The Contrast between Technology and Creativity
Twenty years ago, most people thought that with the development of technology, the movie industry would go even further and produce amazing works. The creativity and artistic passion of the directors, screenwriters, and other staff for fantastic movies were seen in the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter series. Those who watched these series in theaters or later on CDs, or even those who watched them over and over again at different periods of their lives, thought that “In the near future, with the development of technology, these movie series are going to take an incredible leap forward, and we’re looking forward to the development of technology and the improvement in the quality of these movie series.” So, has the quality of movies — especially fantasy movies — improved as technology has improved?
Today I want to talk specifically about The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series. As a person who loves the LOTR universe and has watched the movies many times, I know a little bit about the LOTR universe. Peter Jackson, the director of LOTR and The Hobbit trilogy, introduced the LOTR story to the world in the early 2000s. The Lord of the Rings series, which grew in incredible popularity at that time, became one of the most popular movie series in the world and won dozens of Oscar awards. They achieved incredible success in terms of cinematography, story, casting, acting, makeup, design, literature, and consistency in the story. Of course, at the time, no one expected a series as problematic as Rings of Power in the years to come.
This is less of a series review and more of a post about these questions that I asked myself and couldn’t find the answer to. I found Rings of Power a failure for many different reasons. Maybe the real reasons are not the ones I think they are. As I said before, my purpose is to make a general criticism of fantastic cinema through an example.
In the early 2000s, fantasy cinema, which had not been popular before, gained popularity. It would not be wrong to say that this was largely due to the LOTR and Harry Potter series. Since technology was not as advanced then as it is now, people had to use their creativity to find effective solutions to certain problems. Of course, these solutions could be tedious and not easy. For example, if you wanted to show an Elvish meeting room on the screen with a waterfall and a view of the mountains behind it, you had to work with location designers to create a real place. But you could also, to the extent that technology allowed, use the computer programs to enhance the quality a little bit. This allows people to be more creative and increases the audience’s perception of the reality of the universe in the movie they’re watching. Instead, when you don’t try too hard and try to do everything with the help of CGI and green screens, you don’t end up with legendary movies or TV series. So, if we look at today, does the development of technology make artists not care about the details? Technology takes care of everything. But does it really do it? I think not.
Although technology makes our work easier in every aspect of life, it is gradually accustoming humanity to ease. About ten years ago, everyone was saying that everything would get easier as technology developed. At that time, most people thought that the quality of every job done positively affected by technology would increase at the same rate as technology developed. When we look at today, it is hard to say that for every sector. Things have gotten easier, but as things have gotten easier, most of the time the output has not been of better quality. One of the main reasons for this is human nature.
Since the beginning of human consciousness, humanity has been looking for a way to do things more easily. That is why technology is developing further. Looking for a way to move objects more easily, people found the wheel. If they had not looked for such a way, the wheel would not have been invented. In this example, the fact that humans are looking for an easier way does not diminish the value of output. Nor does using Excel to automate things. Examples like these are different examples from what I am talking about. Repetitive tasks, mathematical equations, or related operations can very well use the automation and computer support. The problem is the idea of “taking the easy way out” that harms creativity in art. And this is not a problem of technology but of human nature. Art is something special, and it is a reflection of human nature. The ones who want to utilize the technology in art should act wisely to not harm the output.
