Influence

After the class discussion about what influence actually consists of, and discussing how the Grand Budapest Hotel has a great deal of influential power, my view of influence has been changed. Before, I used to view influence as importance, not viewing it something that will happen, instead, it was something that has happened. I'd view films like Tron, Star wars, Pearl Harbor, etc, as the forerunners of technology; they set new goals and prerequisites when looking at current films due to having to best the older films with the latest and greatest. While I still view them as influential, I see it as a different form of influence due to them being long ago. Now, it seems like everyone has their minds aimed at the future, and because of that, everyone is trying to envision what the next hot thing is. Some say it's virtual reality, others, who aren't thinking about technology, and more are thinking about state of mind, are thinking about The Grand Budapest Hotel, in terms of film. When I saw the film, it was marvelous the way it was told, color and composition wise, each shot wasn't a wasted canvas like many other films before it. This film, to me, feels like it'll be cemented in the visual hierarchy of the great bench mark films such as Bladerunner. Sci-Fi films have copied Bladerunner to the point that all Sci-Fi looks the same to a certain degree, but, it's because the source was so great artistically. I feel like The Grand Budapest Hotel might have this same effect on shots and colors, since it was eye candy from start to finish.