Simon Pegg, who is a well-known science fiction fan and is about to make his third Star Trek film, is blaming his favorite genre for the “dumbing down” of cinema.
In an interview with the latest issue of the U.K.’s Radio Times, Pegg came out swinging against popular sci-fi and superhero films. This is coming from an actor who starred in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, plays Scotty in the new Star Trek films and is about to be seen in another Mission: Impossible film.
“Before Star Wars, the films that were box-office hits were The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Bonnie and Clyde and The French Connection – gritty, amoral art movies,” Pegg said, reports The Guardian. “Then suddenly the onus switched over to spectacle and everything changed … I don’t know if that is a good thing.”
He continued, “Obviously I’m very much a self-confessed fan of science fiction and genre cinema but part of me looks at society as it is now and just thinks we’ve been infantilised by our own taste. Now we’re essentially all consuming very childish things – comic books, superheroes. Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously.”
Pegg then suggests that these films are “a kind of dumbing down,” since it takes audiences away from real-world issues.
“Films used to be about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you felt about … whatever,” Pegg said. “Now we’re walking out of the cinema really not thinking about anything, other than the fact that the Hulk just had a fight with a robot.”
Pegg appears to be forgetting that cinema’s main purpose is to help people escape and be entertained. Sure, the great films of all time touch on serious subjects, but they are still entertaining. Even The French Connection has a sense of spectacle built into it with the famous car chase.
But to say that science fiction films don’t touch on serious subjects is missing the point of even the famous franchise that Pegg is now a part of. He’s even co-writing Star Trek 3. The Trek franchise, along with superhero comics, have often touched on serious subjects. Sure, the majority of superhero films don’t try to be serious, but some certainly have.
Another odd part of the interview has Pegg saying that the new Trek script is “a little bit too Star Trek-y,” whatever that means. Apparently, Paramount thinks that solving Star Trek Into Darkness’ lack of success involves going even further away from the franchise’s roots.
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