When you hear the word 'adventure', what do you think of? Do you imagine descent, into dark and mysterious caves, with only a whip for protection? Maybe you daydream about an island teeming with dinosaur life. Or maybe your adventures aren't bound to the Earth; the fate of the universe could rest with a space station.
Whatever it is and wherever your mind takes you, adventure is a common label slapped onto millions of products. It's often paired with action, which is self-explanatory, but do you know how the dictionary defines it? According to merriam-webster.com, adventure is "an exciting or dangerous experience". That's it, and that's about all.
Let me level with you for a moment here; I love the English language. I absolutely love reading and writing. I've torn through mountains of comics, hundreds of short stories and dozens of novels. Never have I been so let down by a line of text. Editors please, do take note; this movie defines it better than you.
Classic Movie Trailers - Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll probably remember that "Sleepy Hollow" inspired me to examine movie genres. If you haven't read that post I strongly suggest that you do; it illuminates the complexity and confusion in the matter. With that said, I was referring to the problem of categorization. Here, I want to question our understanding of the categories.
Have you ever wondered why some words have multiple definitions? Have you ever been puzzled by their lack of congruity? I've never been on a staff that determines the current lexicon, but as I understand the process, there has to be a consensus. I'm not talking about a vote, from a board meeting of linguists; I'm talking about the use of English in publications.
I bet you've never thought that salon.com influences our language. In reality it does, but only when it agrees with dozens of others. Let's say the New York Times uses the word 'orange' to describe a bitter person. It catches on, and dozens of newspapers follow suit. If the practice continues for several years and editors believe that use is widespread, they print a new definition, under the ones we currently have.
That's why "tweet" is formally understood as the act of posting on Twitter. The meaning has been in our culture long enough, for scholars to take notice. Ultimately, we decide the course of the written word. Therefore, I propose that 'adventure' be discussed in a different context.
Yes, there is danger to it, but danger isn't enough. There's danger in buying and selling stocks, but that isn't adventurous. Instead of considering the risks involved, we should take a good look at where adventure happens; it could be inside "a cave", on "a dinosaur island" or deep in "outer space". The bottom line is, it has to be somewhere we don’t normally go. The focus should be on the journey and that journey should be novel.
Watch the trailer for this movie and take note of their pitch. Sure, they are selling the danger but the sights are the most memorable. They've fired more pistols on camera than soldiers in open war, but how many films have giant, man-eating lizards? How many heroes have hacked away at mushroom trees?
The setting is everything in these kinds of films. The actors get us interested but the locales are the hook. Even if we've watched a thousand pirate-themed movies, we can't travel back in time and live that over again. Adventure gives us the danger we crave in the package that we want; there's a difference between wielding a cutlass and swinging a Swiss army knife.
When taken in the context of a movie genre, the word 'action' implies danger. There is no need to signify something we already expect. Besides, adventure has to be more than just risk; you can slip and die in the shower but the bathroom isn't where you want to be filming. I want to see the peril near the center of the earth, and every sight should be something I won't see anywhere else.
--------------------------------------
@ChannelSeals
See "Journey to the Center of The Earth" on Netflix!
Next week: "Beverly Hills Cop II"
(Here's to Post #100 and 100,000 more).
No comments:
Post a Comment