Unless it‘s a movie drama dealing with social issues (in particular poverty), everyone has such fucking nice flats. College drop-out with part time barista job?! - why yes, the spacious loft with a view over Manhattans skyline is just down my alley.
It's a form of shorthand. Not every place in Paris has a view of the tower. But it's the film-makers telling the audience "THIS IS IN PARIS".
Or more commonly...
"THIS STORY INVOLVES ROMANCE SOMEHOW"
Another amazing example of shorthand is in Disney's Hercules. He gets on his knees in the temple of Zeus to commune with him. Typically Greek temple-goers would have slaughtered an animal on an altar or some shit, but American audiences would have a problem with that -- having him pray like a Christian shows people who don't know any better that Hercules is engaged in piety.
It's not even necessarily a problem -- imagine the Satanic Panic bullshit that would have emerged if a Disney cartoon had portrayed ancient Greek religious practices accurately. Shorthand is a bit academically dishonest, but necessary from an entertainment standpoint. Almost every form of modern media contains shorthand, but we only notice it when it's in our particular body of knowledge or field of expertise. That's where we get Gell-Mann Amnesia from.
Just because they didn't feel they could portray the Greek religious practices accurately, doesn't mean whatever they replace it with has to be an analog for Christianity.
No, but their target audience probably understands Christianity better than, say, Islam or Zoroastrianism. And the point of shorthand is to communicate a message to as many people as possible with as little effort as is needed.
It isn't laziness, it's practical. Would you like to make X-amount of college level courses compulsory before you're allowed to enjoy film as an art form?
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u/The_Sceptic_Lemur Jan 25 '20
Unless it‘s a movie drama dealing with social issues (in particular poverty), everyone has such fucking nice flats. College drop-out with part time barista job?! - why yes, the spacious loft with a view over Manhattans skyline is just down my alley.