Letters to the Editor
-
Steffie's Umpteenth Pauline Kael Ripoff
I know, I know. I read "Trash, Art and the Movies"--but wait! Wasn't that written in 1968? Way before all the world became a grindhouse? Does Steffie not get that Mama Pauline is rolling over in her grave imagining that Robert Rodriguez's fart jokes and Quentin's conflicted misogyny are the progeny of her onetime anti-highbrow, pro-schlock stance? Championing mindless sadism and witless filmmaking is no longer an admirable raspberry-blowing against Merchant Ivory. It's just buying into the corporate dreck machine.
-
Tarantino's Flicks
As visually attractive as they are, I cannot stomach another Tarantino's flick with all the blood and violence.
-
S.H.A.M. Scam Sam, thanks for nothing.
You have provided absolutely no justification, beyond saying "It's neat to watch women's vaginas pulled inside out," for the viewing of these violent movies. Perfectly understandable, of course; it's the justification all the gore freaks use whenever anyone calls them on their pretensions. "How could you NOT like this?" they say.
It's a parallel to the way the rich and the powerful ruin this country. Why not lock your desperate illegal immigrants overnight in your superstore to make them clean it? Why not screw millions out of their retirement investments? Why not let all those people who are not your color drown in New Orleans? How could you NOT like this?
It's all based on disdain for anything but yourself and your own desires. It is the justification of spoiled children. Maybe that's the base problem of everything in America, 2007; we're all spoiled children, and the natural result is Eric Cartman with a box cutter slicing the throat of an airline stewardess as our feature film tonight.
-
tomreedtoon: Eric Cartman is God.
That said, your diss of our men at Guantanamo; the statement that "art is not the question" (in a discussion of art) your implication that "Censoring the people" would be a positive development; that military experience (I'm a vet) and/or violent experience should be able to wreck an appreciation of a film genre - and your pejorative statement regarding those that have more money than you - all reveal you to be another liberal individual who's supremely frustrated with the realities of life. You think controlling the rest of us is the answer, making you a bad source for information on anything but your own desire for pastel flavored fascism.
Please, Sir, leave art - and freedom - to those of us that can appreciate the meaning of both.
-
tomreedtoon: The Final Girl
As for "no justification" - horror movies fans like smart, strong, women:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl
It's pretty obvious, from the positions you've taken, that your ignorance is dangerous to others.
Get some help.
-
tomreedtoon: go watch Reign Over Me and take a time out
If you do indeed suffer from PTSD, then I'm sorry for you. It really is pretty rough. There are other movies that might appeal to you more. Maybe watch Reign Over Me, which is about a character suffering from PTSD.
Just as Vietnam vets may not want to watch Apocalypse Now, those with PTSD may not want to experience violence again in any form, imagined or otherwise. That said, you're not thinking straight at all, and while PTSD may be a causal factor there, it's no excuse for sloppy logic.
Most healthy people have violent urges they don't realize; we are animals, after all. We kill to survive. Part of being healthy (and making art) is finding nonviolent means to express the full range of your humanity whether that's soft and fluffy or violent and brutal. You get to express yourself and nobody actually gets harmed. Goya did it. Rodin did it. Tarantino and Rodriguez are doing it. By watching the movie we too get to participate in the expression.
When you bottle this stuff up, as dictators, censors, and religious zealots have tried again and again, it just manifests in other, less healthy ways (Crusades anyone?)
I think you're right that you shouldn't see Grindhouse since violence probably give you nightmares. Then again, compared to the fans, your messages contain much more violent content (stating you carry a weapon) and paranoia-- a precursor to violence, than the people you're trying to silence. I think you need to find a way to express that violence you're feeling, which can not be accomplished by ridding yourself (or the world) of it completely. Good luck.
-
And incidentally, tomreedtoon...
...as a gay man, I take issue with your blanket statement to the effect that gay men allegedly hate women: no, dear sir, we just choose not to sleep with them, and as such generally leave them alone when not relating to them as other human beings -- quite different from "hating," at least whence I sit. In truth, my empirical observation leads me to conclude that the men who seem to act most hatefully toward women are the very ones who desire them the most; gay men generally don't rape women, for example. Think about it...
That said, call me dangerously desensitized, if you will, but I find the violent elements of films such as Pulp Fiction and Grindhouse (which I intend to see, FTR) to be as unrealistically cartoonish as any "Itchy & Scratchy" segment of The Simpsons, while reacting entirely differently to realistically portrayed violence (e. g., in a war movie)...but, then, I'm an adult who can tell the difference between fantasy and consensus reality, and have no wish to act out what I see, or to watch, say, a snuff film. Ultimately (at least for me), context is all: while "the old ultra-violence" (A Clockwork Orange, which I found brilliant, FTR) is not an especial draw for me -- I'm not even particularly an action-film fan, in fact -- I won't shy away from films with violent themes, or I'd have missed cinematic pleasures ranging from Rashomon (much of Kurosawa, truth be told) through Mean Streets and The Godfather (again, much of Scorcese) to Saving Private Ryan, among others. I admit to a fondness for genre films, hence the appeal to me of Grindhouse and its ilk. If these aren't your taste, believe it, I won't be dragging you to the theater with me; if they are, as the line goes, help yourself.
But, please, let's put that homophobic "woman-hating gay men" cant to rest for once and for all...