THE UNIMPORTANCE OF IMPORTANCE
Self-Savagery 102: Be aware that commentary on war and other supposedly 'serious' subjects is the quickest way to render your work tawdry and cheap. Like sticking sequins on jeans. See the difference between art about important subjects and important art. They are not the same, and frequently far far away from one another.
'How can you say that film was bad? It was about the war in Iraq! The invasion of Afghanistan! The exploitation of the Middle East by corporate greed! That's important!'
'Still a bad film.'
'But it expressed a sentiment that was entirely in keeping with your own. It expressed your exact position. You agree with the film-makers!'
'Still a bad film.'
Be strong on these matters! Be bold! Some of the worst films ever made suggest that 'rape is bad' or that 'being nice to each other is nice'. Example:
Battle Royale 2, an admittedly already predictably tired explosion of it's predecessor's thin formula, steered itself into offensively awful territiory (nay, dangerously offensive, quite something for a comedy horror-fest) with it's laughably patronising National Geographic-style footage of some poverty-stricken inhabitants of a not-named Middle Eastern state laughing and playing and thus teaching the main character about the meaning of, well, something (Poor people are happy? Brown people are nice? War is wrong? Innocence is destroyed by war? No poo, Poirot.). Thus a lame and hurried b-movie sequel becomes an unwieldy weapon; it becomes worth ignoring.
An achievement, all-round, really.
The best war films are comedies and the best comedies are war films anyway.
'How can you say that film was bad? It was about the war in Iraq! The invasion of Afghanistan! The exploitation of the Middle East by corporate greed! That's important!'
'Still a bad film.'
'But it expressed a sentiment that was entirely in keeping with your own. It expressed your exact position. You agree with the film-makers!'
'Still a bad film.'
Be strong on these matters! Be bold! Some of the worst films ever made suggest that 'rape is bad' or that 'being nice to each other is nice'. Example:
Battle Royale 2, an admittedly already predictably tired explosion of it's predecessor's thin formula, steered itself into offensively awful territiory (nay, dangerously offensive, quite something for a comedy horror-fest) with it's laughably patronising National Geographic-style footage of some poverty-stricken inhabitants of a not-named Middle Eastern state laughing and playing and thus teaching the main character about the meaning of, well, something (Poor people are happy? Brown people are nice? War is wrong? Innocence is destroyed by war? No poo, Poirot.). Thus a lame and hurried b-movie sequel becomes an unwieldy weapon; it becomes worth ignoring.
An achievement, all-round, really.
The best war films are comedies and the best comedies are war films anyway.
posted by The Legendary Black Marquis at 4:41 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home