TENET And A Celebration Of Vibes Movies
TLDRThe video essay discusses a genre of movies called 'Vibes Movies' that prioritize style, atmosphere and experience over traditional story and character elements. It focuses on Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' and Michael Mann's 'Miami Vice' as prime examples, analyzing how they forgo emotional arcs and clear plotlines to create propulsive, sensory-driven narratives. The narrator praises these movies for their glamorous imagery, lonely protagonists, dazzling action spectacles, and relentless momentum. He traces their lineage back to hard-boiled noir fiction and James Bond, showing how art and popular entertainment have long thrived on mood, texture and ambiance over coherent storytelling.
Takeaways
- 😎 The video discusses the movie Tenet and introduces the concept of 'Vibes Movies'
- 🚘 These movies prioritize style, atmosphere and experience over plot
- 🎥 They are inspired by James Bond movies and Michael Mann films like Miami Vice
- 👔 Key elements are glamor, loneliness of protagonists, spectacle and momentum
- 😵💫 The plot is often confusing but you shouldn't worry about understanding everything
- 🌊 Instead of focusing on plot, you should immerse yourself and 'Just Vibe With It'
- 🎸 Cool music, cars, locations and imagery are more important than intricate plot details
- 🤝 The main relationships are between the protagonist and his work partner, not romance
- 📽 These movies illustrate that plot does not matter as much as character, action and experience
- 😎 Watching these stylish, moody worlds offers pure escapism
Q & A
What genre of movie is Tenet considered and what makes it unique?
-Tenet is considered a sci-fi spy thriller film. What makes it unique is its complex plot involving concepts like entropy, inverted objects moving backwards through time, and characters navigating events in opposing timelines simultaneously.
How does the concept of a 'heat check' from basketball relate to Tenet?
-A 'heat check' refers to when a basketball player who is on a scoring hot streak takes a more difficult, flashy shot to see how hot their streak really is. This concept relates to Tenet because Christopher Nolan was on a hot streak of successful, popular films and with Tenet he made something extremely complex and confusing to see how far he could push the limit.
What are some key characteristics of a 'Vibes' movie?
-Key characteristics of a Vibes movie include: glamour/aspirational locations and visuals, loneliness of the protagonist, incredible spectacle and action set pieces, constant momentum moving the plot forward.
How did the James Bond films influence the style of Miami Vice?
-Miami Vice took the glamorous locations, fashion aesthetic, sports cars, and musical scores of the James Bond films and brought that style to a gritty 1980's crime television series in a way that had rarely been done before.
What point does the narrator make about the relative importance of plot vs other elements like visuals and music?
-The narrator argues that with these types of action/spy films, engaging visuals and musical scores are more central to the appeal and experience than following every detail of the complex plots. If the characters' objectives in a scene make emotional sense, you can enjoy the ride without needing to untangle intricate plot mechanics.
How does the idea of "just vibing with" a movie like Tenet differ from trying to fully understand it?
- 'Vibing with it' means allowing yourself to be immersed in the imagery, music, and spectacle without getting hung up on parsing complicated plot points or background details you may have missed. The sensory experience takes priority over exhaustive comprehension.
What is significant about the fact that the protagonist and Neil have an inverted relationship spanning years?
-It's a central twist that they are best friends living in opposing timelines, with one first meeting the other as the other says final goodbye. This metaphorically represents the film's whole premise of a conflict between the future and present.
What is the narrator's case for why spectacle in films like Mission Impossible is more important than plot specifics?
-He argues the plot details merely provide an excuse and ticking clock to set up the visually spectacular action centerpieces. The audience may not remember plot specifics later, but the experience of visceral sequences sticks with you.
How did pulp novels and film noir influence vibes movies?
-Their style of terse dialogue and lonely, isolated male protagonists living in a gritty demimonde informed James Bond and later similar action films focused more on style/aesthetics than backstories.
Why does the narrator find vibes movies like Tenet so appealing compared to most modern blockbusters?
-Because so many CGI-heavy blockbusters have become formulaic and similar, the uniqueness of something like Tenet's practical effects and inversion concept make it feel like a rush of fresh air and full immersion in strange new worlds.
Outlines
🎵 Intro Music and Sponsor Message
The video opens with intro music, a sponsor message from Nebula, and some joking banter setting up the premise of the episode being about the Christopher Nolan film Tenet.
😎 Explaining Tenet and its Unusual Nature
Tenet was positioned to save movie theaters during the pandemic, but it was never going to be a crowd-pleasing hit. Nolan's films are usually populist, but Tenet is his most obtuse and confounding. It's one of the strangest would-be blockbusters, throwing complex plot and concepts at the viewer quickly without much explanation.
🤔 Comparing Tenet's Style to a Basketball 'Heat Check'
The host explains the basketball term "heat check" - when a player is on a hot streak shooting, they take a trickier shot to see just how hot they are. Similarly, Nolan was on a hot streak of successful, crowd-pleasing films and with Tenet he challenged himself to see if he could make an obtuse blockbuster that strips out traditional elements of successful films.
😎 Tenet as a James Bond-Style 'Vibes Movie'
Tenet is identified as the first example of a new genre called "Vibes movies" - glamorous, brooding spy/action movies light on plot and emotional goals and heavy on atmosphere, dizzying momentum, astonishing imagery and immersion. Other examples given are Miami Vice, Mission Impossible, and James Bond.
🎶 Defining the Core Aspects of Vibes Movies
The key aspects of Vibes Movies are laid out - glamor, loneliness, spectacle, and momentum. The protagonists are stoic action heroes swept up in missions, with no permanent homes or meaningful relationships outside their work.
🎥 Connecting Vibes Movies to Their Film Noir Roots
It's explained how the Vibes Movie style connects back to mid-20th century pulp/noir fiction and detective stories, which influenced Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and early films. Over time the films emphasized style and glamor over the darker themes of the books.
🤔 A Case for Plot Not Being So Important
An argument is made that with these types of movies, precise plot details don't really matter. The real pleasures come from character objectives and spectacular sensory sequences that immerse you in their worlds.
🔥 Christopher McQuarrie's Great Tweet on Characters vs. Plot
A tweet is cited from Mission Impossible writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, stating that character and action are more important than plot details in these sorts of movies.
📺 How Miami Vice's Style Informed Vibes Movies
It's discussed how the 1980s Miami Vice TV series pioneered visual storytelling in American TV through its neon-noir style and emphasis on music, colors and textures over traditional plots.
🌇final thoughts on the Immersive Joy of Weird action movies
In conclusion, "vibes movies" are praised as an antidote to familiar, bland blockbusters - their oddness and dense visual signatures pull you into strange worlds and make each viewing experience uniquely memorable.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Tenet
💡Vibes movies
💡Heat check
💡Plot
💡James Bond
💡Michael Mann
💡Loneliness
💡Pulp detective novels
💡Spectacle
💡Immersion
Highlights
Nolan's bombastic sci-fi spy movie Tenant was positioned to unite movie fans and bring us back to theaters during the pandemic.
Tenant is Nolan's most obtuse, confounding film yet - a would-be blockbuster stripped of plot necessities like character development.
The key to enjoying Tenant is one line of dialogue: "Don't try to understand it, feel it."
Just vibe with Tenant - if you can't follow the plot, don't worry. The spectacle and vibes are what's important.
Vibes movies like Tenant and Miami Vice are detached from reality, lacking emotional goals or recognizable humanity.
In Vibes movies, the only meaningful relationship is often between partners, not romantic interests which are doomed.
James Bond films built the foundation of Vibes movies with glamor, exotic locales, a lack of backstory, and constant momentum.
The pleasures of these movies come not from plot details, but from the exciting, astonishing way events unfold.
Vibes movies illustrate that plot doesn't matter. Clear character objectives are what propel us through amazing experiences.
In an age focused on plot and lore, Vibes movies offer pure escapism through full immersion in strange, beautiful worlds.
Don't try to understand Tenant, feel it. Understand it instinctively, on a gut level - understand its vibes.
Tenant's ambiguity instructs us on the necessity to sometimes let go, to experience art on an intuitive wavelength.
Vibes movies trust visuals, music, and immersion to carry viewers through weird, beautiful worlds.
Mission Impossible remains focused on experience over lore and continuity, always showing us something astonishing.
James Bond ended up mired in continuity and plot, while Vibes movies offer purer escapism through hypnotic worlds.
Transcripts
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