(no subject)

[rm]

On the 28 Days Later website, is an area called testimonials, that has both critic and fan reviews. The fan reviews are unedited or filtered by the maintainers of the site, and they are a stunning example of why anyone who wants to do anything remotely creative has to be absolutely out of their fucking mind.

No, my issue isn't that some people loathed this film (some people will -- it's grotesque, long, the first third is almost entirely silent, the plot definitely has three very different acts, it's not a typical horror film, and digital video, while serving the story well isn't what we're used to on the big screen, etc). My issue is that nearly everyone who posted, regardless of whether they were in favour of the film or not, couldn't construct a sentence in the English language if their life depended on it. My issue is that, at least fifty percent of the commetary said things like (and these my friends, are actual quotes):
"it was like watching Giligan's Island, a far more messed up situation", "I don't know how, but this english artsy fartsy fucked up a zombie movie... this just goes to show that independent film and the english eat shit" "the film was very european and unscary" and finally "this is a gay resident evil rip off." Also to the dude who said Shakespear [sic] couldn't write such irony, IT'S NOT FUCKING IRONIC.

Anyway, the whole thing made me depressed. You make art for, among other things, the audience, but if the audience has the IQ of a toadstool and will hate you forever if you don't provide them with exactly what they expect, you are damned damned damned.

Our culture is astoundingly fucking lazy about everything. And hateful. That's what really amazed me, how much of the things on the site were about slagging people and things that had nothing to do with the film, or saying things like "I wish I had me a woman like the one in the movie."

*shudder*

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm sure most places have some version of this sort of thing, but America does really win the prize in terms of the average person thinking hostility towards intellectualism and art is a virtue or at least utterly acceptable.

[orobouros.livejournal.com]

did you read the "editorial" in The Onion this week?

[rm.livejournal.com]

No, why?

[orobouros.livejournal.com]

I think you'll find it amusing :)

(not the "sperm" one, the other one)

[rm.livejournal.com]

My inner Hermione Granger and I need to go scour ourselves with brillo now.

[orobouros.livejournal.com]

yeah, me and mine are too. :)

I do want to see 28 Days Later, though. But I think I'm going to go see Capturing The Friedmans this afternoon, first. I also picked up Hell House yesterday. The documentary about the fundamentalist Christian "haunted house" in Texas. Haven't had time to watch it yet. Waiting for that "perfect" moment.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Just make sure you see 28 Days Later on the big screen, because I suspect the digital video will get even murkier on the small screen and not work.

I should see Capturing the Friedmans, but it's a hard thing to get excited about going to see. And you must tell us about Hell House.

[mcsquare.livejournal.com]

::dies::

Unfortunately, I think that article actually captures the attitude of a lot of people. Scary.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Gods yes, the times I've visited Britain have been very enlightening - average people not only lack any significant suspicion of or hostility towards intellectualism, they even include a significant intellectual endeavor in their hobbies. The time one of my parent's friends (who was otherwise a perfectly ordinary shopkeeper) took us on a tour of her garden and proceeded to provide both common and latin names for all of her favorite plants, not because she was showing off, but because she thought it was important to be clear. I don't know the origins of US anti-intellectualism, but it is vile and disturbingly pervasive.

[rothko.livejournal.com]

there's plenty of anti-intellectual hate-spewing in the UK, too; and as here in the states, it's honestly not that hard to find. stupid and evil people are everywhere, it's not like we've got a monopoly on that here. americans are just louder than most, i think.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I hope there isn't as much as in the US, I've not seen it, but I've only visited the UK for a short time so that isn't terribly surprising. I now wonder if there is anyplace on the planet where the life of the mind is accorded anywhere near the reverence given to sports and similar feats of physical prowess