Please Enlighten Me...
What is it about trash that makes people want to throw money at it? I recently watched Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan in theaters (and loved every second of it, I might add), and I just finished Shyamalan's Unbreakable... and now that I've seen all of his major movies, I have come to the conclusion that he is the most talented moviemaker of our time.
The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water... All beautifully executed movies with complex and intelligent plots and vivid characters; and yet, they will forever be outsold by trash. Titanic will still have better box office results (I will now brace myself for unprecedented hatred, as I've now referred to Titanic as "trash"), Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill will forever be more beloved by critics, and Dumb and Dumber will forever be seen as a masterpiece by the majority of Americans.
What is wrong with these peoples' minds?
And while I'm thinking about it...
Why did The Tick only last three seasons and Frasier never receive popular acclaim, while Cops is in its 15th season, and Friends quotes were a part of American life for ten miserable years?
Why don't Reese Roper, Derek Webb and Sufjan Stevens get the kind of recognition and album sales that come so naturally for talentless wonders like Kelly Clarkson, Green Day and Fall Out Boy?
Art is meant to be beautiful. Beauty is not subjective. Truth is essential.
Don't be satisfied.
posted by jacob.thrasher @ 8/19/2006 10:12:00 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:COMMENT POLICY
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Neo has a face!
I've seen Unbreakable, Lady in the Water and Signs - I think M. Knight Shymalan definitely knows how to tell a story and capture the mood. Lady in the Water I wasn't entirely impressed with, but I admire it's creativity and uniqueness.
I definitely know what you mean about music, too. 'Radio music' doesn't appeal to me much - it's too manufactured, not enough individuality or creativity.
Titanic totally sucked.
Hey now, whats wrong with Cops?
I think it's just that Cops appeals to our baser instincts. Our interest in how the lower segments of society interact with law enforcement is not really rooted in higher callings.....at least, I know that when I'm drawn into watching it, the part of me that is speaking is not the part that I like to feed.
Shyamalan definitely knows how to tell an interesting story, I'll give him that. Personally, I prefer the type of movies that he makes to have a little more plot twisting instead of mystery. What can I say?--I like psychological horror/thrillers (like The Ring or Secret Window).
And I wouldn't say that Fall Out Boy is talentless. Their singer has a heck of a voice. As does Kellie Clarkson (could care less for her music, though). But yes, it is amazing how truly talented artists don't sell much.
I think it's 'cause they're usually pretty quirky. But there is some good music starting to surface in the top 40. Slowly. All we can do is promote the artists we love.
Hooray for Derek Webb! :) Mockingbird is an awesome song. Check out House of Heroes. You'd probably like them.
hey there
you dont really know me, but im definitelybecky from the THH. nice to read your blog. good stuff here.
so anyways, i thought id comment and say hi. thats my first objective.
secondly... "beauty is not subjective"... i beg to differ. of course it is subjective. Its all in your persepective, how you see something, what you know of it, what your background is, previous experience and bias, how you approach it.
although, i do tend agree with you about the movies. i have never understood the appeal of dumb and dumber. and i never will. ever. but just because it doesnt appeal to me, doesnt mean it doesnt appeal to others. because obviously, it does. for some reason or another. perhaps they even see it as beautiful...*cough*.
and musicians... im pretty sure the talent of green day is their talent to figure out what appeals to angsty teenagers, and then exploit it for all its worth.
ok. thats it. my two cents.
It's Becky! Good to hear from you!
Perhaps I should explain what I mean when I say "beauty is not subjective." Think of it like this: If we read the Bible, we will find that God does refer to some things and people as being beautiful. Some praises are beautiful, some people (such as Ruth) were beautiful, and so on.
Now, this suggests to me that God has a standard of beauty; He is capable of seeing one thing as beautiful, and another thing as vile. If God has a standard of beauty, then who am I to argue? God is, after all, the only one capable of making a final judgment about anything in His creation; he is the arbiter of truth. Then, who am I to take something that is ugly according to His standards, and call it beautiful?
This is why it's important to learn what God views as beautiful and worthy of praise, and what God reviles. If we do not, then we have no choice but to view beauty as subjective.
Thus, beauty is about more than just subjective "taste"; it is about truth, as determined by God. If this is not the case, then God's view of beauty is only as valid as our own. You see, beauty could only be subjective if God didn't have an opinion about it.
"However, Kill Bill was also awesome... funny how your grudge against Quentin Tarantino is so intense that you even criticize movies that you have never seen... yeah. Whatever. He's a twisted twisted man, but if you can get past the gore, Kill Bill is an amazing movie. He builds characters that rival Lady in the Water."
A movie about revenge and gore is not good in any sense of the word, I'm sorry.
"I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT SNAKES ON A PLANE!!!"
Go die. In a hole.
Under a rock.
Thanks for the invite, but I'd rather give myself a lobotomy.
"Art is entirely subjective."
Please see my above comment.
Okay, so Tarantino is great. I loved Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction. Kill Bill isn't about gore. It has a lot of blood, but that isn't gore, it's blood. Gore would be like the scene in Shaun of the Dead where a guy has his guts pulled out. But Shaun of the Dead is great too. The thing about those two movie is that they're paying homage to the ridiculousness of previous films in those genres. Samurai movies are notorious for showing the human body as having a lot more blood than it really does, and zombie movies are known for having relly disgusting displays of the inside of the human body, i.e. Day of the Dead.
And I know this will be painfully for many to hear, but Snakes on a Plane was GREAT. Not so bad it's good, but so good it's really great. It isn't just funny but also a great thriller. One of the few times when I was really unsure as to how the ending would truen out, with some legit twists.
And I think Titanic is extremely enjoyable. Not only is there great action in the second half but the love story in the fisrt is good too, despite being the usual Romean/Juliet-type romance.
hey again, i meant to reply to this a long time ago.
anyways... sure, god has a standard for beauty. but he doesnt address MANY subjects. it does talk about "beautiful women" (especially in proverbs and song of solomon), it talks about beautiful feet (those that bring good news), it talks about god being beautiful and glorious, when a woman anointed jesus he said that she did a "beautiful thing". but on the whole, god's standard of beauty is not clear at all.
this is where i think its left to us. God doesnt spell everything out in the bible, he leaves alot of things to our discretion, our best judgement. and as humans, we have different perspectives, and so our discretion will vary greatly, especially on subjects (such as music and art) where the bible is quite silent on.
my thoughts.
Sure, God doesn't directly reveal what is truely beautiful and what isn't, but He does have "standards." Like if there was a picture of someone being violently killed or something like that (eh, bad example, but we'll live), it would not be beautiful because it does not glorify God and as a matter of fact, it goes against His law--"Thou shalt not murder."
Also, with music--there are standards too. There are debates about different genres and styles being bad, but I won't get into that. Standards for lyrics are quite clear though. As long as it doesn't go against God and His will, then it is fine. This doesn't mean that it has to talk about God directly or at all, I mean people write songs about people and events all the time that are not bad, but don't involve God. I actually only listen to Christian music such as tobyMac, Casting Crowns, Kutless, etc. because I found that my spiritual life declined if I intentionally listened to secular things.
But anyways, just my thoughts. =)
Whoa...where to begin? Ahh... I know! I love Signs and Lady in the Water. The Village wasn't as good as the other two but pretty good none the less. I like how Shylaman gives a very Hichcock-y feel to his movies. He makes them suspenceful without gore.
Also, I do believe that Beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. I may think an artitst (whether it be in music or acting) is really good and you might think he's (or she's) bad. Also, don't you think that God wasn't looking at the outside he was looking more at their souls?
Another point! I love FRAISER! Great sitcom! We have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. Funny stuff right there.
Ok I've said my peace.
*Here and there and Gone again*
Hotaru~*
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