Links I Like: Academizing "Low" Culture

Oh NPR, your take on pop culture criticism is exactly my speed. This piece talks about how fans of the hoity-toity/"good" movies and music tend to look down on the more low-brow fare. As an unapologetic fan of summer blockbusters, the actiony shoot-em-ups that come barreling into the theatres and our lives once a year, I run into this problem all the time. My elitist friends who only venture into the cineplex for the latest Coen's piece or a Haneke retrospective don't understand my willingness to shell out $10 to see the explosions on a big screen and hear them in Dolby surround sound. My home TV doesn't look that good (although the new one is pretty close squeee!) and I think those are the movies that benefit from the big screen treatment.

I think this sort of divide in the movie-lover world boils down to a movies vs. films divide. People who are fans of "films" can oftentimes look down on mere "movies." Those who want to just be entertained by "movies" view the "film" aficionados as elitist snobs. It's the classic "us vs. them" battle playing out in the multi-plex.

Some movies try to bridge the gap. The first movie that pops into my head is Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It offered a clever and sharp take on the summer action movie. It was a pretty sharp satire on the dynamics within a marriage. Many dismissed it a just another piece of Hollywood schlock. Those people missed out.

The point I think everyone should take from the NPR piece? This line: "Something being Over There (this piece's phrase for referring to Low Culture) doesn't mean that there's nothing interesting to be said about it." This is the motto of this blog and as my readers I hope it is the motto of your movie-going experience.

Links I Like: The Surprise Factor in Movies

As I've mentioned before, I hate spoiling movies for people who haven't yet seen them. I think the joy of certain movies comes from a surprise twist or an unexpected tonal shift that the viewer never sees coming. But at the same time, I am guilty of over-researching the movies I pay to see. There are certain filmmakers or actors I will always seek out no matter what, but if I'm on the fence about something I will always read several reviews from trusted sources to help me decide if I want to spend $10 on it, or if I'm just going to wait for Netflix.

For all of these reasons I really enjoyed this piece. He argues that is a common problem and it stems from both the information explosion that is the internet and the new marketing scheme of the studios themselves. What do you think? Is this new ability to know so much more about the movies we see ruining the movies we see? Is this our responsibility to avoid potential spoilers? (On this note I am reminded of interviews with the creators of both District 9 and Hard Candy thanking both of their respective studios for putting out spoiler-free trailers. So is this a problem confined to the major studios?) What is our responsibility to our own movie-going experience?