In Reply to: Huh? posted by Bulkington on March 15, 2005 at 12:08:07:
Allow me to pontificate: There are inevitably those film watchers who liken themselves "high-brow." I assume that you are that type of viewer based upon your use of the word "middle-brow", because it is not a complementary term, and I assume you do not put yourself among them. You know, the type that are too smart and intelligent, too experienced to enjoy those things enjoyed by the masses. The masses are too dumb, not smart enough to know what is good and not good, to know what is "art", and what is not "art." If the masses enjoy something, such as Mystic River, then it must not be good because, if they enjoy it, by definition, it is middle-brow. Never mind that it is one of the most celebrated films in the last five years or so, by both patrons and professional critics. It is middle brow precisely because it is enjoyed by so many people.The film industry did not annoint Mystic River anything. If you read anything about Clint Eastwood, you would know that with both Mystic River, and particularly Million Dollar Baby, he largely raised his own funding because the industry did not consider those films marketable. The industry showed no interest in those films. The interest in those films arose because of the many patrons that saw them. Notice how there was very little marketing of Million Dollar Baby. Particularly in comparison of other films, and particularly for an academy award winner.
Your post strikes me as arrogant and snobbish because you set yourself up as the arbiter of what is middle-brow entertainment, which, obviously, cannot be enjoyed by anyone who has developed tastes such as yourself. You know, those rubes who go to a museum once a year to make themselves feel edumacated, to feel like they belong with people like you, and can never appreciate those things reserved for the sophisticated people. Fools, thinking they are culturally literate. Of course, the culturally literate are the same goofballs who proclaimed Jackson Pollock a great artist. I saw his artwork first hand with I visited New York last spring, and no great artist is he.
This attitude seems to pervade the Northeast. I remember a couple of years ago when my brother in law gave me a Nascar video game. I asked him why he would think that I wanted the game. He replied that he thought everyone in the Midwest liked Nascar. Oh well, he spends a lot of time in museums.
Your comment about basketball is ironic, considering how many high brow types go to basketball games to be seen, trying to convince people they are hip. Damn slummers. Me, I would prefer to pay $5.00 for the cheap seats at a baseball game, drink a few suds, hang out with a few friends, rather than go to a museum every week, or however many times you think it is necessary to get into the club. You can go to the museum. I'll have more fun. Oh yea, Mystic River is a very good film, despite it's working class surroundings.
Perhaps, in response, you can specifically address what it is about Mystic River that you disliked, and what so many intelligent people have missed rather than spew forth name calling and insults to the people who actually enjoyed the film. Or is that the style of your ilk.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Huh? - jamesgarvin 13:32:48 03/15/05 (18)
- Re: Huh? - Bulkington 13:40:09 03/16/05 (2)
- The masses are too dumb, not smart enough to know what is good and not good. - rhizomatic 13:31:03 03/16/05 (13)
- Re: The masses are too dumb, not smart enough to know what is good and not good. - jamesgarvin 15:55:18 03/16/05 (12)
- Don't you get it? Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon practically *stink* of high art... ;-) ... nt - clarkjohnsen 11:20:36 03/17/05 (4)
- Hung up on the term? - rhizomatic 11:35:22 03/17/05 (3)
- 'Scuse me, not my term. I repeated it in jest. Lighten up. And as I said elsewhere... - clarkjohnsen 11:42:12 03/17/05 (2)
- Did you like the book? - rhizomatic 11:49:55 03/17/05 (1)
- I thought it was supposed to be easier to make good movies out of bad books - Bulkington 12:24:15 03/17/05 (0)
- Well, no... - rhizomatic 17:34:57 03/16/05 (6)
- Re: Well, no... - jamesgarvin 09:26:56 03/17/05 (5)
- And let us not forget, it's scripted from a frikkin' BOOK by a frikkin' MYSTERY writer. How much higher can art go? nt - clarkjohnsen 11:24:18 03/17/05 (0)
- You don't think that intentions are *implicit* to works of art? - rhizomatic 10:25:44 03/17/05 (3)
- Re: You don't think that intentions are *implicit* to works of art? - jamesgarvin 13:09:47 03/17/05 (1)
- But I'm not judging Eastwood. - rhizomatic 13:54:02 03/17/05 (0)
- Oh, by 'supplementary baggage' here, - rhizomatic 10:27:05 03/17/05 (0)
- "The arbiter of what is middle-brow entertainment..." Haw! - clarkjohnsen 07:44:33 03/16/05 (0)