Have you ever met people that hate or don’t or can’t understand a movie that you think is amazing, or that you think just demands respect? I have. And I just don’t get it when they start to tell me why.
I’m thinking of people who object to Se7en because of the gore, as if that made it a bad movie. Or, the people who object to There Will Be Blood, because it disrespects the Church - which it doesn’t. Or, object to No Country For Old Men, because it’s too dark.
These people just do not understand how to interpret or appreciate art, or how to separate good art from their personal tastes. I’ve heard people object to The Joker in The Dark Knight, because he is just too disturbing, or they don’t like what Heath had to do to himself to play the part. Or, people who object to Goodfellas because of the swearing, or Good Will Hunting, because of the swearing.
Are you forming a picture in your head of the kind of person I mean? These people don’t belong in a movie theater. Their opinion of any movie is worthless. And from my experience, there’s no getting through to them just how shallow their criticism is.
Take No Country For Old Men. Is it bad because it’s too dark? Seriously? Is Anton Shigurh (literally, ‘ants on sugar’) too mean, nasty, devoid of goodness, ruthless, evil? YES! He is supposed to be. Good criticism goes to the creator, the writers, directors. The Coen Brothers are into philosophy, so you can expect philosophical themes in their works.
The whole movie is a parable, an allegory of sorts, deliberately set in a Flannery O’Connor type, short story medium. O’Connor would use dark themes set in the deep south to bring home deep insights into human nature, God, and faith. The Coen Brothers were doing the same things, I think.
To object to the movie because the bad guy was evil is pretty shallow and it doesn’t allow the movie to be what it is in order to communicate the meaning it’s trying to give us. If you personally can’t handle that, and it makes your stomach turn, or it makes you wince, then you have to be able to distinguish your sentiments from good art.
The movie gives us a visual representation of certain motifs in life that we better understand if we meet the movie half-way and let it teach us. It’s in the context of a story and is to the eyes and ears what books are primarily to the imagination. Movies get at our imagination through the visual representation. It’s the same process, different medium.
But you can go to any masterpiece out there and find bad reviews. Just visit imdb.com. Here, let me try an experiment. All are agreed that whether or not you like it, there’s something grand and sweeping and artistically brilliant about P.T Anderson’s Magnolia, right? I mean, intuitively, you’d think everyone would just ‘feel’ this, even if it’s not their cup of tea. Similarly, I feel like there MUST be something artistically brilliant about Lawrence of Arabia, even if I was bored to tears watching it. It’s just not for me. But I can appreciate and hold that distinction in my mind.
Now, read this comment about Magnolia. I’ll quote it: “As a somewhat well read person, I thought this movie was a self indulgent poor imitation of a seinfeld episode.” Read that again. This person was ‘angry’ because the characters weren’t interesting. I mean, what do you say to these people?
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You know, I feel the exact same way. I guess this separates the simple minded from the intellectual, or at least people that are devoid from creative thought. I know these people you speak of, and whenever I have to watch movies with them they almost always insult the film for some insignificant reason. It is frustrating to say the least.
ReplyDeleteIt's also important to note the importance of knowing the artist's intentions. From a different perspective, viewing 20th century art can sometimes be very hard because it is misunderstood. I mean, how many paintings have you looked at and said to yourself, "I could paint that in my sleep." Without understanding the meaning behind the painting, all you can perceive is the aesthetic. You have to begin to look at the painting from different perspectives to grasp what it means, even if you know nothing about it. I mean just the other day in class we learned about an artist who painted a canvas with merely a black square.
And I suppose that is similar to film. I mean you can watch movies like Fight Club and respect the film for its aesthetic, but until you dissect the movie and try to understand its true intentions will you be able to truly appreciate it.
One thing I've learned at SCAD is that you should always strive to push your artwork past just an aesthetic value. Even if your final composition is truly lacking any sort of concept, make it feel as if you did.
I'm beginning to ramble. Anyways I'm off to go to a Russian propaganda exhibit, and I like what you guys are doing here.