On polishing your own asshole
* * * WATCH OUT! SPARKS MAY FLY FROM THE AXE THAT I’M GRINDING* * *
No one does it better than fan boys and “film journalists”* (those who own more Criterion Collection DVDs than you.)
Movies are the most popular accessible form of art; ready made for mass consumption. Yet self-identified cinefiles are the most elitist, gatekeep-y, exclusive moviegoers at the cinema. Unless you understand (and agree with) the social context, history of the genre, legacy of the director, and cinematic traditions that a particular piece of celluloid was conceived in then you have NO right , and indeed, no idea how you feel about “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN”. Or say, anything by Spike Jonze.
In other words, you. don’t. get. “IT”
And if you do write an errant blog post, trashing say, I don’t know, Steve Sodebergh because he makes silly movies sometimes, then the brave fan boys and web based film journos will make sure to stand up for their millionaire auteurs, becasuse jeez, somebody has to right?
(*just a note on a ‘film journalist’. This is a moniker that has been bandied about several high brow film blogs. But these journos don’t do any actual reporting. Not on studio deals, union politics, the messy re-writes, oscar ballot campaigning, or any of the grit and tension that comes the Hollywood Industrial Complex. No, instead these are tertiary on lookers who believe their MFA in film theory, their membership pass to Film Forum, and the refined love of Soviet Era silent films entitles them to reputation of some hard nosed “journalist”. They are critics and fans. And that’s fine! But there’s a difference, no?)
