Frustrated
Everyone thinks they have good taste. I know this. And I know that it's the ultimate in hubris to believe that unlike so many of those other idiots out there, I'm actually one of the people who truly does have good taste. So yeah, I'm feeling like a jackass with every word I type, but at this point, the rant is imminent.
You know, there's tons of good media out there. Wonderful, layered television shows, books, and movies with rich settings, complex characters, innovative plots. Careful, analytical news programs that are well-researched and go beyond talking points and sound bites. (Ah, Frontline, if more Americans watched you, I think the country might really be a better place). Conceptual, powerful music that stirs deep feelings. There's even grown-up, intelligent slash out there on the internet.
But what do people go for? Twilight and Fox News (the other day they actually ran a segment about how the Taliban are training monkeys to shoot guns...yet they're overwhelmingly the best-rated cable news network) and flat, predictable slash romance that hits all the same old tired tropes.
Life is tough and sometimes we all just want to tune out at the end of the day with a greasy cheeseburger and a perky blonde anchor who enunciates all those simple little words nice and clearly so we don't have to think too hard. But when we're all so freaking lazy all the time, it means we keep getting fed more and more of that media junk food. And I'm starting to wonder if fast, cheap, greasy media is just as destructive to the mind as fast food is to the body.
I dunno. Maybe I've just been in academia for too long and can't help but pick everything apart these days. I know I shouldn't take it personally when I watch or read or hear something that I think is pandering crap. Just because I feel like they insult my intelligence doesn't mean that all the people out there who dig Jennifer Aniston rom coms are actually idiots. Holding onto the belief that huge chunks of the population are stupid is destructive and idiotic in and of itself.
But man, I love those bright points of good media out there so much, and there's so much good shit that goes unnoticed while the genre of "World's Most Explody Explosions" expands exponentially, sometimes it's hard not to view matters of personal taste through a lens of morality. In the end, it's all entertainment meant for us to enjoy. Don't like, don't watch/read and all that.
Anyway, this rant probably should've been more concretely about how disappointed I am with slash lately, but really, what's the point in being a hater? It's my own problem that, after careful reflection, I've come to the conclusion that romance as a genre kinda disgusts me 90% of the time. Slash is dominated by teenage girls and older women I don't necessarily share a lot in common with and if a story isn't about high school boys, it's about vampires, werewolves, sex slaves, or eighteenth century sailors. Readers like the same old tired phrases in the same old wheezy sex scenes...and a lot of them skip the plot just to get there. This is just the way it is and no matter what I read or what I write, it's not going to change. There are the gems, the writers I love and the stories that make me believe that maybe I do like romance. I'm grateful for them and glad a lot of my favorites are still cranking out great new stuff. I still run across a rec a few times a year that really impresses me.
But gone are the days where I could always find a new epic online when the mood struck. It's like that webpage: "Sorry, but you have reached the end of the internet." Just leaves me sad that that period of excitement and discovery seems to be over for me. Perhaps I'll run across something new and get inspired all over again.
In the meantime, I'm going to play some video games.
You know, there's tons of good media out there. Wonderful, layered television shows, books, and movies with rich settings, complex characters, innovative plots. Careful, analytical news programs that are well-researched and go beyond talking points and sound bites. (Ah, Frontline, if more Americans watched you, I think the country might really be a better place). Conceptual, powerful music that stirs deep feelings. There's even grown-up, intelligent slash out there on the internet.
But what do people go for? Twilight and Fox News (the other day they actually ran a segment about how the Taliban are training monkeys to shoot guns...yet they're overwhelmingly the best-rated cable news network) and flat, predictable slash romance that hits all the same old tired tropes.
Life is tough and sometimes we all just want to tune out at the end of the day with a greasy cheeseburger and a perky blonde anchor who enunciates all those simple little words nice and clearly so we don't have to think too hard. But when we're all so freaking lazy all the time, it means we keep getting fed more and more of that media junk food. And I'm starting to wonder if fast, cheap, greasy media is just as destructive to the mind as fast food is to the body.
I dunno. Maybe I've just been in academia for too long and can't help but pick everything apart these days. I know I shouldn't take it personally when I watch or read or hear something that I think is pandering crap. Just because I feel like they insult my intelligence doesn't mean that all the people out there who dig Jennifer Aniston rom coms are actually idiots. Holding onto the belief that huge chunks of the population are stupid is destructive and idiotic in and of itself.
But man, I love those bright points of good media out there so much, and there's so much good shit that goes unnoticed while the genre of "World's Most Explody Explosions" expands exponentially, sometimes it's hard not to view matters of personal taste through a lens of morality. In the end, it's all entertainment meant for us to enjoy. Don't like, don't watch/read and all that.
Anyway, this rant probably should've been more concretely about how disappointed I am with slash lately, but really, what's the point in being a hater? It's my own problem that, after careful reflection, I've come to the conclusion that romance as a genre kinda disgusts me 90% of the time. Slash is dominated by teenage girls and older women I don't necessarily share a lot in common with and if a story isn't about high school boys, it's about vampires, werewolves, sex slaves, or eighteenth century sailors. Readers like the same old tired phrases in the same old wheezy sex scenes...and a lot of them skip the plot just to get there. This is just the way it is and no matter what I read or what I write, it's not going to change. There are the gems, the writers I love and the stories that make me believe that maybe I do like romance. I'm grateful for them and glad a lot of my favorites are still cranking out great new stuff. I still run across a rec a few times a year that really impresses me.
But gone are the days where I could always find a new epic online when the mood struck. It's like that webpage: "Sorry, but you have reached the end of the internet." Just leaves me sad that that period of excitement and discovery seems to be over for me. Perhaps I'll run across something new and get inspired all over again.
In the meantime, I'm going to play some video games.