Movies
Forget about TV, music or novels; when it comes to influencing the culture, nothing matches the movies. Possibly because those other media don't have quarter billion dollar budgets. But some of the influence on fans isn't for the best...
Understanding Movie Fans
Since films are the tentpole that holds up our entire modern culture (supplying us with most of our heroes, moral lessons and opportunities to watch robots punching other robots) we inevitably find ourselves in conversation with other movie fans. Many of these fans are impossible to talk to, because they fall into the following categories:
The Foreign Film Purist
Thinks that American artistic sensibilities are inherently flawed. Like their maid Maria, won't watch anything without subtitles. Unlike Maria, has a choice.
The Prophet
They think it's their job to outsmart the screenwriter at every turn. As you sit there, deeply engaged in the movie, it is The Prophet's job to look bored, grumbling about how predictable this shit is. Whenever there is a dramatic beat or turns of events, The Prophet is known to roll his eyes and say "called it."
The Film Student
Owns a video camera, wants to go to film school or is already there, and holy shit do they love to talk about it. Will join any conversation about any movie and casually throw in technical terms to show off his knowledge of the medium. While you're talking about how awesome the character or story was, they're talking about how much the sound mixing sucked.
The Old-Timer
This isn't necessarily an old guy. Like the kid who discovered classic rock in middle school, followed swiftly by classical music, this is anyone who insists that modern movies ain't got nothing on cinema's Golden Age.
The Tech Geek
Is obsessed with watching every movie in a level of clarity not even the filmmakers have seen it in. Somehow manages to turn every conversation into a discussion of his home theater set-up. For ever minute spent watching film, they have spent two hours messing with cables.
The Deconstructionist
LIke a crazy person who loves his bunny so much he decides to take it apart to see how it works. This person can't simply enjoy movies for what they are, but must examine the motive behind every single choice the filmmakers made. Employs useless Philosophy degree on movie nights by lecturing fellow viewers about layers of subtext and symbolism that almost certainly aren't there.
The English Student
Is a little too proud of those English Lit classes he took at community college. Lives to tell everyone why "the book was better."
Indie-ana Douche
Lives by a strict critical code. If a movie costs more than a million dollars to make, it's a piece of worthless commercial trash. Insists that real drama must involve a transgender/alcoholic/boring protagonist played by Philip Seymour Hoffman/William H. Macy/Parker Posey whose inability to achieve success as a writer/parent/human being leads to suicide/overdose/other method of dying alone.
The Trivia-Night Champion
Has read extensively on film; uses this acquired knowledge to show off during movie night. Points out the little facts that no one besides him cares about.
I'm a cross between the Prophet, the Deconstructionist, and the Trivia-Night Champion. Except I'm not really grumbly about predicting the movies. And deconstructing movies adds to my enjoyment rather than removing it. But, yeah, I'm the only one who cares about dumb facts.
ReplyI'm such an English Student. Come on, you know that bit about Fight Club was the truth.
ReplyI would like to add a new category, which I fall under: The Purist, who thinks you should just enjoy the movie for what it is and will lecture you for days if you fall under any of the other categories.
ReplyCome on, I'm a fifteen year old chav with a GCCSE D in French and without sounding pretentious, 'Amelie' is one of the best films ever.
Reply"I'm a fifteen year old chav with a GCCSE D in French" Don't know what that is. But see a doctor it might be contagious.
Article made me want to find a Tech Geek, skewer him on a bamboo pole, and then roast him alive over a fire. Said conflagaration should best be the result of an Indie-ana Douche being given the witch treatment at Salem.
ReplyI saw where this topic was going. How predictable. The articles were much better in the 50's.
ReplyThat's exactly what I'd expect someone who didn't see La Vie en Rose in the original French. Frankly, your language is gross and uncultured, and your use of satire is not subtle to the extent that the original article was. Also, did you know that "predictable" comes from the Latin roots "pre-" meaning "before" and "dict-" meaning "to say?" I know, it's so awesome.
I'm a bit of a prophet and english student. I'm such a book nerd.
ReplyI think I might be the worst possible combination of all of these people... At least the Prophet, the Deconstructionist, and the Trivia-Night Champion, especially the Deconstructionist
Replyhas anybody noticed that half of the peoples picture is the unabomber?
Replyalso the english student is the worst person you will ever meet
That's not the Uni Bomber, and that's the default picture.
Hardly. The English student isn't nearly as obnoxious as the old-timer. The Old Timer insists on comparing apples to oranges. At least all the English student is doing is comparing granny smiths to golden delicious. And at least the flaws they point out, like missing plot lines or altered character decisions, actually exist, unlike the ridiculous allegories the de-constructionist comes up with.
I actually enjoy movies and books as separate entities, it's the only way to not lose your mind with some of the adaptations. Also, the book isn't always better. Reading Interview with the Vampire is like stabbing yourself in the eyes with the words 'golden blond hair' a thousand times. As much as I dislike Tom Cruise's Lestat, Brad Pitt's Louis and Kristen Dunst's Claudia more than made up for it.
Oh my, I am the film student.
Replyim not brazillian and city of god ("Cidade de Deus" hmm funny how the "brazillian" guy didnt know what it was in english, it's on the cover) was awesome, not just the story taking you places you didn't necessarily want to go but it was ENTERTAINING. also is this guy defending i am legend and avatar? jumpin' jesus! why is it every movie thinks plague survivors will be able to run up buildings or sodomize city buses and other implausible shit? i am legend is also a remake of "the omega man", now there's something to watch, in the omega man the brown CG poop monsters of i am legend are scarred freaks who can't see light since ya know they almost died like 95% of the population did, so what a surprise it fucked them up as opposed to making them bionic, oh and they turn into religious zealots who blame technology for the plague, so they have to set fire to charleton heston. also most movies suck nowadays so yeah, i am the old timer at 22, fuuuccckk you
ReplyI'm brazillian, and "Cidade de Deus" is an AWESOME MOVIE.
ReplyI find a problem with US movies is that they always have to adapt something that was a sucess in another country, like they can`t just show de original and let people think about it.
And that is a good Topic
"like the kid who discovered classic rock in middle school..."
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesHEY! I RESEMBLE THAT!
but in seriousness, the difference is the kid in middle school has the right idea (modern music sucks, a whole lot) while movie quality has remained arguably unchanged. there are some good movies and some s****y movies.
On a related note, the day paul blart became the #1 movie in america is they day my faith died.
If you think modern music sucks, you aren't looking in the right place. The underground never dies. Of course the mainstream music is gonna be a load of crap, but that's not the only music around by any means...
You also kind of miss out a lot by getting into the classics long after they are put out. Time tends to whittle away songs that are just plain shitty. Of course today's music will have more crap, the radio stations have no choice but to play what's new. They don't have the luxury of picking and choosing the best songs from the past 30 or so years.
The music industry is the same as the movie industry, dude. The old music you're listening to, that's so much better than what we have now? Those are pretty much only the hits from that time. There was just as much crap coming out back then as there is now, if you listen to the popular music scene from the 80's that most resembles what we have now that you think is crap, you'll probably find that the old stuff was crap, too.
InGrindWeCrust, I hate to break it to you, but there is a reason that underground music is underground. Most of it does, in fact, suck. With the exception of bands that stay on the underground on principle, which is not as many as you think (a lot of them say they choose to stay underground to save face because they don't want to admit they can't make it big), most of them aren't popular because they can't get popular. And it's not because they aren't hip hop, or rap, or pop. There is still a thriving rock scene, a thriving alternative scene, a scene for every kind of music that underground musicians play. People like you, who assume that mainstream music all sucks, are the same people who, if a band gets discovered and makes it big, will turn your back on them and talk about how they've sold out and their music doesn't mean anything anymore, when in reality it hasn't changed at all, beyond an improvement of the technical quality.
If Glenn Danzig played Wolverine THAT WOULD BE THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER! Just imagine how much better Origins would have been if it was Glenn f*****g Danzig decapitating Ryan Renolds.
ReplyDamn. I think I'm the Trivia night champion.
ReplySo am I! We can take pride, though, in the fact that we are the least pathetic of them all.
I'm not a foreign film purist, but I find it curious that I completely agree that City of God is the best movie ever and Infernal Affairs is better than the Departed.
ReplyMy least favorite film fan is the Proud Zombie. They only go to movies to "turn their brains off and have fun," and believe they're better for it. Because ignorance, and only ignorance, is bliss.
ReplyOn Raging Bull: "It's so boring! Just a fat dude acting like an asshole."
Favorite Film: Citizen Kane. Not because they actually enjoy Citizen Kane, but because it enables them to make statements about other movies like, "Of course the dialogue is incoherent, the humor is obnoxious, the story is nonsensical, and the action is impossible to follow! It's supposed to be entertaining! Not every movie has to be Citizen Kane!"
God, I frikin' hate those guys, and yeah, that's pretty much their statement all the time.
Or sometimes, they'll give a genre-specific variation, like: "Not every Sci-Fi film has to be Star Wars" or "Not every comic book movie has to be The Dark Knight", etc.
See, I agree with that. There are plenty of movies that, yeah, you should probably just go to and turn off and enjoy it, but dammit, some movies require thought! I could not STAND the reviews of the second and third Pirates movies, not because they were downing the movies, but because of why. The reviews complained about a ridiculous, incoherent plot, but I followed it perfectly. You're a movie reviewer, if the movie has a confusing plot, you of all people should be following it and not just complaining because it's there.
I don't really fall under any of these, but I'm closest to the Trivia guy due to the amount to time spent on Wikipedia and TV Tropes (though I don't really know enough to qualify as completely useless information).
Reply"Employs useless Philosophy degree on movie nights by lecturing fellow viewers about layers of subtext and symbolism that almost certainly aren't there."
Taken to a huge extreme by people who are convinced that The Original Star Wars Trilogy was comentary on George W. Bush's Administration, completely forgetting that Episode VI came out over a decade before he was elected (and that many of them may've seen at least one of those movies when they first came out... a few years before Bush sr. became president).
Agreed, people who haven't got the slightlest idea of history complain about that sort of things all the time. Also, why did you reply yourself? Couldn't edit?
...Okay, I literally know a person who falls under every one of these categories. Even the movie responses are the same. Friend Bobic's the Prophet, roommate's the Tech Geek, Dad's the Old Timer, another friend's the Film Student/Indie hybrid (he even went on a recent tirade about how cinematography is different from imagery and that it'd be a tragedy if Avatar got Best Cinematography over The White Ribbon). I qualify under the Deconstructionist and the Trivia Champion admittedly...
ReplyOMG!!!!!Recently my friends recommend me an interesting website named "FitnessKiss" where we can find our fitness love and relationship.There're lots of fit and sexy gals on the website.Just sharing with you, dude!!!
Reply