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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Movie Snobs - (nf)
Message-ID: <842@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Jul-84 19:17:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.842
Posted: Wed Jul 11 19:17:51 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Jul-84 04:57:07 EDT
References: <1702@tekig1.UUCP> <5100035@uok.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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> You think movies are supposed to be literature.  Wonderful.  Pick you favorite
> piece of literature (Paradise Lost, or maybe a Shakespearian play.)  Give it
> a great big budget with your favorite studio, release it in the summer to give
> it plenty of exposure, and I can tell you how many people will see it. 
> Five.  The Director, The Producer, The Writer, The Studio President, and the
> Star.  They will gather to pat each other on the back on the fine piece of
> literature they have made while the film moans like a beached whale at the
> box office because no one pays to see it.  When push comes to shove, like it
> or not, the only movies that make money are entertainment movies, not 
> political-social ones.

Which fails to explain movies like China Syndrome, Z, Gandhi, Annie Hall,
Life of Brian, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, Citizen Kane,
and hundreds more that were both successful and political/social/
intellectual/more-than-just-pap-for-people-who-want-to-be-entertained
(i.e., would rather not have to think).  Sorry, your statement holds no
water.

> I still stand behind my point.  Individuals dont need Hollywood directors
> and producers telling them how to live, and the purpose of movies is to
> entertain.  Somehow, I get this silly feeling I best know how to run my
> own life.  Maybe that's not a popular position, and maybe I am totally
> incorrect in my assumption, but I feel most people would agree with me.

Offering alternate perspectives or personal insights in a film is thought
of by some as "telling me how to live".  Obviously they know everything there
is to know about life, and don't need books or films or even other people
to offer them anything new.  What's really ironic is that such people feel
that this is being individualistic:  "I know how to run my own life;
I don't need anybody telling me how to do it by showing me other things I
don't know about in films and books.  I just want to be entertained and
run my own life as an individual."  What's ironic is that, with this line
of thinking, such people wind up on the lines to see all the spineless
"entertaining" films like "High School Sex Party" et al (which do, in fact,
make even the most blatant moneygrabbing flicks seem like masterworks by
comparison).  A million people buying Kenny Rogers albums, or eating at
McDonald's, or watching "Real People" has little or nothing to do with
anything; it just means that millions of people have been taught to be
spineless as well and to like whatever is thrown at them (and to *purchase*
it!).

> Look at the receipts of the box office winners so far this summer.  Which
> are making money, and which arent.

My point exactly.

> Oh, well, I have belabored the point enough.  I dont expect to change 
> anyones mind, I just felt it necessary to reinforce my position.  The
> successful films will always be entertainment-oriented ones, like it or not.

Except for the ones I've mentioned, the ones others will probably mention,
and the as yet unheard of ones to come that are made by people who know it's
easy enough to be entertaining (Hollywood/TV/music industry execs have it down
to a science!!!), but difficult to both entertain and show some real worth.

I really didn't intend for this article to have the nasty tone it does, because
I feel more sorry for people who have learned only know-nothing anti-
intellectual mentality than I feel angry at them.  And I can't exactly believe
that people choose to be that way voluntarily; it's a learned behavior, and
probably hard to unlearn.
-- 
This unit humbly and deeply apologizes for having and expressing opinions.
This will not occur again.  (BEEP)		Rich Rosen   pyuxn!rlr