A General Paper Essay

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Gosh, I hate dead writing. I hate writing with obvious signposting. I hate writing without a voice. I hate writing that have fixed structures. (i.e. School Essays)

I hate all that, but I also realize that that’s the best way to obtain a decent grade. And grades are everything now, aren’t they?

I guess it’s true after all —  If you can’t beat them, join them.

(the following is an essay which I had to type out for submission)

‘A film has one purpose — to entertain.’ Using examples consider this view.

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Films, defined as motion pictures, have long since been part of our life. From its formation in the late nineteenth century with the era of silent films to the current 3D IMAX movies, the roles it play in our lives have went through many changes. What began as a carnival novelty ended up as a powerful tool of communication and a part of mass media. However, one thing remained unchanged throughout the film’s transformation — its purpose of entertaining us. Films are essentially products, and filmmakers want to make their films entertaining for them to be successful and for profit. However, this does not necessarily mean that a film can only have one purpose, or that the said purpose is the primary one. After all, documentaries and educational films educate the audience, whereas other films may be subtly disguised propaganda. Different genres of films exist, and these can be broadly classified as “educational”, “propaganda”, and “pure entertainment”. Therefore, while it may be logical that the main purpose of films is to entertain, the assumption that it is the sole purpose is largely untrue.

Education, while primarily existing in schools and the written medium, may be the intention of some films. Educational films are, as its name suggests, part of this category. These include recordings of lectures and experiments where education is the primary purpose and entertainment is secondary. This is the reverse of another closely related genre of films – the documentary genre. Documentaries, being far more popular and costly in terms of production costs focus more on its entertainment value. This, however, does not mean that education is neglected. On the contrary, documentaries such as the 1997 IMAX movie “Whales: An Unforgettable Journey” which depicted a whale’s journey from the mating grounds to childbirth and back and had taught many viewers about the nature of whales, often leaving a lasting impression as well as newfound knowledge with the audience. Even lecture recordings, which prioritises education and content above all else, can make use of the value of entertainment. After all, it is proven to be easier for students to remember details and learn concepts when they are presented in a highly interesting and engaging manner. Evidently, entertainment is not the only objective of films, for in some cases education is key, though it would seem that most films could certainly use some aspects of entertainment in them.

Films may also be used for propaganda. Such films are commonly found during the pre-World War II era in both Nazi Germany and the USSR. In fact, the ones created by Leni Riefenstahl during the Third Reich in Germany such as “Triumph des Willens” and the films by Sergei Eisenstein under Stalin’s rule in the USSR are amongst the most internationally recognised and studied samples of successful propaganda. These films have the underlying purpose of spreading a message to the audience and thus influence them. In the example of “Truimph des Willens”, it has been said by The Independent in 2003 to have “seduced many wise men and women, persuaded them to admire rather than to despise, and undoubtedly won the Nazis friends and allies all over the world.” In such cases of propaganda, it becomes obvious that the filmmakers want to influence their audience. However, an important thing to note is that a successful propaganda relies upon convincing an audience, and this audience may not even choose to view said film, rendering the filmmaker’s efforts futile. It becomes essential then for a propagandist to first captivate the audience — a means achievable through entertainment. Thus it holds that not all films are for entertainment, as in the case of propaganda, but even they would need some form of entertainment to work well.

Furthermore, it must be understood that films are industrial products. Essentially, they are no different from the items found on the shelves in shops – they have production costs, thus the main motivation of most producers would be to offset this production cost to generate a profit. This can only be achieved by attracting the audiences’ attention and captivating them. In other words, filmmakers need to create entertaining films, of which category includes most of Hollywood’s productions. Sadly, profit maximisation has even led to the use of fakery in various animal documentaries which are, ironically, known for their accurate portrayal of nature. As revealed by wildlife director Chris Palmer, various scenes in animal documentaries that have wowed the audiences are actually artificial. As he exposed, in the film “Whales: An Unforgettable Journey”, the ending shot of the whales at the end of its long journey might not have been the whales that viewers have been following. This was because the cost of tracking the actual whales was too high to be considered. In another IMAX movie “Wolves”, the wolves that viewers follow are actually “actors” – captive wolves that were placed on the mountain for the purpose of filming due to the large costs and time involved in finding and getting a good footage of an actual wild wolf pack. Although films may have other purposes such as educating, profit and the need for an entertaining film may have led to compromised legitimacy. With this, it would be unfair to assert that films have only one purpose, for other intentions do exist. It would too be unjust to claim that entertainment is not the main purpose of many films, for even in genres of educational films do entertainment sometimes triumph over factual accuracy. As such it still remains that entertainment is the main purpose of most films, but not the only one.

As films continue to evolve into the mainstream, we will find that entertainment will remain as one of the key driving forces behind the filmmakers’ hard work. This, however, does not outweigh the need for a secondary purpose in many films, and documentaries and perhaps propaganda will still manage to educate and influence the masses. Ultimately, a balance will need to be struck between profit and entertainment and the integrity of the filmmakers, for entertainment is largely not the solitary function of films.

(Yea, totally not my style. But what can I say? I did do relatively well with this piece.)