| "EPIC"! (154 views) | AUTHOR /
DATE |
| Definition - Epic: "very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale); "an epic voyage"; "of heroic proportions"; "heroic sculpture".
When writing reviews there seems to be a trend of more use of the term "epic". Is this because there are truly more epic films being made? Or has it just become a standard term to use when describing a movie that isn't all shot on a back lot?
When I write a review (I'll spare you how I keep track of data and info as well) I have certainly used the term "epic" where it applied. Saga is another word that is showing up more often. Why? And is it a good or bad thing or simply terms overused?
I believe the usage is more common for several reasons. Primarily epic is used more often because there are more movies that rate the terminology. People are able to do amazing things with big budgets, multiple locations, telling the stories that span years or hundreds or more years. Films that cover an enormous range of realistic battles and political intrigue, generations of families etc are often called epics.
Are reviewers just tossing out the word to describe anything different or are they truly describing an epic film?
Thoughts? | Cinema!
10/14/2009 2:41 PM |
| #2 | While numerous people use the term strictly, there are at least two factors leading to increasing trivialization. Many people are oblivious to words' real meaning, but still insist on using them. "Decimate" is my pet peeve in this area. It does not mean "devastate" or "nearly obliterate": It means to reduce by a tenth part - originally by selecting one from each ten captives to execute. The other factor is a sort of inflation: Ordinary is far too mundane: What is tolerable is "very good"; What is very good is "exceptional," and what is exceptional but not quite nonpareil is "magnificent." There really isn't anything left to call exceptionally great things that hasn't already been taken. "Epic" is certainly affected by this trend. | Jeffrey Frawley
10/14/2009 3:58 PM |
| #3 | I think Jeffrey has hit it on the head. It's inflation :P There's also the internet meme factor...it seems almost anything online can pass as "OMG EPIC".
I'm with you 100% on misuse of "decimate" as well, it drives me nuts. Another pet peeve of mine is misuse of "literally". I hear people say all the time "I literally died." Oh really? Let me call the coroner. | TheDenizen
10/14/2009 7:20 PM |
| #4 | If Superman were created today would he be OMG EPICMAN?
I'm mostly serious about that.
You both have very good points. I think the word is overused and used inappropriately. I believe some people don't really think - however I still have a dictionary, have all others disappeared? In my reviews I try hard not to use words like epic too often. It sets up a false and misleading scale for rating films. If "epic" is the top, what word comes after it's blenderizing?
| Cinema!
10/14/2009 8:06 PM |
| #5 | How I define epic? Mental stimulation. An example being: In Seventh Curse when Little Ghost was fighting Old Ancestor, I found it to be epic. Stimulating. Of course it's a paradoxical or a misinterpretation of the word epic but eh who cares. I'll utilize it however I want. | XslaveX
10/14/2009 9:21 PM |
| #6 | Good topic. It's like a grand war of us verses the english language. We stand rooted in our trenches scarred with semantic shrapnel wounds while misplaced, overused and rarely understood adjectives get spewwed upon us by an idiotic younger generation that seem to have greater reverence for cell phones and bad music usually used together while driving. While we are on the subject of improperly used words, has it come to anyone else's attention that high school science teachers do not know what the word theory means? See, in high school science a theory is anything that cannot be disproven. Ironically this is the opposite of what theory means within the English language especially in regards to the words derivation. A theory is speculation- nothing more. Linguistics is a science too but I'm sure those experts say theory and mean it correctly. | Bastard Ronin
10/15/2009 8:07 AM |
| #7 | Epic: As a noun, it is a long narrative poem in dignified language, celebrating the acts of a hero (of which word we could have another long discussion...), a prose composition of similar qualities, or a series of events of similar gravity.
As an adjective, it is grand, heroic, exceptional or similar to a literary epic.
"Theory" is indeed another thorny issue. Its meaning has expanded to cover an excessively large territory: 1. A set of statements meant to explain a phenomenon and supported by experiment; 2. The branch of a discipline consisting of rules, precepts and means of analysis rather than practice or creation; 3. A set of theorems constituting a comprehensive view of a branch of mathematics; 4. Abstract reasoning as contrasted with experience; 5. A guiding principle for action or judgment; or 6. Conjecture. Many of these definitions directly contradict the sense of other definitions: Neither scientific nor math theory is conjectural or intuitive. | Jeffrey Frawley
10/15/2009 8:06 PM |
| #8 | My epic theory is that the misuse of vocabulary will cause a heroic decimation of the ranks of linguaphiles the world over.
My biggest pet peeve? Well, there are far too many to list. But I'll gladly volunteer the word "penultimate", which is supposed to mean "second to last", not "super duper mega ultimate, dude!" | Choco
10/15/2009 8:59 PM |
| #9 | P.S. I think "Slave" has the monopoly on bizarre language usage on HKFlix. I'm curious to hear what he has to say on the subject...that is, after he's "optically assimilated" this thread. | Choco
10/15/2009 9:00 PM |
| #10 | I thought I just did in #6.
When I use epic, I normally utilized it as an adjective. An adjective arouses an effect on what is either established or what gives higher significance towards a noun, usually. Mental stimulation can imply as grand for example. So by saying "Weng Weng kicking someone in the balls is epic" is plausible 'cause if justifies it as grand or exceptional or so forth. But if I applied the word "an" after the "is" I would make no sense because, well, it is irrelevant.
On a side note, my bizarre language is influenced by Skinny Puppy and Foetus and my "supposive" insanity. If you know these bands, your quandries will manifest clarity. | XslaveX
10/16/2009 6:13 AM |
| #11 | Choco, that was awesome. Jeffrey, thank you for sorting out the technical perameters. My final opinion in regards to semantics regards functionality vs. grammatical guidelines. Personally, I think that usage gets the final say so. Anyone who has read a single one of my reviews knows that my usage of slang insinuates that I believe that these terms are valid extensions of the english language. Well I do. Functionality is that final trump(slang word) that dominates and perseveres. Nothing pisses me off more than those fake smart folks who like to correct others on their grammer in everyday use. The people who say "I'm not a dude" or "you mean whom" or the like. You are dude, lady and I did mean who. Slang and misused words constitute a growing and evolving language structure that is always changing. Shakespeare created over a thousand words in the English language. Yeah, just made them up and they stuck. | Bastard Ronin
10/16/2009 6:58 AM |
| #12 | The book "Catch 22" created the term catch 22 which has since been added to the dictionary. Many famous authors, philosophers, poets and religious text "writers" have misused words in classic texts for the last three thousand years and the only thing that happens is that somebody makes a modafication to a preexisting definition. The words ain't, trump, shit and fuck are all located comforably resting among the pages of your nearest dictionary. While misuse of words may irritate all of us, I think we should accept that we all play by our own rules a little and that if an idea is conveyed reasonably then we should accept it as is. My horse is getting mighty high... | Bastard Ronin
10/16/2009 7:10 AM |
| #13 | Words, definitions, pronunciation and usage all change over time, making it a fool's errand to insist that things stay the same forever. Nonetheless, so long as people insist on using words capriciously, rather than as they are generally understood, there will be misunderstandings. Bastard Ronin likes the way he writes, and there is little anyone can do to stop him: One who does not like his choices has the same freedom to say so, and there is little anyone can do to stop him. For the most part, I have no objection - but reserve the right to misconstrue or to ask for clarification. | Jeffrey Frawley
10/16/2009 3:05 PM |
| #14 | Geez, I thought we were talking movies. Feel like I'm in high school. A nostalgia that I don't want resurfacing.
Unless any of the last 3 blogs were a personal beration on me, I agree with everything. There is no such thing as FACTS unless it is evident. All that exists is the opinion or the point of view.
Happy-doodles :) | XslaveX
10/16/2009 3:50 PM |
| #15 | They're not personal beration of you - merely warnings that if you are misunderstood we will take you to have said what you have not meant to. | Jeffrey Frawley
10/18/2009 4:23 AM |
| #16 | slave, when you write a review isn't your goal to share what you experienced? You are aware that you use some words where they make no connection to the accepted meaning. You know people probably are not going to understand and that seems to be okay with you. I try to be as exact as possible when doing reviews. Using a specific term or terms I feel are warranted without using words that the average person would have no way of knowing. If you prefer to utilize your own "dictionary" you run the risk of being misunderstood. This topic is not about you personally.
| Cinema!
10/18/2009 11:20 AM |
| #17 | I write a guest column for a newspaper. The editor is constantly telling me to "dumb down" my column. We have had terse discussions about this matter and I feel he is underestimating the average reader. I have been told by a number of editors to write at a fourth grade level, or for a more 'cerebral' topic a sixth grade reading level. | Cinema!
10/18/2009 11:28 AM |
| #18 | i liek marital art movie, kungfu is number one! :) | Choco
10/18/2009 8:45 PM |
| #19 | I see you have been chatting with my editor! | Cinema!
10/18/2009 9:00 PM |
| #20 | Wow, that is really disturbing, Cinema. Idiocracy, here we come. | TheDenizen
10/19/2009 9:12 AM |
| #21 | For the record Cinema!, what I write are not reviews but diatribes, thereby no one will ever comprehend the significance of my verbal paradox. :)
When writing reviews I perfer the sarcastic or the inane approach but try not to be imperninent towards the films with my "diatribes". I somewhat get sick of the whole commonplace stuff where I felt I've read the review before. My reviews may be sometimes visceral or, at times, uncomprehensible but at least they are honest. If in an event where a film must be taken seriously for example my review on "Life Gamble", then I'll take it as serious as I can and try to be informative for the crowd who only care about kung fu action in which "Life Gamble" somewhat lacked in. Otherwise if the film is a pervading perception, then there is no purpose in being serious and I just want to have happy euphoric fun. | XslaveX
10/20/2009 8:44 PM |
| #22 | None of my rantings were aimed at you, slave. If anything I think my overly enthusiastic social and historical lesson actually supports your and my styles of writing. These reviews are there to inform and convey ideas about films but like any form of art(such as writing) it should also be an outlet for expression. I say we both keep our diatribes and let them rain down upon the masses until God notices our brilliance...or till the cops show up. | Bastard Ronin
10/21/2009 8:44 AM |
| #23 | LOL. Good to see you back BTW, Bastard! | Choco
10/21/2009 9:02 AM |
| #24 | Thanx, Choco. I try to hang around as much as I can but everything is so complicated these days. I'll figure it out... | Bastard Ronin
10/21/2009 10:54 AM |
