assorted thoughts

[fanbeatsman]

- Went to see New Moon at the weekend, drunk and desiring lulz; it didn't disappoint. It is, in many respects, a laughable film; you can laugh at the acting, the script, the narrative, the characters, and like probably about half the internet, galvani and I did, muchly

Comments

[fanbeatsman]

As always, you make a lot of sense :) - and like you, I remember the way in which things like songs, films, books, artists, media consumption generally can get all tied up in that process of negotiating your identity and way of being in the world. Maybe, because of the things I've found myself wanting to do and work on of late, I've spent so long deliberately trying to become as catholic and receptive as possible as regards my tastes and others' that I've forgotten how powerful, personal and significant that kind of identification can be. There's only trivial, mild vestiges of it left in my response to Twilight: frustration that this new, crappy kind of vampire story and vampire mythology is taking such root at the expense of the kind I like, heh.

I like how you put things in that last sentence, too - and I think it gets at why, in the end, I'm not as cranky and mistrustful about the response to Twilight as I am about other mass cultural expressions I've seen as disproportionate. What's frustrated me about other cases where people have fixated on and generated huge amounts of outrage about examples of sexism that haven't struck me as particularly egregious, or that have struck me as easy targets, is that it's felt like they were using it as an excuse to not have to think about more serious or difficult to address/understand/correct issues, while still being able to pat themselves on the back...whereas with Twilight, at least, the reaction a) is tending to come from people who are generally concerned about and committed to addressing problematic cultural attitudes towards sex and relationships (with Twilight being, like you say, just a focus for their energy), and b) is directed at what is for me one of the major and most difficult to effect change on battlegrounds for this kind of fight, at least in an Anglo-American context: popular culture.

Thought-provoking comment; cheers :)