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Jul. 6th, 2003 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmOn 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*
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*
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Calss Distinctions
Date: 2003-07-06 04:00 pm (UTC)What I would am interested in examining is, what I detect anyway, a growing desire to escape. Is our passionate involvement in escapism and popular culture really a result of our deep understanding that the writers on "Buffy" will be revered like the Bard of Avon some centuries hence? Or is it because we are running away from the demands that real and advanced culture makes because our inner urge to flee is so strong and our standards have been in decline?
Do we see a desire to escape growing greater and greater? If we don't, then little of my argument has any merit at all. If we do, then what is causing it?
Some sorts of culture are like dessert. As part of a meal, they are fine. There are good desserts and bad desserts, and some desserts that are even healthy. But if you have a family that eats nothing but dessert, how healthy will they be - especially if the dessert they eat is full of empty calories? Little kids think, often, that the perfect meal is just dessert. Adults know this isn’t a good idea. However, it appears that some adults eat nothing that isn’t dessert. We see them every day. How healthy do you think their kids will be?
If we are all bent on escape, what are we escaping from? Is it the responsibilities that call us to fix the problems we want to run away from? Does culture offer us a respite from these problems and concerns, or does it serve to point us back to them and reveal new ways of looking at them? Personally, I observe a culture more hell-bent than ever on escape, and less and less choosy about the escape route offered.
Re: Calss Distinctions
Date: 2003-07-06 09:03 pm (UTC)No , but I think that Gene Roddenberry , and Star Trek will.
I'm not saying that as a sci fi geek, I'm saying that as look at the amount of influence ST has had in our culture , our shopping habbits, and way of life. It's going to be a serious ripple down the line.