Pretension
Feb. 15th, 2005 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreaminghopeAs I was reading ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tareija's post on artsy pretension in relation to Fight Club, the following came to mind:
Sometimes my brain reminds me of one of those "artsy" movies... the ones with fancy shots through fans and doorways, long periods without dialogue, where characters just sit and look at each other, and no mood-setting music. Think Monster's Ball and most Canadian dramas.
They remind me of my brain because they always seem like they are supposed to be full of bigger meanings, deep insights into the world and the poor miserable people who populate it. But even as you are watching the film, supposedly watching the creation of these insights, you have to wonder if the whole thing is really just self-indulgent, overblown, over-thought, and, in the end, meaningless.
And both my brain and the artsy movies seem to have a scary superficial resemblance to most perfume commercials.
tareija's post on artsy pretension in relation to Fight Club, the following came to mind:Sometimes my brain reminds me of one of those "artsy" movies... the ones with fancy shots through fans and doorways, long periods without dialogue, where characters just sit and look at each other, and no mood-setting music. Think Monster's Ball and most Canadian dramas.
They remind me of my brain because they always seem like they are supposed to be full of bigger meanings, deep insights into the world and the poor miserable people who populate it. But even as you are watching the film, supposedly watching the creation of these insights, you have to wonder if the whole thing is really just self-indulgent, overblown, over-thought, and, in the end, meaningless.
And both my brain and the artsy movies seem to have a scary superficial resemblance to most perfume commercials.
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pretension
Date: 2005-02-16 06:25 pm (UTC)The ultimate in pretentious, to me, is movies/music/art that sets itself up as some weird kind of coolness test. I got the feeling watching "Fight Club" that it was (in part) some kind of "how cool are you?" test. If you got it, it meant that you were smarter than all the other pathetics drones who just weren't cool and hip and smart enough to get it.
Then again, as I said, I did spend too much time with people like Merlyn and Alex and their friends. They made some utter crap as art, and would verbally berate me about how if I was cooler, I would get it and appreciate whatever crap they were working on that week. So part of me having a problem with things I perceive as being cooler-than-thou is a reactio against crap from the past, and not necesarrily to do with anything right now.
Anyway... the interior of your brain is like a perfume commercial, eh? Nuts, man. I had no idea :>
But yeah... there is a line for films where on one side there is opening people's eyes to wider view of the world and the "poor miserable people who populate it", and the other side is just emotional masturbation masquerading as education.
Re: pretension
Date: 2005-02-17 02:17 am (UTC)Re: pretension
Date: 2005-02-17 06:44 pm (UTC)Wow, I'm quotable! Awesome! Thanks hon!