Influenced by...

[kotte]

Why is it more okay to be influenced by older directors than young?


"I'm influenced by Darren Aronofsky and Quentin Tarantino."
The answere he/she gets: "Grow up. Be a doctor or a lawyer. Something real."

"I'm influenced by Scorsese and Eisenstein."
The answere he/she gets: "Wonderful. You even look like a director. Good luck in the future. Remember me when you win the Oscar."

[cine]

"I'm influenced by Scorsese and Eisenstein."
The answere he/she gets: "Remember me when you win the Oscar."

That's funny. Shouldn't there be another option of being influenced by a variety of filmmakers, young and old?
I'm influenced by guys like Altman, Scorsese and Herzog but I'm also influenced by guys like PTA, Tarantino, and LaBute.

[kotte]

I agree with what you're saying but don't you think it's more accepted to be influenced by Scorsese than say QT?

[cine]

I see what you're saying here. Yes, I think you achieve more praise for mention a heavyweight like Scorsese. I've heard many people get the "Oh, the next Spielberg" which REALLY irks me.
Looking at it on a grand scale, it really *shouldn't* matter who you're influenced by, but to some people its a different story. If you're influenced by Tarantino, you're more likely perceived as a guy who just wants to make 'cool' movies.

[kotte]

Yeah, it's sad that our influences matters when we're judged.

Maybe it's because younger directors like QT, PTA, Wes etc are so heavily influenced themselfes. It's like ripping off a ripoff. I don't mean PTA and QT are ripoffs but you see what I'm saying. QT actually is a ripoff...but in a cool way.

[cine]

It's an interesting discussion because I don't think QT is a ripoff. He's formed his own Tarantino style. You don't watch Tarantino and think "oh that's so-and-so.(edit: well, maybe you do.. i don't)" Same goes for the other great auteurs like PTA, Wes, and LaBute.

[kotte]

It's an interesting discussion because I don't think QT is a ripoff. He's formed his own Tarantino style. You don't watch Tarantino and think "oh that's so-and-so.(edit: well, maybe you do.. i don't)" Same goes for the other great auteurs like PTA, Wes, and LaBute.

QT is a ripoff there's nothing else to it. But he puts his own unique and cool spin to it.

You don't get that "ripoff feeling" when you watch his movies...that's why he's unique. But if you look at his movies you know he's ripping off other movies.

I love Tarantino but I feel a director like PTA is more original.

[cine]

Oh I know exactly what movies he's "ripping off" but for guys like him and PTA, I don't like to label it as that. They're MUCH higher and much more talented than to be given those titles.
But I'm perfectly aware that PTA will say things like "I ripped that right from Demme." Or "That's very Truffaut right there." But I don't know, I don't conclude that they're ripping them off....

[kotte]

I don't like to say rip off in the same context as talanted filmmakers as they are.

But...

PTA doesn't rip off movies...he rip shots...and if we call that ripoff then we all are ripoffs...someone did 'the close up' first.

[Weak2ndAct]

PTA doesn't rip off movies...

Ever see Atlantic City, Goodfellas, Casino, Short Cuts, Nashville, and any Johnny Wadd movies?

I was kind of shocked when I first saw Atlantic City a couple years ago.  It's very Hard Eight-ish, and even referenced (Jimmy mentions the old guys in 'Clifton's,' which is a bar that Burt Lancaster hangs out in).

[cine]

I don't think we should cite Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Griffith, and Welles (etc)everytime we watch movies... doesn't make sense to me.

[Gold Trumpet]

I'm hardly influenced by new directors nor really even see the point of it. For a director to be known really, he has to have a style and most young directors are just jazz musicians playing jam sessions and collecting a vast amount of different styles, rythms and stories from older directors. With the better older directors, you see a logical approach to art to why they chose their own style or developed into it. I hardly ever hear of (reasonable) new cinematic theories coming out of filmmakers today.

[***beady***]

Me too. I agree with the trumpet man. I'm not influenced by new directors.
Mainly because (in my view), the new directors have to be really special and different with their ideas. Which much be really hard. I dunno, I'm not a director. So there aren't a great deal of amazingly new and influencal directors.
But I love old films, and old soviet films. I love the directing. Theres something special about old films.
One film which really influenced me was Battleship Potemkin oh and 'Strike' was amazing too. In fact I have a great deal of respect towards Eisenstein!
H

[ono]

I've become quite disillusioned recently by the realization that QT is a rip-off artist.  It's sad, really, because he does have talent, and he does most of his rip-offs (er, send-ups) so that they're so joyously in-your-face that when you discover that pretty much the whole majority of what he does is unoriginal, it's disheartening.  Three of his four films are derivative of other films.  Pulp Fiction is the only original work, but perhaps that's only because we haven't found where QT got his inspiration for that one from.  And I think Roger Avary may have something to say about that.  Who knows?

Sad thing is, PTA does the same thing QT does: he rips off other greater, less-known directors with style.  Now, I love PTA (and I look forward to seeing the bulk of the films he, er, "borrowed" from), but this makes me think seriously about where I'm drawing my influences from so I'm not just remixing the greatest hits of other directors, so to speak.  They say all the stories have been told and everything else is just a matter of style.  Perhaps that is true, but I don't quite believe it.  After all, Cameron Diaz said "it's been said that in Hollywood there are only 14 different scripts. Well, this is number 15." (referring to Being John Malkovich).  It came along, broke the mold, and made it 14, so to speak.  Sure, Malkovich sucked in the third act, but it still proves the point, and Kaufman will get over that syndrome some day hopefully.

[SHAFTR]

I disagree, we are more influenced by the younger directors.  Think about it, you see a film by (insert Young Director here) and you find out that he was influenced by (insert Old Director here) and you check out that film/director.

Now you change your view and say you were influenced by the old director when in fact you were INFLUENCED by the younger one.