Post Random Movie-Related Thoughts You Have

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Kaius]

Your idea that some productions deserve the label "film" while the rest are just "movies" is snobby.

[LoathedVermin72]

This kind of hierarchy of artistic purity makes no sense to me, and I have no idea how anyone could apply it in any kind of meaningful, consistent, or logical way. Who is making that distinction? Who decides what is pure and what isn't? And why, ultimately, does it matter?

Every movie - no matter what its genre, who made it, how much it cost, how profitable it was, or what the filmmaker's intent was - is equally capable of insight, emotion, sensuality, and artistic success. Because all art is going to subjectively judged, an artist's intent has very little meaning to the artistic success of the final work of art. That is determined by the person taking in that work of art.

I think Commando is a greater artistic success than Manchester by the Sea. I think Jurassic Park is a greater artistic success than Schindler's List. These are all movies. These are all films. They are all works of art. They are all commercial. The only distinction is which ones I think are good or bad. I can be just as profoundly moved by a $100 million dollar blockbuster as I can an arthouse movie from the Czech Republic. There's no difference.

I totally agree with all of this. I wasn't suggesting that Get Out was somehow of higher merit than, say, BvsS; just that the creators' intentions were vastly different, and that for Jordan Peele, this movie seems to indicate a shift from crowd-pleasing/money-making fare to something with some sort of message.

So basically you're just saying he's moving away from goofy comedy and making something more serious dramatically. Why do we need the arbitrary movie/film distinction for that?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[LoathedVermin72]

But you ultimately have no idea what was going on in Peele's mind. You're guessing based on your own preconceptions.

And FWIW, it looks like Get Out is going to be waaaaaay more commercially successful than Keanu.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

Look, trag, I totally understand what you're trying to say. But there is a better way to say it. I agree with many in this thread (LV in particular, as he's been the most expansive and, I think, thoughtful). Don't take offense. Think about how you're processing and articulating information and then try to consider what others are offering in rebuttal. If you agree, then it's all easy enough. If you disagree, fine. Fuck 'em. That's valid, too. But maybe understand that you'll need to adjust your vocabulary/presentation in order to have a meaningful dialogue moving forward if that's really what you're after.

Either way, I think Keanu looked really funny but I never saw it. And I want to see Get Out. I'm not sure that I'm comfortable assuming any kind of "art" v "commerce" distinction myself. But you be you, buddy. Don't let the bastards get you down.

[E.H. Ruddock]

So by guessing and making it all based on your opinion of why a movie was made is what I think is coming off as snobby.

[Kaius]

Your idea that some productions deserve the label "film" while the rest are just "movies" is snobby.

It's just a shorthand way of saying "movies whose inception was based on commerce" vs "movies whose inception was based on artistic drive." Still not seeing how I'm being snobby, but I am starting to see how often you seem to like trying to make me feel small for having an idea that doesn't jive with your own. Good luck with that, asshole.

safe space

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[VinylGuy]

Oliver stone said something similar to Tarantino back in the day about him making films about stuff that mattered, about Vietnam and JFK, real violence and Tarantino making just flicks of cinematic violence. He differenced his craft because he thought it was more important or valuable. A lot of people thinks this way, they believe it's more important to have a movie like the blind spot, than let's say ...john wick.

For me, film is a support you used to make a movie.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Kaius]

Let me try to make my original point a little more clearly:

1. Artwork comes from one of a few different starting points.

2. If that artwork is destined for commerce, then inevitably the commerce and the art have to intersect at some point. How that intersection gets handled is interesting to me, and results vary.

3. I have a *hunch* that Keanu began as a commercial endeavor, and that Get Out began as a story that Jordan Peele felt a deep need to share. I have no way of knowing if this is true.

I genuinely don't understand why this is a contentious line of thought for people.

You're moving the goalpost and making it out like I'm being oppressive for challenging your original statement, which was something I disagreed with on a very basic level.

I'm now curious what it is you alluded to last week regarding saying something heinous and regretful. Some mainstream bitch put margarine on your ancient grain, lingonberry pancakes?

[LoathedVermin72]

I honestly just don't differentiate between "types" of movies, and the idea of art being "authentic" is not something I find interesting at all, so this kind of thinking is always somewhat alien to me.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Kaius]

Let me try to make my original point a little more clearly:

1. Artwork comes from one of a few different starting points.

2. If that artwork is destined for commerce, then inevitably the commerce and the art have to intersect at some point. How that intersection gets handled is interesting to me, and results vary.

3. I have a *hunch* that Keanu began as a commercial endeavor, and that Get Out began as a story that Jordan Peele felt a deep need to share. I have no way of knowing if this is true.

I genuinely don't understand why this is a contentious line of thought for people.

You're moving the goalpost and making it out like I'm being oppressive for challenging your original statement, which was something I disagreed with on a very basic level.

I'm now curious what it is you alluded to last week regarding saying something heinous and regretful. Some mainstream bitch put margarine on your ancient grain, lingonberry pancakes?

Ha, no, but you're not too far off. Don't see what that has to do with this topic though.

oh I think it may all be related, actually

[LoathedVermin72]

I honestly just don't differentiate between "types" of movies, and the idea of art being "authentic" is not something I find interesting at all, so this kind of thinking is always somewhat alien to me.

See, I do actively try to identify authenticity in art.

Oh, I can tell.

[Jorge]

I'm now curious what it is you alluded to last week regarding saying something heinous and regretful. Some mainstream bitch put margarine on your ancient grain, lingonberry pancakes?

Someone referred to Cassavetes's Faces as a movie

[VinylGuy]

I love big Hollywood movies, guys. I don't think of them as better or worse as "films," but I do think of them differently.

Trag do you consider Split a film or a movie??

This is crucial.