I have been told to blog by a person who shall remain nameless, but her name rhymes with Hessica. I'm not sure what she wants me to blog about. 'Something I've watched' was her suggestion, seems legit.
Is it weird to watch a show/film that makes you angry because it's so terrible? On the way to class today I was thinking about the benefits of terrible film, this is indicative of the fun things I think about when I'm doing nothing. Me and a couple of friends are going to see New Years Eve on Thursday. That's right, we are going to see a film that thinks this poster is a totally appropriate way of advertising a film.
Look at the photo of Ashton Kutcher- that's just a shot of him in his real life, that's not anything to with the film. I could make a better poster if I still had photoshop on my computer. To quote Hessica- “That's a GCSE Media studies project”.
I don't expect this film to be good. In fact I will be seriously disappointed if it's even remotely passable as a piece of cinema. I'm going to see this film to laugh in its face! I am genuinely considering taking some paper to make notes about all the snide comments I want to make. Because, despite all my bitchiness, I do realise that it's not polite to shout “Are you seeing this, beggars belief, I've been sick in my mouth” in the middle of a screening; some people might be there for a deep emotional experience. So yes, notepad needed I think.
But here's the thing. The class I was walking to, when I was having my Wow-I'm-Going-to-See-a -Terrible-Film-Soon-Thought-Party, was about Triumph of the Will. For those not up to date with Nazi cinema, its a documentary/propaganda film about the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremburg. Obviously watching it now is quite difficult. Yes, Reifenstahl has made significant efforts to avoid any explicit references to the anti-semitism already prevalent in National Socialist policy, but the fact is we all know how that rhetoric ends- spoiler alert: it's not good. All that said, it is generally considered to be one of the best and most effective documentary films ever made. So despite the utterly contempt abled ideals, cinematically it is a very well made film.
What does this have to do have with the sequel to Valentines Day everyone thought we didn't need? The fact is one of these films is well made/good in technical terms and emotionally involving, one will not be (I've put will because I do realise I haven't seen it but I'm pretty sure). However which one would I rather spend two hours of my life watching? Clearly New Years Eve. It's not a perfect comparison because obviously they are totally different types of films. But make the set up the same but with Melancholia instead of Triumph of The Will, I still pick New Years Eve. Melancholia won best movie at this year's European Film Awards in Berlin; New Year Eve might win an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. Again this isn't a perfect because I'm really not convinced that Melancholia is all that good, although I never saw the end because it induced travel motion nausea and I had to leave to almost be sick in the toilet (In case you were worried I wasn't). But that's my point; what does it matter that the institutions think its good? What does it matter that it's technically inventive/proficient? It needs to be enjoyable at least a little. Even if that enjoyment is found in relishing its sheer awfulness. We use this word 'good', but what does that even mean, surely there's millions of ways of being good. Some formal and some linked to how much it achieves its aims. New Year's Eve will achieve its aims if its audience enjoy it, even if the enjoyment is ironic.
There was an interesting piece in The New York Times in August about among other things, why Phineas and Ferb is better than Treme: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01Riff-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
Doing History of Art, I find that I spend most of my time taking everything very seriously, culturally speaking. It all matters, it's all important, it's all good and deep and the like. Sometimes I want to stand up and shout- IT'S A PAINTING! But I can also already find myself slipping into that mode of thinking, without really trying. I can already feel the weight of my cultural capital sitting guiltily on my shoulders. I just linked to The New York Times for fuck's sake and also I've made reference to Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher. For those looking for that reference, it's in this paragraph. When did I become this person? Cultural knowledge can so often be used to legitimise and perpetuate social inequality, am I in danger of becoming like that? Rational me says no of course you're not, you are socially aware and tuned into establishment bullshit. But the little nagging voice in my head says that to assume that shows ridiculous amounts of misplaced self belief; a holier-than-thou attitude. Hopefully the fact I'm sitting around on my sofa worrying about it will stop me even if it turns out I'm not above it all. I think the fact I'm listening to Lonely Island's I Just Had Sex is a good sign! Although, really, the very idea that I'm going to see a film to laugh of it because I understand “REAL” culture goes against that. Ah fuck it, I'm doomed!
This have nothing to do with television I realise, it turned into something weird along the way.
To summarise for those a little confused:
-New Years Eve is a good film in that it will succeed in giving me what I want from it.
-I'm worried I could slip and slide into cultural snobbery.
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