Sometimes Other People's Ignorance Makes me Feel Smart
The title here should be fairly self-explanatory but let me relate how I recently experienced this particular feeling.
So I was looking through Netflix trying to decide what to rent next when I noticed Brick. Now I own Brick on DVD, so I wasn't looking to rent it but something caught my eye. I noticed it's user rating was hovering at around 2 1/2 Stars out of 5.
Now personally I thought Brick was one of the more clever and well done films in the past year. The idea of a film noir set at a high school reminded me a bit of Veronica Mars (probably the best show on TV you're not watching if its ratings are any indicator). And I thought the use of actual 40s era slang in place of "that lingo those wacky kids use" was not only neat but an interesting commentary how all generations have their somewhat impenetrable slang and that, on some level, it's interchangeable.
But anyway, the movie had a fair number of negative ratings. Now I don't care if people didn't like it, but I was interested why they didn't. So I perused some of the 1 and 2 star ratings for the movies.
And now I fear for the future.
After about the tenth "I couldn't understand their gangspeak" or the ever popular "It was so lame that they talked older" I gave up. Some people are just...well, dumb mooks who can't get it into their biscuit that some films adopt a particular style. You don't have to like the style, but not liking it doesn't make it anything bad. Also, I suspect the people talking about "gang" slang in the film were actually too ignorant to realize that the dialouge was lifted from 1940s and 50s film noir and not today's streets. So yes, the "strange" dialogue was a conscious choice and had a point...morons.
It's like the people who watch Brotherhood of the Wolf and bitch how unrealistic it is that all the main characters know kung fu. Let me tell you something about that film for those who haven't seen it: It is established in the second scene of the whole film and was made clear by the trailers in most cases that in the setting of the film, French naturalists and American Indians knew kung fu...this was not a mystery sprung on anyone in the middle of the film. And as such, its part of the film's style and setting. If you hate it, fine. Walk out, turn it off, but in any event shut up about how silly it is just because you don't get it.
If you can't understand or even accept the aspects of a fictional work's setting once they have been laid out for you then that's really not a flaw as much as a limiting factor. And yet so many people bitch about such things because...well, I'm not sure why. Probably because all media should be for them or it's worthless and stupid.
Which prompts me to make the following list in the interest of public service. If you can't accept these aspects of a setting or story, then skip it and then I won't have to listen to people complain in an effort to sound really clever:
Jaws: A large great white shark will attack a boat with Robert Shaw on it.
Dawn of the Dead: Zombies exist, can run pretty fast, and want to eat you.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The government will send one guy to fight Nazis, assuming that one guy is Harrison Ford.
The Killer: Chow Yun Fat can kill anyone. And he probably reloads offscreen.
Spider-Man: He can, in fact, do whatever a spider can.
Hulk, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc...: Radiation under the right circumstances can give you superpowers and not cancer.
Henry V: A relative small number of tired and sick British guys can kill thousands of armored French warriors and only lose a handful of their own people.*
Buffy & Angel: Vampires exist. Also, everyone in high school and LA is hot.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Given the chance, Congress will actually try to stop graft.
Highlander: Immortal beings exist and like to try and chop off each other's heads.
Natural Treasure: Nicholas Cage can get the better of Sean Bean.
Sky Captain and the World of Tommorrow: Yes, someone would actually pick the annoying girl reporter who cheated and robbed them over the hot fighter ace with her own flying fortress.
Just about Every Teen Movie Ever**: The really hot chick you'd totally go for is "ugly" as long as she has curly hair, glasses, is a goth or something else "weird", doesn't wear dresses, or is smart.
So there, I've just saved some lucky person a bunch of time. If you can't accept the above aspects of a work...skip it. And more importantly skip bitching about it. Again, I don't mind if people don't like something, but I expect the reasons to be at least a bit sensible. Or at least private.
I know what I get instead is people talking about how A History of Violence was supposed to have more action, but I can dare to dream.
* And sure you'd think people wouldn't have a problem with this seeing as how it actually happened, but I sometimes boggle at people's stupidity.
** Except for Not Another Teen Movie...which just mocks this point.
So I was looking through Netflix trying to decide what to rent next when I noticed Brick. Now I own Brick on DVD, so I wasn't looking to rent it but something caught my eye. I noticed it's user rating was hovering at around 2 1/2 Stars out of 5.
Now personally I thought Brick was one of the more clever and well done films in the past year. The idea of a film noir set at a high school reminded me a bit of Veronica Mars (probably the best show on TV you're not watching if its ratings are any indicator). And I thought the use of actual 40s era slang in place of "that lingo those wacky kids use" was not only neat but an interesting commentary how all generations have their somewhat impenetrable slang and that, on some level, it's interchangeable.
But anyway, the movie had a fair number of negative ratings. Now I don't care if people didn't like it, but I was interested why they didn't. So I perused some of the 1 and 2 star ratings for the movies.
And now I fear for the future.
After about the tenth "I couldn't understand their gangspeak" or the ever popular "It was so lame that they talked older" I gave up. Some people are just...well, dumb mooks who can't get it into their biscuit that some films adopt a particular style. You don't have to like the style, but not liking it doesn't make it anything bad. Also, I suspect the people talking about "gang" slang in the film were actually too ignorant to realize that the dialouge was lifted from 1940s and 50s film noir and not today's streets. So yes, the "strange" dialogue was a conscious choice and had a point...morons.
It's like the people who watch Brotherhood of the Wolf and bitch how unrealistic it is that all the main characters know kung fu. Let me tell you something about that film for those who haven't seen it: It is established in the second scene of the whole film and was made clear by the trailers in most cases that in the setting of the film, French naturalists and American Indians knew kung fu...this was not a mystery sprung on anyone in the middle of the film. And as such, its part of the film's style and setting. If you hate it, fine. Walk out, turn it off, but in any event shut up about how silly it is just because you don't get it.
If you can't understand or even accept the aspects of a fictional work's setting once they have been laid out for you then that's really not a flaw as much as a limiting factor. And yet so many people bitch about such things because...well, I'm not sure why. Probably because all media should be for them or it's worthless and stupid.
Which prompts me to make the following list in the interest of public service. If you can't accept these aspects of a setting or story, then skip it and then I won't have to listen to people complain in an effort to sound really clever:
Jaws: A large great white shark will attack a boat with Robert Shaw on it.
Dawn of the Dead: Zombies exist, can run pretty fast, and want to eat you.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The government will send one guy to fight Nazis, assuming that one guy is Harrison Ford.
The Killer: Chow Yun Fat can kill anyone. And he probably reloads offscreen.
Spider-Man: He can, in fact, do whatever a spider can.
Hulk, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc...: Radiation under the right circumstances can give you superpowers and not cancer.
Henry V: A relative small number of tired and sick British guys can kill thousands of armored French warriors and only lose a handful of their own people.*
Buffy & Angel: Vampires exist. Also, everyone in high school and LA is hot.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Given the chance, Congress will actually try to stop graft.
Highlander: Immortal beings exist and like to try and chop off each other's heads.
Natural Treasure: Nicholas Cage can get the better of Sean Bean.
Sky Captain and the World of Tommorrow: Yes, someone would actually pick the annoying girl reporter who cheated and robbed them over the hot fighter ace with her own flying fortress.
Just about Every Teen Movie Ever**: The really hot chick you'd totally go for is "ugly" as long as she has curly hair, glasses, is a goth or something else "weird", doesn't wear dresses, or is smart.
So there, I've just saved some lucky person a bunch of time. If you can't accept the above aspects of a work...skip it. And more importantly skip bitching about it. Again, I don't mind if people don't like something, but I expect the reasons to be at least a bit sensible. Or at least private.
I know what I get instead is people talking about how A History of Violence was supposed to have more action, but I can dare to dream.
* And sure you'd think people wouldn't have a problem with this seeing as how it actually happened, but I sometimes boggle at people's stupidity.
** Except for Not Another Teen Movie...which just mocks this point.
posted by Jack at 2:00 PM
4 Comments:
Have you seen Crank yet? I think you should, and damn anyone else who says crap about it.
I'd love to hear your opinions about it. :)
I haven't seen Crank, but I think the premise looks interesting. I might not be able to drag Mira to it, but I still might go myself.
I do think I'm going to see the Covenant though. It might suck, but it looks like fun and it's not directed by Uwe Boll...so there's some hope.
Crank is about a very bad man doing very bad things to even worst people. It's definitely not for everyone.
The Convenant was, well, interesting. I liked a lot of parts of it. Being the big geek I am, it was like seeing Mage: The Ascension, Supernatural, and Angel thrown together, blended, and then served with WB-series level dialogue.
Whether that's good or bad is up to you.
Yeah, that's kinda what I assumes Covenant would be like, so I'll probably still check it out.
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