I enjoy reading Entertainment Weekly. I find it a good microcosm of the things that are happening in the entertainment world. Yes, they occasionally over-saturate with the flavor of the week (I find their non-stop coverage of Twilight and Hunger Games exceedingly tedious, for example), they can get away with it because they ARE producing a magazine every week. I also enjoy spending time on their website, although I may spend too much time (and take the results too personally) in the comments sections of movie reviews.
Today an article by movie reviewer Owen Gleiberman popped up on my Twitter feed that I found extremely fascinating. But what was more interesting to me were the comments - people who had missed Gleiberman's point, or who were arguing for the sake of arguing, or who were just taking the opportunity to slam Transformers 2.
(The article, in case you were wondering, discussed the tendency of critics to latch on to one movie altogether and across-the-board pan it, usually unfairly and because they are trying to make a point about the evil nature of the "Hollywood machine." The example he gave was Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, a film which Gleiberman gave a B in his review two summers ago, and which he stands by. I give him a lot of credit for continuing to support his opinion, which brings me back to what I want to talk to you about.)
There is a strong urge for movie fans to treat their opinion about a movie as definitive fact. It's never, "I thought this movie was bad," but rather "This is a bad movie." Gleiberman's article was followed by a slew of comments in this vein; some choice ones include "... it wasn’t enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination," "Groupthink was thinking that the first one was any good in the first place," " It's anyone with a radar for decent entertainment [that thought Revenge of the Fallen was bad]," and perhaps my favorite, "Michael Bay is an untalented hack with zero ability to create a mediocre—let alone coherent—film." What all of these have in common is not only the assumption but the demand that people agree with them - and if you do not, as I don't, you are not only wrong but probably stupid for thinking so.
When did it become a crime to enjoy a movie? No, I didn't think Revenge of the Fallen delivered on what the first Transformers promised, but I certainly had fun watching it and have every intent to watch it again. I like a lot of movies that many people consider to be bad (see a list of 50 of them here), but that doesn't make my opinion any less valid than the opinions of those who DON'T like them. Film is art, and like all art, it's subjective - and I have long said that there's an audience, no matter how big, for every film.
I agree with Gleiberman, by the way. I do think that many critics and audience members panned Revenge of the Fallen across the board in part because they were expected to. The movie was the second highest grossing film in 2009, after Avatar. And it wasn't in 3D, so you can't accuse Bay of grubbing for dollars with a jacked up ticket price. Someday we as a media culture will stop thinking of summer films as being "lesser" than those offered in the fall, but until then, I'm going to stop being ashamed of liking the movies that I do. And I'm certainly going to try to stop thinking less of people who disagree with me.
Today an article by movie reviewer Owen Gleiberman popped up on my Twitter feed that I found extremely fascinating. But what was more interesting to me were the comments - people who had missed Gleiberman's point, or who were arguing for the sake of arguing, or who were just taking the opportunity to slam Transformers 2.
(The article, in case you were wondering, discussed the tendency of critics to latch on to one movie altogether and across-the-board pan it, usually unfairly and because they are trying to make a point about the evil nature of the "Hollywood machine." The example he gave was Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, a film which Gleiberman gave a B in his review two summers ago, and which he stands by. I give him a lot of credit for continuing to support his opinion, which brings me back to what I want to talk to you about.)
There is a strong urge for movie fans to treat their opinion about a movie as definitive fact. It's never, "I thought this movie was bad," but rather "This is a bad movie." Gleiberman's article was followed by a slew of comments in this vein; some choice ones include "... it wasn’t enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination," "Groupthink was thinking that the first one was any good in the first place," " It's anyone with a radar for decent entertainment [that thought Revenge of the Fallen was bad]," and perhaps my favorite, "Michael Bay is an untalented hack with zero ability to create a mediocre—let alone coherent—film." What all of these have in common is not only the assumption but the demand that people agree with them - and if you do not, as I don't, you are not only wrong but probably stupid for thinking so.
When did it become a crime to enjoy a movie? No, I didn't think Revenge of the Fallen delivered on what the first Transformers promised, but I certainly had fun watching it and have every intent to watch it again. I like a lot of movies that many people consider to be bad (see a list of 50 of them here), but that doesn't make my opinion any less valid than the opinions of those who DON'T like them. Film is art, and like all art, it's subjective - and I have long said that there's an audience, no matter how big, for every film.
I agree with Gleiberman, by the way. I do think that many critics and audience members panned Revenge of the Fallen across the board in part because they were expected to. The movie was the second highest grossing film in 2009, after Avatar. And it wasn't in 3D, so you can't accuse Bay of grubbing for dollars with a jacked up ticket price. Someday we as a media culture will stop thinking of summer films as being "lesser" than those offered in the fall, but until then, I'm going to stop being ashamed of liking the movies that I do. And I'm certainly going to try to stop thinking less of people who disagree with me.
This post is practically in dialogue with today's XKCD.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen Transformers, but I understand the sentiment. It's actually an effective rhetorical strategy not to just say "I didn't like this" but to claim "This is bad art." It automatically gets your supporters in the "correct group" and puts your detractors on the defense.