Saturday, November 27, 2004
"Alexander" flames out in its first weekend, down to #6 after maxing out a #3. It'll be out on DVD by January, no doubt.
I knew this was going to happen on Thursday. That's when I heard Cute Katie Couric - the Eva Braun of daytime TV - massage the conspiracy theorist's ego with stories of how the rest of the world regularly flocks to movies that Americans (read: Red-state bigots) have rejected.
There was talk of Alexander's bisexuality - couched nicely as a intellectual exploration - to heap the sins of homophobism and anti-intellectuallism upon the heads of the Red-state bigots.
Is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this losing left-wing strategy. What strategy? The strategy of winning the Red-staters back by telling them that failure to share left-wing tropes is, well, sinful.
What's really funny here is the asymmetry in the information exchange. Red-staters know all about left-wing tropes: all they have to do is turn on TV to get a bellyful of the sewage that is popular culture. Popular culture foisted on them by blue-staters. Blue-staters, by comparison, know nothing about right-wing tropes. Well, they know what they see on TV: blue-staters telling other blue-staters that red-staters are anti-intellectual, homophobic, bigots, and that the natural market for blue-stater produce is the rest of the world. In other words, they know damn little.
UPDATE: Lots of people despise this movie.
UPDATE: Right on time, the cry of HOMOPHOBE! It didn't flame out because it was a crap movie, no, it's thatAmericansred-staters are haters.
UPDATE: Actually, there's more to this trope. These days, many mainstream media shows are dedicated to trying to understand the red-stater mindset. The basic plot line is that red-staters go to church, hate gays, want God in schools, are concerned with morals, etc., etc. HOWEVER! These same red-staters have a real taste for the soft-core porn that is "Desperate Housewives" and the violence in "CSI". In other words, red-staters are HYPOCRITES! JUST AS WE THOUGHT!
What's ignored here is the difference between red- and blue-staters on morality. Blue-staters, having consigned God to the trash heap of history and declared man to be an amoral pig, proceed to wallow in slop. That's why so much popular culture is filth. Red-staters believe man can become better through the grace of God, and recognize man as a sinner who can do better. What blue-staters see as red-stater hypocracy is really delicious sinning, to be repented of at a later date.
As Oscar Wilde had it: "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
I knew this was going to happen on Thursday. That's when I heard Cute Katie Couric - the Eva Braun of daytime TV - massage the conspiracy theorist's ego with stories of how the rest of the world regularly flocks to movies that Americans (read: Red-state bigots) have rejected.
There was talk of Alexander's bisexuality - couched nicely as a intellectual exploration - to heap the sins of homophobism and anti-intellectuallism upon the heads of the Red-state bigots.
Is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this losing left-wing strategy. What strategy? The strategy of winning the Red-staters back by telling them that failure to share left-wing tropes is, well, sinful.
What's really funny here is the asymmetry in the information exchange. Red-staters know all about left-wing tropes: all they have to do is turn on TV to get a bellyful of the sewage that is popular culture. Popular culture foisted on them by blue-staters. Blue-staters, by comparison, know nothing about right-wing tropes. Well, they know what they see on TV: blue-staters telling other blue-staters that red-staters are anti-intellectual, homophobic, bigots, and that the natural market for blue-stater produce is the rest of the world. In other words, they know damn little.
UPDATE: Lots of people despise this movie.
UPDATE: Right on time, the cry of HOMOPHOBE! It didn't flame out because it was a crap movie, no, it's that
UPDATE: Actually, there's more to this trope. These days, many mainstream media shows are dedicated to trying to understand the red-stater mindset. The basic plot line is that red-staters go to church, hate gays, want God in schools, are concerned with morals, etc., etc. HOWEVER! These same red-staters have a real taste for the soft-core porn that is "Desperate Housewives" and the violence in "CSI". In other words, red-staters are HYPOCRITES! JUST AS WE THOUGHT!
What's ignored here is the difference between red- and blue-staters on morality. Blue-staters, having consigned God to the trash heap of history and declared man to be an amoral pig, proceed to wallow in slop. That's why so much popular culture is filth. Red-staters believe man can become better through the grace of God, and recognize man as a sinner who can do better. What blue-staters see as red-stater hypocracy is really delicious sinning, to be repented of at a later date.
As Oscar Wilde had it: "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Comments:
Post a Comment
