# Movies where the reality created is the main draw. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617 "2012-03-13T04:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/1 "2012-03-13T04:23:10Z")
It doesn’t have to be the ONLY draw, just that if you remove the universe creation and set design the film would not be good at all. Where the joy in rewatching is to catch further small background details, where sometimes you only put something together on repeat viewings(are there any terrorists in Brazil? Or is it all false flag bombings?). Star Wars Original Trilogy Blade Runner Brazil That kind of movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/2 "2012-03-13T05:18:06Z")
Is _Avatar_ an example of what you’re referring to? The sheer spectacle was the whole reason for that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/3 "2012-03-13T05:18:43Z")
Avatar (if only so I can be the first to say it.) Edit: Dammit! ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/4 "2012-03-13T05:24:54Z")
100% of Tim Burton movies. That guy is just aesthetic, and I’m not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/5 "2012-03-13T05:38:25Z")
The City of Lost Children Steamboy Tron ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/6 "2012-03-13T05:54:53Z")
Waterworld. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/7 "2012-03-13T05:57:55Z")
I was going to say _Tron_, but since it has been mentioned already, I’ll add _Legend_. ETA: And maybe _Dark Crystal_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/8 "2012-03-13T06:14:48Z")
Alien Dark City Das Boot Mystery Men ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/9 "2012-03-13T11:50:18Z")
It’s a Lost Civilization, but definitely **Forbidden Planet** This is really the point of **Titanic** – not the wimpy love story between Leo and Kate – that’s just an excuse to let us wander around and through the wonder of the recreated _Titanic_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/10 "2012-03-13T12:09:21Z")
As others have pointed out in a current thread, **Blade Runner** is of this type – it practuically singlehandedly defined the look of Cyberpunk. For that matter, **Star Wars** pretty much set out to define its own universe. and arguable **2001** – most of the film is really spent in luxuriating in the environment Kubrick cinematically describes, not in getting to know the characters. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/11 "2012-03-13T12:46:42Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > 100% of Tim Burton movies. > > That guy is just aesthetic, and I’m not a fan. Hijack - I just realized something. While the aesthetic of his Alice, to me, somewhat fits the books, I realized that it’s partly because of [this phenomenon](http://xkcd.com/771/), since we’re used to seeing the Burton aesthetic invoke an Art Deco feeling, yet that era is decades after the Alice in Wonderland era, yet it feels vaguely in place since it’s all really old. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/12 "2012-03-13T13:37:52Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Hijack - I just realized something. While the aesthetic of his Alice, to me, somewhat fits the books, I realized that it’s partly because of [this phenomenon](http://xkcd.com/771/), since we’re used to seeing the Burton aesthetic invoke an Art Deco feeling, yet that era is decades after the Alice in Wonderland era, yet it feels vaguely in place since it’s all really old. This happens all the time to the despair of those of us who know history. Any events that occurred in the past are assumed to have all occurred at around the same time. I recently watched the fourth _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie. Okay, sure it’s fantasy but it used real people as characters, like Blackbeard and King George II. Which was as historically accurate as having Teddy Roosevelt fighting Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/13 "2012-03-13T13:51:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This happens all the time to the despair of those of us who know history. Any events that occurred in the past are assumed to have all occurred at around the same time. > > I recently watched the fourth _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie. Okay, sure it’s fantasy but it used real people as characters, like Blackbeard and King George II. Which was as historically accurate as having Teddy Roosevelt fighting Nazis. Heh, this says it best: > **[Now Showing](https://pbfcomics.com/comics/now-showing/)** > > The Perry Bible Fellowship 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/14 "2012-03-13T13:52:24Z")
**The Matrix** ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/15 "2012-03-13T14:13:55Z")
The world of Middle Earth was certainly a “main character” in the Lord of the Rings movies. Not the main reason for them, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/16 "2012-03-13T14:21:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which was as historically accurate as having Teddy Roosevelt fighting Nazis. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - there isn’t a story out there that wouldn’t be improved by having Teddy Roosevelt show up at the end to beat everyone’s asses. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/17 "2012-03-13T14:22:45Z")
The Fifth Element. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/18 "2012-03-13T14:24:57Z")
The Fall The Fountain John Carter Seven Drawing Restraint 9 ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/19 "2012-03-13T14:28:39Z")
I don’t know if it was visually a main draw, but conceptually how about Inception? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617/20 "2012-03-13T14:33:55Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I don’t know if it was visually a main draw, but conceptually how about Inception? Definitely. The movie became charged with excitement every time they entered the dream state. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-reality-created-is-the-main-draw/615617.md?page=2)