Short Cranks Exemption

[Greg Montalbano]

On Mon, 29 Jul 1996 15:09:32 -0400 (EDT) you said:
>Shawshank Redemption is merely a MOVIE, not a FILM?  Where did this come
>from.  Shawshank Redemption is definitely not just a MOVIE.  It is an
>artistically done film depicting the struggle of one person as indicative
>of that of humanity as a whole.  This, it seems, is a common trait ALL
>art has.  Or do you have other requisites for something being art?  And,
>as far as Tim Robbins is concerned, your trite comments are unwarranted:
>Tim Robbins directed Dead Man Walking.  Are you going to tell me that was
>merely a MOVIE and not a FILM?
>
>Art critics have every right to be arrogant, as a lot of crap is put out
>there, but just because something veers away from the traditional 'aura'
>of good art (as I suspect you seem to think of Shawshank Redepmtion) does
>not mean it is bad art.  Artists from Shakespeare to the Velvet
>Underground have been labeled 'bad artists' according to the prevailing
>opinions of the time; each came into their own, so to speak, however.
>
>(I know it seems bizarre to mention Shakespeare and the Velvet
>Underground in the same sentence: I am just trying to convey the breadth
>of artistic categories that have been ridiculed by those claiming to have
>an objective 'truth' on what art, beauty, et., is.)
>
>David Friedman
>namdeirf at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
>
>Ignorance breeds complicity.
>
>On Mon, 29 Jul 1996, Greg Montalbano wrote:
>
>> Maybe we should keep in mind the fact that this is a MOVIE (as opposed
>> to a FILM) --- and speaking of Tim Robbins, I think his movie THE PLAYER
>> told us everything we needed to know about how movies develop & mutate
>> in this country, and what moviemakers believe American audiences expect
>> ("Yeah, it's like BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ meets 20,000 YEARS IN SING-SING...
>> but funny!  Yeah, and with a happy ending!  Maybe we can get Julia
>Roberts...")
>>
>
Where did it come from?  A combination of arrogance, snottiness and a
genuine distaste for the way movies (in the last 5 or 10 years) have
gone for formulaic emotional MANIPULATION of their audiences.  I will
admit that my judgement was extreme in this particular case;  I simply
used it as an opportunity to blow off some steam at what I consider to
be the sorry state of current movie-making -- and a chance to cite
some vitriol from THE PLAYER.  (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea freakin' culpa).
FILM vs MOVIE is from a private language used between me & a friend, who,
about 20 years ago, began introducing me to Japanese, Eastern Euopean and
no-name American "films" (imagine my suprise, having been raised on John
Wayne & Walt Disney!) -- perhaps I've become (in my old age) a bit too
knee-jerk in my reaction to A-merkin movies.
And maybe I haven't.
Oh, and I DON'T think it bizaare to mention Shaxpr & Velvet Underground in
the same sentence -- works for me.