Johnboy3434 said:
I wasn't necessarily defending the PT. I just used TPM as an example because I'm pretty sure most people here would be familiar with it. I was actually defending all forms of art that have been ignored by the so-called "intelligentsia". You know, the people who think they measure the worth of a piece of art by what can be read into it (in other words, how may blind guesses they have to make before they can justify its existence)? I've had plenty of Literature classes, and they all sucked (that's my subjective judgment). Since when have metaphors and themes made a quality work of art? I'll tell you what makes quality art: the enjoyment we, the audience, get out of it. If it doesn't entertain us, it's not worth shit. I don't care if your entire theory of existence, of all the world's problems, of life, the universe, and everything, is distilled into dramatic form. If we can't laugh, if we can't cry, if we can't cheer, then it was all a colossal waste of time. That's why one Ed Wood is worth a dozen Ernest Hemingway's. Ed made us laugh (however unintentionally), with his contrived plots, his unbelievable dialog, and his cheesy special effects. How many films have you seen that make you say, "I could do better than that!"? He made us feel good about ourselves. What did Hemingway do? He made us want to reenact his final moments.
I'm sorry if that was a little more aggressive than you expected, but you struck a nerve, there.
Cable-X1 said:
I agree that judging art is purely subjective, but as said above...that's getting to be an old argument for defending the PT. Have you ever taken an English literature class before? If you have, you've read the classics and if you had a teacher worth a damn, he or she would have imparted you with the wonderful ability to read between the lines and analyze such things as theme, metaphor and so on. The original SW is a archetype-laden story with some pretty deep thematic stuff at work. Where is that in the PT? Is it presented well? Is the storytelling style detrimental to the work as a whole? See when you look at it that way, the PT falls apart completely. Wanna debate further?
I agree that judging art is purely subjective, but as said above...that's getting to be an old argument for defending the PT. Have you ever taken an English literature class before? If you have, you've read the classics and if you had a teacher worth a damn, he or she would have imparted you with the wonderful ability to read between the lines and analyze such things as theme, metaphor and so on. The original SW is a archetype-laden story with some pretty deep thematic stuff at work. Where is that in the PT? Is it presented well? Is the storytelling style detrimental to the work as a whole? See when you look at it that way, the PT falls apart completely. Wanna debate further?
I wasn't necessarily defending the PT. I just used TPM as an example because I'm pretty sure most people here would be familiar with it. I was actually defending all forms of art that have been ignored by the so-called "intelligentsia". You know, the people who think they measure the worth of a piece of art by what can be read into it (in other words, how may blind guesses they have to make before they can justify its existence)? I've had plenty of Literature classes, and they all sucked (that's my subjective judgment). Since when have metaphors and themes made a quality work of art? I'll tell you what makes quality art: the enjoyment we, the audience, get out of it. If it doesn't entertain us, it's not worth shit. I don't care if your entire theory of existence, of all the world's problems, of life, the universe, and everything, is distilled into dramatic form. If we can't laugh, if we can't cry, if we can't cheer, then it was all a colossal waste of time. That's why one Ed Wood is worth a dozen Ernest Hemingway's. Ed made us laugh (however unintentionally), with his contrived plots, his unbelievable dialog, and his cheesy special effects. How many films have you seen that make you say, "I could do better than that!"? He made us feel good about ourselves. What did Hemingway do? He made us want to reenact his final moments.
I'm sorry if that was a little more aggressive than you expected, but you struck a nerve, there.
You're comparing Ed Wood to Ernest Hemingway?!?!? Oh man...that's fucked.