3D Film, Unnecessary at Best and Destructive at Worst

Clash of the Titans being delayed was the last straw. The Louis Leterrier-directed king of all epics had been slated for a March 26^th theatrical release for months, but now that the date is approaching its release has been postponed until the following week. Usually a move like this could be perceived as a protective maneuver based on too many competing films packed into the release date. That would be an understandable decision. Profits can be maximized by a safe bump down a week. I just have this nagging feeling that wasn't the reason.

Not more than a month ago Leterrier told MTV Movie Blog that it was pretty unlikely that Clash of the Titans would come out on 3D. Despite that the movie was only two months away and the decisions were already made, lo and behold, only a matter of weeks later it was announced that Clash of the Titans would indeed be refitted into a 3D format and released as such. Clearly this was a rushed decision, but why change direction so late in the game? Clearly it was a marketing maneuver, but at the sake of the filmmakers' integrity? I see this, more than anything else, as the culprit for the film's delayed release date.

The fact is that Clash of the Titans was neither filmed nor developed for 3D, so following a trend more or less imposed by the superficial yield of the box-office busting Avatar is reckless at best and catastrophic at worst. Recall the banzai cat hoax and horror of years past. This is a situation not unlike that viral manipulation, where the original product is brutalized and ultimately lost in an attempt to fit it into a box for which it was never initially intended. That I have been veritably idolizing the unfurling of this mythical battle, equaled only by ragnarok itself, is not the heart of the matter. I can wait a week. It is the principle of the issue that ruffles my feathers, because I see what it reflects about our common culture, and the image it casts is upsetting for certain reasons.

What does 3D bring to a film? Just stop and think for a moment. Why is this the new attraction that all the studios are clambering after? Unlike filmic developments of the past, the introduction of sound or color being arguable examples, the transfer to 3D has nothing to offer beyond appearance. Of the thousands of commentaries, critiques, and reviews of the film Avatar, were the predominant thoughts remarking on the film's plot? To the day, does anyone bat an eye for the storyline of that film? The simple answer is no. The plot was not the draw or selling point of the movie. The one thing that drew everyone in and sent everyone smiling was the raised standard of the third dimension. It is as if these are two mutually exclusive entities: 3D visuals and filmic integrity (plot, character development - the true characteristics of what makes a movie). 3D has no influence on any of these other aspects, yet is completely capably of nullifying their necessity. Is this a development we truly want to encourage, nay, endorse?

In spurring on this slavering pseudo-need for movies in 3D, we as an audience are binding to the altar the qualities that have made movies so great and noteworthy in the first place. In its essence, this is a symptom and representation of the dumbing-down of a culture and of a society. I'm not completely against the use of 3D elements in film, anything can be used to a greater purpose; but when the sole reputation a movie gains is based on its visuals, its eye-candy degree, there is a problem with the culture to which such a product is pandering. When a director feels forced into disfiguring an already completed film because of the sporadically altered scene into which it would be sent, something is awry.

Clash of the Titans was filmed in 2D, not 3D, so release it in 2D. Why has this gimmick - which is really all it is - become such a deciding factor? Do we as an audience really hold plot and character development in such low regard that we have to be consistently lulled into an illusory encroachment of reality, constantly grabbed and prodded at like we all share a new strain of theater-specific Attention Deficit Disorder?

I'll be no part of it, but as a pebble in a pond, hopefully these ripples will encourage more thought on the situation. Remember, at the end of the day, the only one to benefit from any gimmick is the one who put it into play. I'd not want to become one of myriad glazed-eyed livestock, devoid of thought, simply staring for the next grandiose form of gross and over-the-top stimulus - and hopefully none of you do either.

Sources:

Clash of the Titans Sticking with 2D Format. Dread Central. 02/15/2010.