Possible Spoilers for Split here

[jackfaire]

I went into Split not knowing it was by M. Night Shamyalan. By the opening scene I did and I spent the whole movie looking for the twist.

Spoiler there wasn't one. Instead it was a brilliantly structured film that gave you all of the information necessary to understand the conclusions it reached at each part of the story. Even the "surprise" bit at the ending that people call a twist isn't a twist but rather an organic extension of the plot and more of an Easter Egg for a planned sequel.

Calling it a twist would be like calling any of the Marvel after credits scenes "twists" (I know some are but most of them were not)

So the topic here is should a director's name be buried on a movie if 1) your building the marketing not on his name but on the movie itself and 2) If it will affect the way you watch the movie?

My argument is that I would have been more immersed if I wasn't stuck looking for his trademark twist. He has a thing. If I go to see a Kevin Smith film I am going to look for Jay and Silent Bob to show up or be referenced in some way.

Quentin Tarantino it's going to be uber violent.

Now if the whole selling point of the movie is "THIS DIRECTOR MADE THIS" then great slap their name front and center. Every preview I saw for Split and not once did I realize it was by M. Night.

I am sitting watching the movie though and the first thing after the title is his name in huge font. Immediately I downshifted from "sit back and enjoy" to "lean forward and examine"

It's like the difference between reading a murder mystery or reading an Encyclopedia Brown book where you're going to be asked to solve the mystery first.

Especially if you're going to move away from your trademark I argue leave your name off of the opening credits.

It would be similar to what the movie Seven did. Kevin Spacey never appears in the marketing, the opening credits, or anything until halfway through the movie. His big reveal in the police station is his big reveal and it's brilliant. You're not meant to know who the killer is until then.

If M. Night had done a twist not knowing it was his movie would have made the twist a surprise. And given that there wasn't one it would have kept viewers like me from looking for one.

[telecom_goddess]

Split is sending a horrible message out there, that anyone with a multiple personality condition is dangerous and out to kill people. Everyone in the multiple community is outraged by this film, and so am I. I live with someone who is multiple and they have to live in stealth mode already due to people not believing it exists in the first place, and now if they do believe it exists they're going to think he's dangerous when he's not.

This movie should be boycotted.

[jackfaire]

And every single male who was molested as a child will horribly murder the person who molested them. Not trying to be a smart ass but there are movies out there that use the abused kid trope to create serial killers. Given that in the universe of Split there are apparently a lot of people suffering from DID and only one of them is an insane serial killer shouldn't bother people with it.

No I don't get to decide what bothers or offends people I agree but the movie didn't say "and they all become killers"

There have been serial killers who in their movies were abused, beaten etc and most people are aware that one person's reaction to trauma isn't everyone's reaction to trauma. For every Jason there are thousands of Bob's from accounting.

If the movie had created a horde of serial killers, pun not intended, sure I could see the argument that it's demonizing people with DID but there was an entire lecture in the movie she gives about how people with DID are real and for the most part just like the rest of us except in the way they've managed to have multiple people in one body.

I didn't leave this movie thinking "man people with DID sure are dangerous psychopaths" I left this movie thinking "that guy's a whackjob"

[telecom_goddess]

OH well I glad they did the disclaimer at least ...that's something good! But I can tell you from experience, knowing many DID people, that they are all upset by this film. People really have no idea what these people go through! In addition to stigma because of the outside world, they are also dealing with healing from trauma that generally caused the DID in the first place, and possible other mental health issues.