Entertainment For Lively Minds
Knee-jerk snobbery
Was listening to the Radio 4 Film Programme podcast on the train this am. Some bloke was warbling on about District 9 (thought that was last year) and opened by saying (in the standard 'I'm in the know tones') that is was so good that it was not a big Hollywood blockbuster etc etc....
Can't stand knee-jerk snobbery
The resort to 'established' truths that mark you as that person just a bit better...you are a person of taste and intellect. You are apart from the great unwashed mass and your taste is so informed and refined.
A particular example is the '..its not a big Hollywood blockbuster..they are not for me..huh-huh-huh...I prefer small/independent films..so much better.' The expected response is the complicit nod and an unsaid admiration at your really quite cultured taste.
How can any opinion of any product be valid if it resorts to such sweeping generalisations?
We are probably all guilty of it - but guess what
1. Small, independent (music/films) are not by definition better
2. Big, glossy, 'commercial' ('Oh dear...not for me') are not by definition bad
It all depends.
For me Up was easily the best film of 2009. I have seen some sniffy comments to the effect '..corporate, cynically assembled and gimmicky ...not for me'. Does that actually address the film itself or is that just a resort to that badge of what makes you, you believe, a person of taste.
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Up
is fabulous and easily the best film I saw last year. But it won't win an oscar for best film for the same artistic snobbery reasons.
Actually I agree with you
I just posted something into the District 9 thread and I forgot to mention this film. The 10 minute section where the old man's life is precised is so emotionally true. If they were speaking French it would have been lauded as much as Amelie.
Well
I saw both at the cinema and loved the both of them. There are two moments in Up where I went past lump in throat to full blub. That first ten minutes was the first, the second was when he found the album towards the end. And actually, it's all really understated. Pixar are just masterful at that stuff - perhaps it's because the story is the first thing, not the merchandising opportunities.
Ditrict 9 was great too. I like that it had overtones of The Office at first (more than a hint of Brent in Vikus), used handheld footage well, felt like documentary cinema and had a heart. Cracking movie and purchased immediately on DVD release. No doubt I'll do the same with Up.
I'm not a snob. I love movies with subtitles, just like I love both of these. And there's nothing wrong with a 'dumb' Hollywood film from time to time either. Think I'll be giving Avatar a miss though; all the hype's annoying and I don't fancy a film where the 3d masks the fact that the characters one have one dimension (a couple of friends with similar taste have not been impressed. Word of mouth wins).
I agree with you...
but I am a total snob and there's nowt I can do about it.
Speaking from a position of ignorance
- having neither seen the film nor heard the podcast... if said warbler was pleased that an 'indie' film had been a big hit - then I'm with him. If he was merely saying it's good because it *is* an indie film then that is tosh.
Mark Kermode was talking about Prophet last week and said if you are going to see it, see it in an independent Art-house cinema rather than a multiplex as they are more in need of your support - and he's right.
Independent successes are good for the industry as a whole (whether film or music) - independent product isn't automatically better than major studio/cinema chain or label.
Volume
The trouble is, independent films that aren't any good sink without trace, whereas major Hollywood films have so much marketing muscle behind them they're rammed down our throats whatever the quality.
There's no reason why a big budget film can't be as good as a small one, and you're right about the snobbery that undoubtedly exists. But with a big budget comes big expectations, and these often mean the film is compromised - by studio interference, formulaic happy-ending storylines, or bankable star names who aren't actually very good actors.
There are so many terrible Hollywood films out there, it's no wonder a certain prejudice exists. It's like the musical prejudice against tv talent shows - for every Girls Aloud there are dozens of Alexandra Burkes or Jedwards.
I haven't seen Up yet...
but I've just watched the clip and have now got something in my eye.
Me too, me too
*sniffle*
See it
its wonderful. DVD is out next month (can be bought from the US already though).
ooooooh it's going straight on my wish list...
that's the one Pixar I haven't seen yet (actually I tell a lie, I didn't see Cars either). can't wait.
That film nearly got me in trouble
I watched up on an Emirates flight from Glasgow to Dubai and that ten minute section, watched whilst a little emotionally fragile anyway- I'm a rather nervous flyer - absolutely killed me. I had tears running down my face just as the stewardess arrived to offer me a drink.
Obviously she sees a large weeping Scotsman before her and decides I must be drunk. She then reminds me its illegal to be drunk on a plane and refuses to serve me for the rest of the flight.
Bloody Pixar! And that bit with the folder had me crying like a child as well.
Your not the only one
and I blubbed again when I watched the dvd a month later even though I knew what was going to happen. Same places. Clever sods, Pixar. And talented.
As another fairly large Scotsman
I share your viewpoint. Took the kids to see Toy Story 2 in 3D (fantastic) the other night. Everything you could want from a film - creativity, great dialogue, emotion, humour, cross-generational appeal, superlative production values...
To me, yet another example that, as Steven Johnson put it: 'Everything Bad is Good For You'.
And a third large Scotsman here
To agree as well. It's almost annoying how good the Pixar films are. Makes you think they've done some deal with the devil.
You know what though? Ratatouille is even better. And The Incredibles is better still.
Quality.
It really doesn't matter if a film is small or large, it either works or it doesn't.Their really isn't a film that goes on release that can be called truly independent anyway.You either enjoy it or you don't.If enjoying quality in any of the arts is snobbery, then I guess I'm a snob.Up is great by the way.
You can't be a snob about films and music.
It's just not possible. Films and music are things of emotion. You can just as easily love a song because of the circumstances in which you heard it as for the song itself. Same with films. And that's not compatible with snobbery, is it?
Of course you can...
The snobbery isn't about whether you emotionally connect with a piece of art. It's about whether you make (often uninformed) presumptions about a piece of art and hold a particualr position because you think it makes you a "better person" than someone else.
The claim, "Oh, I'd never go and see a big summer blockbuster. They're so crass and shallow." is unlikely to be a reflection of the level of emotional response to the film but a condescending presumption that that makes one a better, more intellectual person than someone who would "demean" themselves to seeing popcorn fodder.
And it works in many genres and in both directions. "Oh no, I wouldn't possibly listen to pop music..." is much the same a comment as "Well, ALL folk/world/classical/[insert genre here] is just boring. I'd never listen to that." And those statements are a country mile away from comments such as "I went to see [Blockbuster X] but frankly, I didn't think much of it because..."/"Well, my taste is more for independent films and art-house than the big mainstream Hollywood films so that's what I tend to see mostly." or "Well, there's not really much folk/world/classical/[insert genre here] that I've heard that I've liked so I don't really listen to it much."
Well that's my point really.
That you can't be a snob about films and music because the very idea is so ludicrous.
Is it possible to avoid being a snob?
I don't think I'm guilty of being a film snob particularly (I tend to see everything going) so I was feeling a bit smug reading this post.
But then I'm thinking I'm probably just a snob in other areas: I try to avoid soap/reality/trash TV, and I try to avoid loud pop/dance music.
Strangely enough, one of the fun things about being a snob is when you get the rug pulled out from under you and you can't help but love something that goes against your grain. You feel ashamed and humbled and in the end a little bit more at ease with the world. I think a lot of music snobs have had this experience with Girls Aloud: a TV-created novelty pop group with a song as perfect as Biology? What's going on? Certainly swayed me.
Just watched that clip at work...
I saw the film at the cinema and found the 3d glasses going misty, so I should have known better. If anything, it's even more heartbreaking once you know what you're getting into. A colleague called towards the end of the clip; I think I disguised it, but really - I can't be getting that emotional in the office...