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Read other letters about this article
""Cloverfield" may be tacky, but since when is tacky worth fussing about?"
--You're right. It's not worth fussing about. Sorry I offered an opinion on the subject. It won't happen again.
Tacky is usually more risible than arousing, and many folks here seem incensed at this movie's very existence.
-- Personally, I'm not going to go see the film so it doesn't really matter to me if the movie exists or not. I don't agree that folks seemed incensed at the movie's very existence. In fact, more people seemed incensed by the thought that a few of us found the movie in questionable taste. By far the nastiest comments were directed against those of us who expressed the notion that the 9/11 theme (if there is one, which has been a subject of debate) was inappropriate.
"The point is, art (and yeah, filmmaking, even monster-movie filmmaking, is an art form; a thing doesn't become art by virtue of quality) sometimes disturbs. Or maybe a better word is provoked. A lot of people reading this review obviously feel provoked.
"Not everybody enjoys stirring up darker feelings; perfectly understandable. I'm not trying to disregard or dismiss anyone's feelings.
"But some of us like to dig into that ugly stuff, in a digestible, safe way; agitation can bring things to light that might otherwise have festered down below."
-- Let me repeat again that my objection to "Cloverdale" is not that I'm afraid of stirring up so-called darker feelings. I think I've pretty much worked through my darker feelings about 9/11 in my day-to-day life, so maybe I don't feel the need to see a latter-day Godzilla movie as a form of catharsis. It seems a bit weird to say that the Japanese people needed a film of a guy walking around in a lizard suit to deal with the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For my part, I'm sure I haven't been pining away for a monster movie with a 9/11 subtext to help me through any unresolved feelings about the destruction of the World Trade Center. I imagine most people who watch these movies are looking for escapism and nothing more. Note that many of the people above even deny that there is a 9/11 subtext, so if that's what's appealing to them, it's only on a very subconsious level.
--As for provocations, I was less provoked by the movie itself as I was by all the ad hominem attacks directed against those of us who even marginially agreed with the reviewer's thesis.
--I'm really through with these message boards. It's impossible to state a simple opinion here without being denounced for heresy on all sides.
