In the 3 years of doing The Movie Blog I have never once written any sort of criticism about another website. There are 2 reasons for this. 1) It’s not in good taste. and 2) There is LOTS of stuff that The Movie Blog itself could be criticized for (Come to think of it, The Movie Blog has been bashed a lot on other sites… but that’s another issue).
But there has been a common question being publicly asked around the Movie Website sphere recently (including here on The Movie Blog) that I believe makes this relevant. And so, i’ve decided to talk about it here. The question being asked by a lot of sites is:
“Why are online movie pundits (movie websites) not given more respect than they are, or at least as much respect as the more traditional media?”
This is a fair question. The online movie community is a growing beast that does need to be taken a little more seriously. But at the same time, there are some growing pains issues that only we, in the online movie website community, can, should and NEED to address before that oh so coveted “respect” comes our way. I’m just going to address one of these issues.
First of all, as you could tell from the title of this post, I seem to be picking on CHUD. But CHUD is not the only problem here. Many sites (including this one) need to clean the issue I’ll be talking about up. So let me say a few things first:
1) CHUD is a much better website than The Movie Blog (No questions asked)
2) Devin (from CHUD) is a super nice guy. I’ve met him, he was honestly really nice to me and I respect him a great deal.
3) CHUD is not the only site that does what I’m about to discuss. They’re just the example I’m using right now.
4) The Movie Blog does it’s own share of stupid things.
There… are we clear on those things? Good. On we go.
Earlier today I put up a post about how the new Darren Aronofsky film “The Fountain” just played at the Venice Film Festival and got booed by the crowd at the end. Personally I would never outright “boo” a film in the screening… but fans have the right to cheer… and thus they have the right to boo if they so choose. fair enough.
Devin over at CHUD had seen The Fountain before all this, and loved it. He wrote a glowing review of the film. fair enough. In his opinion, The Fountain was a “masterpiece”.
But when he caught wind that there were people in Venice who didn’t like the film and booed it he didn’t attack their behavior… he attacked them for their opinion. The article he posted attacking the fans at Venice pointed directly at the fact that they didn’t like something that he himself said fantastic things about. Here is an example:
Who were the morons in attendance who booed this amazing work?
Are these guys all hung over and just don’t want to see a movie that makes them think? Or are they more interested in looking for celebs than watching movies that demand a little bit of attention?
He then turned his attention to attacking another film critic, Leslie Felperin from Variety, for not sharing his opinion.:
…seriously reads like it was written by an anti-intellectual 12 year old, or at least by a half-witted critic who spent most of the screening in the bathroom or IMing on a Sidekick.
Felperin’s review, which essentially boils The Fountain down to a chick flick with good effects, is about the most ignorant I have read this year.
…here’s hoping that some critics who actually like movies get a chance to see it and spread the good news
Although I’m sure he didn’t mean it this way, the article automatically puts me in a corner. The article has already labled me as a “Moron”, “Ignorant” and “someone who doesn’t like movies” if I see The Fountain and end up not liking it. What am I supposed to do with that?
How are we supposed to engage in anything after something like that? There isn’t any respect for people’s opinions or acknowledgment that film is subjective, and maybe… just maybe… other people may not share our own opinions or thoughts about a particular film.
Instead of engaging the issue by saying something like: “I don’t understand the Venice crowds reaction to the film. I thought it was brilliant for a, b and c reasons”. Or perhaps something like “I really don’t agree at all with Leslie Felperin’s review, and here are the points I take issue with… a, b and c”… instead of that, the article just takes a broad brush, and paints anyone with a descenting opinion as a moron, ignorant, can’t watch a movie that makes you think and half witted.
That kind of writing comes across as immature (says the guy who just put up a post about Femtroopers) and makes online movie websites look like nothing more than flame infested playgrounds for little children to yell and scream at each other… where he who yells loudest wins. I’ve yet to see a movie site (including this one) that doesn’t do this.
Look, debate, disagreement and differing opinions about film are WONDERFUL! People disagree with my opinions about certain movies all the time. And I’ll debate about them to no end… but I’ll NEVER NEVER tell someone “if you don’t like this you’re stupid”. Or in the opposite “If you DID like that movie, you’re an idiot”. It’s just not constructive, disrespectful and it shuts down any chance for real talk and discussion about the film because there is no where else to go with it after stuff like that.
I’m all for attacking dumb behavior (like in the Kevin Smith and Joel Siegel incident), but attacking people for their opinions is a whole other matter. It suggest a pompousness that we in the online movie community have been come to be known for.
There are several reasons why Studios, main stream media and the public in general don’t give movie websites a lot of credit or respect… but this is certainly one of them. The strength of the internet is its ability to allow us to share ideas, thoughts and opinions. So when we shoot down those 3 things… what is there left about us to respect?
**UPDATE** IT WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT I FAILED TO LINK TO THE ARTICLE AT CHUD IN QUESTION. TOTALLY MY FAULT. I OBVIOUSLY SHOULD HAVE LINKED TO IT. The article is here. Please also keep in mind, that the CHUD article I’m using as the example for this post is only representative of what I stated was something ALL movie sites (including this one) are guilty of, and is certainly not meant as a “bash” against one site.. but rather one against us all.
