writers only ever have two problems. One of them is block. The other is money.

I'd also argue that "Adaptation" doesn't go off the deep end at all. It's a well structured script, and that third act is the only way it could have ended. The problem is that it's playing around on a couple of different levels, and the most obvious surface level is the one people pick up on when they see it the first, and maybe only, time.

[Irish]

Off-topic, again:
Also a feature that was on the old site and every VB forum since the dawn of time.

:lol:

Jesus, you're right. I can't believe I never clicked on that little arrow before. I thought it was a new feature. :D

[Dukefrukem]

Off-topic, again:

Jesus, you're right. I can't believe I never clicked on that little arrow before. I thought it was a new feature. :D

Hehe, it's like no one here ever tinkered with a forum before. Are you one of those people that buys a new car and 6 months later realize it has all these features you never knew about?

[number8]

Hehe, it's like no one here ever tinkered with a forum before. Are you one of those people that buys a new car and 6 months later realize it has all these features you never knew about?

AKA 90% of new car owners.

[Watashi]

I disagree with D7. I would love to see more movies like Adaptation, Barton Fink, and Synecdoche, NY.

[dreamdead]

I'd also argue that "Adaptation" doesn't go off the deep end at all. It's a well structured script, and that third act is the only way it could have ended. The problem is that it's playing around on a couple of different levels, and the most obvious surface level is the one people pick up on when they see it the first, and maybe only, time.

Hmm, you're right regarding my phrasing with Adaptation. I've altered the sentence in the second paragraph to take out the "implicit charge of" drawing on any ploy, which casts the sentence in a more negative light than I'd prefer it to be. I think Kaufman is a little weasely in that script, but I don't regard the third act as a jumping the shark moment. That whole movement is previewed throughout the script, so it's not really a cheat.

Still, I'm curious about people's resistance to films that could be seen as a cathartic cleanser of a film for the writer or filmmaker. Does Barton Fink work for DavidSeven in ways that Seven Psychopaths doesn't? His wording suggests it's not individuated but rather collective as a flaw in these kinds of films.

[Irish]

Hmm, you're right regarding my phrasing with Adaptation. I've altered the sentence in the second paragraph to take out the "implicit charge of" drawing on any ploy, which casts the sentence in a more negative light than I'd prefer it to be. I think Kaufman is a little weasely in that script, but I don't regard the third act as a jumping the shark moment. That whole movement is previewed throughout the script, so it's not really a cheat.

Still, I'm curious about people's resistance to films that could be seen as a cathartic cleanser of a film for the writer or filmmaker. Does Barton Fink work for DavidSeven in ways that Seven Psychopaths doesn't? His wording suggests it's not individuated but rather collective as a flaw in these kinds of films.

I could write for days about the cleverness of "Adaptation," and how everything in that script goes toward its themes. But --

For me, it comes down to viewing these movies as narcissistic on some level, and finding the people that write them as out of touch. Stephen King has done a bunch of them and he drives me crazy with that shit.

I like how you're nibbling away at the edges of something here, and I'm curious about how and why David's comment resonated with you so deeply.

[number8]

The word is navel-gazing.

[DavidSeven]

Still, I'm curious about people's resistance to films that could be seen as a cathartic cleanser of a film for the writer or filmmaker. Does Barton Fink work for DavidSeven in ways that Seven Psychopaths doesn't? His wording suggests it's not individuated but rather collective as a flaw in these kinds of films.

Barton Fink didn’t work for me, but it’s been way too long since I’ve seen it to remember its problems with any specificity. I think Adaptation is tremendous, though the third act is probably my least favorite part of the film. It’s hard for me to say why I think it works while others don’t. Maybe there’s just an aspect to the Kaufman character’s journey to creative and self discovery that I find more universal. It also helps that the ancillary parts of Jonze’s film (performance, direction, narrative, etc.) are also exceedingly well done. I just don’t find the idea of “writer’s block” that interesting in itself, at least not enough to support an entire feature. It's too insular and often too industry specific. If it’s used as a springboard to delve into more interesting aspects of the human psyche or to do something really clever creatively, then fine. That's what Adaptation did. If, on the other hand, it feels like a mere means of navel-gazing or a justification for using your film as depository for your poorly fleshed out ideas, then I don't personally get a lot out of that exploration.

[Yxklyx]

...If it’s used as a springboard to delve into more interesting aspects of the human psyche or to do something really clever creatively, then fine. ....

Like 8 1/2 but that's Director's block - but still same general concept.

[Boner M]

Berberian Sound Studio if 'sound designer's block' counts.

[Scar]

Also a feature that was on the old site and every VB forum since the dawn of time.

:lol:

I guess some of us don't invest enough time into multiple VB forums....

[SirNewt]

These films exhibit different gradations of metafictionality (is the basic lack of metafiction what saves The Shining from preciousness?)...

I personally am well aware of my own hypocrisy when accusing any film of being pretentious or self absorbed. I love 8 1/2 and it's totally self absorbed. But sometimes while watching an art or indie flick I can mentally hurl no more fitting insult then an accusation of an over preoccupation with the writer or director's, often neurotic, mental exuberances.

So basically the question can be applied much wider. What keeps any movie with autobiographical or self analytic qualities from turning into ponderous crap?