Dialogue vs Visuals

[jleshin]

So I'm having an argument with someone. The gist of it is, he thinks that visuals makea movie/show and you can often times mute one and enjoy the show equally. I state that dialogue often is what drives a movie or show forward allowing the intracacies of plot ot be revealed and allows one to determine how various settings can be intrepreted. So I

Comments

tofu, film buff and un-meat puppet says:

[tofuboy42]

the sad truth is most modern cinema (a la Hollywood studios) is visually driven while most of those produced by independent filmmakers and those from the early days of cinema rely on dialogue and characters.

i for one believe firmly in placing dialogue ahead of visuals.

Hollywood doesn't get it

[kazoojew]

Yes, it is eye candy to see the great special effects in movies like The Matrix trilogy. But I can't think of a single good movie where the visuals outperformed the dialogue - the debates and stewing over the dialogue is included in the dialogue category - with the possible exception of The Matrix movies.

On a side note, I'm disappointed that the soundtrack (and even the sound effects) is left out of this discussion here. In my personal opinion, it is a close 3rd place to dialogue and visuals. But I ask you: Where would movies like Rudy be without people like Jerry Goldsmith??