So... boyband documentary!
(I really need to give up the ghost and get a Harry Styles icon. SIGH.)
Went to see the 1D movie with a bunch of delightful fangirls and enjoyed it more than I expected. Alas, the 3D made my headache worse and drove me right home afterwards, but maybe that was for the best since I ended up with more thoughts than feels, and I hatehateHATE being the least squeeful person in the room for whatever reason. ANYWAY.
Perhaps because I come from a family of musicians and the whole lovely concept of band as found family has been demystified for me from the get-go, or perhaps because I grew up in a culture so profoundly sexist and patriarchal that male bonds were simply not something a woman could celebrate (experience in a marginal way? if you're enough of a tomboy, and even then very temporarily; fear? sometimes; be excluded from in a range of behaviors from ignoring to hostile? you betcha!) - either way, male groups as an RPF concept simply don't hold the same charm for me as they do for many of my fellow fangirls. I love the fictional found families, perhaps all the more so because they tend to be a mix of male and female characters; but I've seen too many bands from way too up close and personal to go to that place of unity forever as the first stop. Perhaps that's cynical; I just feel it's realistic.
Which is why I kinda LOVED that this extremely charming bunch of boys, in the middle of a movie that celebrates their tremendous success, seem to be REALLY CLEAR-HEADED about it - that this career means something different to each of them, that they are at the top of the world and are really loving this wild experience but there's a life after/beyond this, and that they are sharing something amazing right now and it will be a part of their friendship forever, regardless of where they go from here... and they will go into *rimshot* different directions. I found that to be sweet and genuinely moving without being sentimental, and it was certainly more than I expected from guys their age. There is definitely pride in what they've achieved, but there is also a pretty clear feeling of HOLY SHIT, WE ARE SO INSANELY LUCKY that's - well, refreshing and charming and quite mentally healthy. :)
Another thing I loved: the movie, and the band, truly celebrate the fans. We're talking genuine gratitude and a sense of collaboration in creating 1D's wild success; and although they are teenagers who will "orchestrate" a massive crowd outside their balcony to hush, then scream, then hush, then scream again - which is ridiculous but nowhere near jaded - they also say things like they wish they could meet their fans and chat with everyone and get a chance to say thank you. A few people - usually journalists - mention that the 1D fans are CRAZY, and then there's a great comical scene of a SCIENTIST who explains what happens in a person's brain when they hear music they love; this part is hilarious without being a mockery, plus it actually uses a line VERY SIMILAR to Adam Lambert's defense of his fans ("they're excited, not hostile") to simply state that the fangirls are not crazy, JUST EXCITED. In a scene during which the band has to hide inside a store and wait for more security because the entire block got besieged by fangirls who saw them out shopping - in that surreal and somewhat scary scene, the hysteria is commented upon with awe instead of judgment. Even the aggressive grabbing is kind of laughed off - and, um, I wouldn't be able to keep my cool if someone grabbed my ear in the street, so kudos and a half for that reaction. (Or, I guess, kudos for selecting such reactions for the narrative - but if the not-so-complimentary stuff ended up on the metaphorical cutting room floor, the decision to portray the fans this way was a very good one. I say this after seeing several gifsets on Tumblr containing random stuff thrown at these guys while they're on stage, and I'm just amazed that they haven't flipped their shit in a very public way at any point during the last 3 years.)
Speaking of what's been left out: it's quite impressive that the movie tells this story of "a bunch of normal guys experiencing incredible success" without becoming exploitative or emotionally pornographic, which is my problem with most reality shows a.k.a. their very background. There are family scenes, but they are actually quite minimal; biographical stuff is kept down to a few lines; there is precious little about the guys' lives except for a few entertaining details, character sketches rather than personality deconstructions one might expect from "real stories" about celebrities. Very nicely done. (And even with that minimal exposure and each of the guys being brilliant/ridiculous in their own way, it's so, so very clear that Harry is the GENUINELY WEIRD one. This is attractive to a somewhat disturbing level.)
Finally, and don't you dare judge me, but - I was moved to tears by the moms and the dads, how much they missed their kids, how long they go without seeing them, and how aware they are that their roles have been reversed in terms of financial support, life experience, overall awareness; but they are also deeply resolved to provide any and all emotional support ever needed, because these are their kids, and this amazing ride is going to end and their sons may need some help picking up the pieces afterwards. And this tremendous care is totally mutual, and clearly reflected in the guys' treatment of their families - gah, I just remembered the scene in which Zayn bought his mom a house and I'm kinda tearing up again. (This, btw, is contextualized by an earlier scene in which he's turned all his interior walls into spray-painted canvasses, and since his folks wouldn't let him do it in his room in the family house, he bought a new house for himself and just went for it. And then he bought his family a fabulous house too, because he's that kind of an insanely rich teenager.)
...anyway. I haven't become a 1D fangirl, and this was not the documentary I REALLY wanted to see about 1D, but it was extremely enjoyable anyway. What I'd love to see/read about is how they'd changed the nature of boyband and even celebrity via the new structure of social technology (there is no fourth wall! and they're OK with it! *clutches pearls, feels fucking ancient*); how their shows AND their public personae completely and effortlessly embrace interaction with the audience; how most of the time they truly seem to see individuals rather than a mass of fandom, & think in terms of personal connections rather than "work" they put in as "stars" (this is what made the sequence with masked band members chatting incognito with fangirls actually not creepy); how the lack of an established pattern in their performances (no dance routines, plenty of improvised moments, enacting fan-tweeted requests during concerts, playing pranks on each other on stage) is a bit pandering to the audience and a bit FUCKING PERFECT for the generation that creates an online identity in no small part via mimesis (twitter RTs, tumblr reposts) yet here is a boyband whose shows - within a given framework - always feel unique and authentic and DIFFERENT; etc. etc. etc. Someday there will be fabulous analysis of the 1D phenomenon, and it won't surprise me if the guys in the band simply nod along (because to them this is common sense instead of a master plan of any kind) and that, too, is part of their charm.
...but oh, it REALLY didn't have to be in 3D. (Ouch ouch ouch.)
Went to see the 1D movie with a bunch of delightful fangirls and enjoyed it more than I expected. Alas, the 3D made my headache worse and drove me right home afterwards, but maybe that was for the best since I ended up with more thoughts than feels, and I hatehateHATE being the least squeeful person in the room for whatever reason. ANYWAY.
Perhaps because I come from a family of musicians and the whole lovely concept of band as found family has been demystified for me from the get-go, or perhaps because I grew up in a culture so profoundly sexist and patriarchal that male bonds were simply not something a woman could celebrate (experience in a marginal way? if you're enough of a tomboy, and even then very temporarily; fear? sometimes; be excluded from in a range of behaviors from ignoring to hostile? you betcha!) - either way, male groups as an RPF concept simply don't hold the same charm for me as they do for many of my fellow fangirls. I love the fictional found families, perhaps all the more so because they tend to be a mix of male and female characters; but I've seen too many bands from way too up close and personal to go to that place of unity forever as the first stop. Perhaps that's cynical; I just feel it's realistic.
Which is why I kinda LOVED that this extremely charming bunch of boys, in the middle of a movie that celebrates their tremendous success, seem to be REALLY CLEAR-HEADED about it - that this career means something different to each of them, that they are at the top of the world and are really loving this wild experience but there's a life after/beyond this, and that they are sharing something amazing right now and it will be a part of their friendship forever, regardless of where they go from here... and they will go into *rimshot* different directions. I found that to be sweet and genuinely moving without being sentimental, and it was certainly more than I expected from guys their age. There is definitely pride in what they've achieved, but there is also a pretty clear feeling of HOLY SHIT, WE ARE SO INSANELY LUCKY that's - well, refreshing and charming and quite mentally healthy. :)
Another thing I loved: the movie, and the band, truly celebrate the fans. We're talking genuine gratitude and a sense of collaboration in creating 1D's wild success; and although they are teenagers who will "orchestrate" a massive crowd outside their balcony to hush, then scream, then hush, then scream again - which is ridiculous but nowhere near jaded - they also say things like they wish they could meet their fans and chat with everyone and get a chance to say thank you. A few people - usually journalists - mention that the 1D fans are CRAZY, and then there's a great comical scene of a SCIENTIST who explains what happens in a person's brain when they hear music they love; this part is hilarious without being a mockery, plus it actually uses a line VERY SIMILAR to Adam Lambert's defense of his fans ("they're excited, not hostile") to simply state that the fangirls are not crazy, JUST EXCITED. In a scene during which the band has to hide inside a store and wait for more security because the entire block got besieged by fangirls who saw them out shopping - in that surreal and somewhat scary scene, the hysteria is commented upon with awe instead of judgment. Even the aggressive grabbing is kind of laughed off - and, um, I wouldn't be able to keep my cool if someone grabbed my ear in the street, so kudos and a half for that reaction. (Or, I guess, kudos for selecting such reactions for the narrative - but if the not-so-complimentary stuff ended up on the metaphorical cutting room floor, the decision to portray the fans this way was a very good one. I say this after seeing several gifsets on Tumblr containing random stuff thrown at these guys while they're on stage, and I'm just amazed that they haven't flipped their shit in a very public way at any point during the last 3 years.)
Speaking of what's been left out: it's quite impressive that the movie tells this story of "a bunch of normal guys experiencing incredible success" without becoming exploitative or emotionally pornographic, which is my problem with most reality shows a.k.a. their very background. There are family scenes, but they are actually quite minimal; biographical stuff is kept down to a few lines; there is precious little about the guys' lives except for a few entertaining details, character sketches rather than personality deconstructions one might expect from "real stories" about celebrities. Very nicely done. (And even with that minimal exposure and each of the guys being brilliant/ridiculous in their own way, it's so, so very clear that Harry is the GENUINELY WEIRD one. This is attractive to a somewhat disturbing level.)
Finally, and don't you dare judge me, but - I was moved to tears by the moms and the dads, how much they missed their kids, how long they go without seeing them, and how aware they are that their roles have been reversed in terms of financial support, life experience, overall awareness; but they are also deeply resolved to provide any and all emotional support ever needed, because these are their kids, and this amazing ride is going to end and their sons may need some help picking up the pieces afterwards. And this tremendous care is totally mutual, and clearly reflected in the guys' treatment of their families - gah, I just remembered the scene in which Zayn bought his mom a house and I'm kinda tearing up again. (This, btw, is contextualized by an earlier scene in which he's turned all his interior walls into spray-painted canvasses, and since his folks wouldn't let him do it in his room in the family house, he bought a new house for himself and just went for it. And then he bought his family a fabulous house too, because he's that kind of an insanely rich teenager.)
...anyway. I haven't become a 1D fangirl, and this was not the documentary I REALLY wanted to see about 1D, but it was extremely enjoyable anyway. What I'd love to see/read about is how they'd changed the nature of boyband and even celebrity via the new structure of social technology (there is no fourth wall! and they're OK with it! *clutches pearls, feels fucking ancient*); how their shows AND their public personae completely and effortlessly embrace interaction with the audience; how most of the time they truly seem to see individuals rather than a mass of fandom, & think in terms of personal connections rather than "work" they put in as "stars" (this is what made the sequence with masked band members chatting incognito with fangirls actually not creepy); how the lack of an established pattern in their performances (no dance routines, plenty of improvised moments, enacting fan-tweeted requests during concerts, playing pranks on each other on stage) is a bit pandering to the audience and a bit FUCKING PERFECT for the generation that creates an online identity in no small part via mimesis (twitter RTs, tumblr reposts) yet here is a boyband whose shows - within a given framework - always feel unique and authentic and DIFFERENT; etc. etc. etc. Someday there will be fabulous analysis of the 1D phenomenon, and it won't surprise me if the guys in the band simply nod along (because to them this is common sense instead of a master plan of any kind) and that, too, is part of their charm.
...but oh, it REALLY didn't have to be in 3D. (Ouch ouch ouch.)