I'll show you a vendetta

[bironic]

I am annoyed at The New Yorker's review of "V for Vendetta" today, not because it pans something I'd hoped would be fun and pretty -- that's the reviewer's perogative, and he has several good arguments, one or two of which have already made me rethink my approach to the movie --, but because David Denby makes some derisive comments about pop culture that were entirely unnecessary in order for him to criticize the film. This is the most irritating declaration, from the top of the second paragraph:

Pop cannibalizes and regurgitates everything, including history, and in normal circumstances only a literal-minded prig would treat graphic novelists or big-screen fantasists as if they had any responsibility to truth.

I'm still too steamed to put down a coherent response here. Feel free to offer yours.

Comments

[maddy-harrigan.livejournal.com]

Random thoughts that aren't organised because I have to run and get breakfast now because my lecture starts in fifteen minutes ...

For the majority of pop culture, he has a point. The problem is that among the 90% cannibalised and regurgitated crap (see "Kingdom of Heaven," for example, but especially pop music) there will be things like House, Harry Potter, the Kevin Smith movies, and so on. And a lazy/prejudiced reviewer who doesn't bother to look will not notice the difference.

Things can be popular because they numb us or they can be popular because they excite us. The former tend to be "pop" and the latter tend to be "cult."

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Pulling out the well-worn Sturgeon's Revelation, 90% of everything is crap, so you're going to get as much flotsam in pop culture as anywhere else. Not fair to pick on a genre -- or in this case, several -- to denigrate a piece of art that belongs to it. And he didn't leave room for interpretation there: he dismisses all pop culture, no exceptions, end of story. And those who find quality work in the swamp are already labeled "literal-minded prigs."

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

My main problems with Denby's criticisms of pop culture - which, let's face it, CAN maul history, literature, and art pretty badly - are that a) he's decided that what makes something trashy is form, not content, and b) he seems to think it's OKAY when pop culture panders to the lowest common denominator (which is not always). Not all graphic novels are pulp (hey, if you want a graphic novel with a responsibility to truth, how about Maus, which we studied in my English class?), and not all print novels are literature; likewise with films. There's nothing inherent in the form that makes graphic novels, films, or other "popular" media incapable of producing art and truth. And once you acknowledge that, it becomes a lot more difficult to write off all "popular" culture (defined in Denby's view by the type of medium it uses, apparently) as a lost cause. If there is ANY potential for a film to say something honest or genuinely beautiful, then we should hold all films - popular or not - to that standard. It doesn't matter whether the creators see themselves as having a responsibility to truth. We should expect that responsibility. Dismissing a whole genre is not only prejudiced, but encourages lousy filmmaking because filmmakers come to believe that no one cares.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I still can't come up with anything more eloquent than "Yes."

So, yes.

We could sit here coming up with refutations all evening, but the fact is, a simple addition of the qualifier "most," though still irksome, would have made a big difference in his grand generalization.

[maddy-harrigan.livejournal.com]

Adding my voice to the "ayes."

Well put, Cat.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

My view has been completely reinforced by going to see "Goodnight, and Good Luck" for the second time tonight, and hearing Ed Murrow's fantastic speech again, in which he says that television "has the ability to educate, enlighten, and even inspire," but that in modern America, it's being used almost entirely as a tool to "entertain, amuse, and insulate." He goes on to say that the people working in television can't write off the medium because of the way it's most often used; they have to fight for its potential.

It's SUCH a good movie.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

My sister saw it this week and thought it "completely uninspired." Maybe if I poke her enough she'll sign on later and respond to your post...