Thoughts on global culture
... Nothing so deep as the title implies... or not yet, though the day may come that I do a decent essay on this; so much bubbling about in the brain on this general topic of late. This specific bit of brooding--that is, this evening's--was touched off by reading the page of Amazon reviews for the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended edition. Odd notes:
First, I can't comment on the film. I mean, I could, but I hardly see the point. If you care, you've seen it, and you've decided for yourself, I'd expect. It's that global a phenomenon (by the same justification, I didn't bother to link the Amazon page. As if, really).
I actually follow the same principle, generally, in doing IMDB reviews. I've written one or two, but I don't bother with stuff that gets a thousand freakin' reviews. First, no one's gonna find it anyway when there's that many fish in the pond. Second, I'd rather put a little time into talking about stuff, which, in relative terms, I think gets passed over (such as Jadorowsky's delightfully odd Santa Sangre, as one example). Honestly. Yeah, I love Blade Runner too, but what am I supposed to tell you? That it's got some lovely glass paintings? I'd think you'd know that already, if you were in any way likely to ever see it. And there are about another 1,000 guys who can already tell you that. And will, on every opportunity.
My reaction to the gushing fanboys writing about the Jackson film is (as I'd think you could tell from this sentence's subject phrase) a bit hostile, too. Don't get me wrong, I like the films, on several levels, from the technical through their strength as an adaptation of the supposedly unadaptable, through the general strength and beauty of the story as they tell it. But somehow one more grinning fanboy zombie saying 'oh, wow, this film R0X0Rs!!! Doodz!!' just pisses me off, somehow.
Mebbe some snobbish tendencies slipping out. Fair comment, fair possibility. But I don't think that's all there is to it. Not by a long shot.
I think one of the things that pisses me off the most about global culture is it just seems so damned full of the same people. The same people, saying the same things. Human beings safely reduced to ticket buyin' theater seat occupyin' slabs of meat. They're like the franchise fast food of humanity... always the same uninspiring preformed grey patty, every time. And to wander in among them is (to trot out another food metaphor... guess I must be hungry) to get lost in a sea of human tapioca... it sticks to you, and you can't breathe...
And it takes so long to wash off.
Okay. Guess it's time I moved on. That metaphor ain't breathing any more. But yeah, to sum it up: I find it alienating. One of the things that frightens me about such global cultural products as the Rings films is, I think, a larger scale phenomenon of the same thing I've always hated about spectator sports... in the tribal group mind they create, the individuals that make it up become less individual, and, in the end, really rather boring... a line of football fans cheering for their team (why? who knows? a ball gets thrown between two posts several times, and this somehow has an impact on their lives?) has the same quality as all those fans posting frantically into the Amazon review threads... they are subsumed in a larger current, and somehow, realizing this, I just do not want to jump in with them.
(That said, I'll probably still buy the DVD)
- there were 146 reviews on the page--this for a product that hasn't been released yet, which, while unsurprising, amuses me
- there were many, many gushingly 'wow, amazing film' reviews
- there were inevitable naysayers, some of whom were shouted down (in the virtual sense--would seem they got their reviews pulled
- the gushing reviews had a strong preponderance of 'the neat thing is the effects were better than in Star Wars' type elements
First, I can't comment on the film. I mean, I could, but I hardly see the point. If you care, you've seen it, and you've decided for yourself, I'd expect. It's that global a phenomenon (by the same justification, I didn't bother to link the Amazon page. As if, really).
I actually follow the same principle, generally, in doing IMDB reviews. I've written one or two, but I don't bother with stuff that gets a thousand freakin' reviews. First, no one's gonna find it anyway when there's that many fish in the pond. Second, I'd rather put a little time into talking about stuff, which, in relative terms, I think gets passed over (such as Jadorowsky's delightfully odd Santa Sangre, as one example). Honestly. Yeah, I love Blade Runner too, but what am I supposed to tell you? That it's got some lovely glass paintings? I'd think you'd know that already, if you were in any way likely to ever see it. And there are about another 1,000 guys who can already tell you that. And will, on every opportunity.
My reaction to the gushing fanboys writing about the Jackson film is (as I'd think you could tell from this sentence's subject phrase) a bit hostile, too. Don't get me wrong, I like the films, on several levels, from the technical through their strength as an adaptation of the supposedly unadaptable, through the general strength and beauty of the story as they tell it. But somehow one more grinning fanboy zombie saying 'oh, wow, this film R0X0Rs!!! Doodz!!' just pisses me off, somehow.
Mebbe some snobbish tendencies slipping out. Fair comment, fair possibility. But I don't think that's all there is to it. Not by a long shot.
I think one of the things that pisses me off the most about global culture is it just seems so damned full of the same people. The same people, saying the same things. Human beings safely reduced to ticket buyin' theater seat occupyin' slabs of meat. They're like the franchise fast food of humanity... always the same uninspiring preformed grey patty, every time. And to wander in among them is (to trot out another food metaphor... guess I must be hungry) to get lost in a sea of human tapioca... it sticks to you, and you can't breathe...
And it takes so long to wash off.
Okay. Guess it's time I moved on. That metaphor ain't breathing any more. But yeah, to sum it up: I find it alienating. One of the things that frightens me about such global cultural products as the Rings films is, I think, a larger scale phenomenon of the same thing I've always hated about spectator sports... in the tribal group mind they create, the individuals that make it up become less individual, and, in the end, really rather boring... a line of football fans cheering for their team (why? who knows? a ball gets thrown between two posts several times, and this somehow has an impact on their lives?) has the same quality as all those fans posting frantically into the Amazon review threads... they are subsumed in a larger current, and somehow, realizing this, I just do not want to jump in with them.
(That said, I'll probably still buy the DVD)
posted by AJM at 1:34 a.m. (Permanent Link)
