I’ll start off by restating the obvious - almost no one on these boards would be defending Minecraft and the reaction if it were a Disney product.
And the point isn’t that this is a “dumb” movie. “Dumb” movies, movies like Minions that rely on silly plots and physical humor, can be great. That’s not the point.
This also isn’t simply about audience engagement. This isn’t cheering at Endgame when the portal opens and you hear “on your left,” or crying when Peter Parker turns to dust in Infinity Wars. Those are shared reactions to emotional engagement with stories and characters - that’s how storytelling is meant to work.
The reactions to Minecraft are different. They are hoots and hollers of mere recognition, engagement with images without content. That’s the true meaning of calling it a “meme movie.” I’ve seen reactions compared to those found at a Rocky Horror showing, but that seems to miss the mark. Those reactions were born from an emotional engagement with the content of the film on earlier viewings and formed a vital role of community formation among often marginalized individuals. At first blush the reaction to Minecraft seems more akin to reactions to a sporting event, but I hesitate to give it even that much credit. It’s performative consumption, separate from any storytelling the film might even lazily attempt. The relationship between audience and media would be much the same if the screen flashed up still images or 5 second videos with no narrative or thematic throughline. In this way, it mirrors addiction to social media and outlets like Tik Tok.
There’s been conversation in this thread about what constitutes “art.” I’m very broad in my understanding of the term. I think that most forms that were once disdained - comics, video games, cartoons, theme park rides - are “art,” and that such “pop art” is just as if not more meaningful then most “high art.” But I’d draw a line here. Minecraft is “art” - crass, cynical, of little value - but the film itself is “art.” What we are seeing in the audience reactions, however, is that it is not being engaged with on those terms. And the films that follow Minecraft’s success are likely to eschew emotion and storytelling more and more.
If this keeps theaters alive, is it bad? In isolation, it’s regrettable but could be overlooked. The danger is that studios chase this reaction, letting it push out a focus on storytelling and emotional investment and fundamentally altering blockbuster cinema. Whatever Scorsese may believe, Endgame and Goodfellas have a lot more in common then either film does with the “meme movies” Minecraft may spawn.
Minecraft is also particularly insidious because it targets children. There is an emerging problem of young people unable to engage with art - even silly “pop art” - because their diet has been restricted to exploitative meme content like Tik Tok and Mr Beast. This is part of a much larger and more complex conversation about the ways changes in media consumption have changed behavior.
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