I was reminded of a magnificent film I watched last year by a recent Facebook exchange with my friend, Jenna. The film is The Lives Of Others. In brief, it is the story of a spy following the lives of an artist and his lover in East Berlin in the 1980s. As I conveyed to Jenna, "It hit all the buttons I like in my art: It was exciting/well paced, emotionally captivating, intelligently written, educational and on top of all that it was sexy, chic and elegantly shot/directed." This prompted me to look it up on the Tomato Meter.
It is "Certified Fresh" clocking in a rating of 93%. Not shocking. It is an amazing film. The thing that prompted me to write this entry, however, was not the positive reviews but the handful of negatives.
I wonder... Do the handful of critics that give negative reviews to a film which is overwhelmingly positively received ever consider that maybe they were just in a bad mood when they gave the negative reviews? Or that they have some sort of personal bias against the director? Or the story?
Seriously, when you're in a room and EVERYONE around you agrees that the sky is blue, wouldn't that make you think maybe they might have a point? I'm sure the critics in question would argue that they're not going to just follow the sheep. A sharp critic might use Gigli (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=gigli&x=0&y=0) as an example. Gigli, starring Ben Affleck and J Lo was, without question, a bad movie. The critics' responce to it, however, was very obviously pandering to that era's Beniffer bashing frenzy. Gigli had become the Frankenstein's monster of the film community. I was actually surprised that Ben Affleck was not chased down in the streets by an angry mob wielding torches.
Examples like Gigli aside, my personal experience with Rotten Tomatoes has been this: When everyone overwhelmingly agrees that a film is good (really really good), the few descendants tend to come off as total curmudgeons, reaching desperately to find reasons to justify their negative reviews. Joe Esterhaus (writer of Basic Instinct) would surely argue that it's because the film critics in question are actually aspiring screen writers, bitter at the world and trying too hard to show off their knowledge of film. I would take it a step further to say they are the elitists within the elitists; maybe they are thinking to themselves: "It is not enough that the masses are responding favorably (so it MUST be low quality) then if even the critics are responding favorably (those corporate sheep) then I must stay above all that and call this out on the trash it really is!"
One critic complained that the ending was too sentimental, a common complaint of elitists who don't like happy endings. They bitch that happy endings are very Hollywood. Though I would not argue this, I would argue that there would be no point in making movies about the status quo. If the movie is about a German spy, why would the story teller want to tell the story of the 453 other German spys who followed all the rules and led an unremarkable life? How interesting would that story be? I want to hear the story of that one random renegade who broke the mold! That's the one worth telling a story about! Why do I want to watch a movie about a guy that just goes to work every day? I want to watch the movie about the guy that goes to work at it turns out that his boss is dating his daughter; THAT is the story to tell!
Elitists suck.
They suck because they hold art hostage for themselves because they feel less special about their "ownership" of it because now "everyone else" has discovered it.
Elitists can come from many walks of life... They can be the high society art flunkies who host private exhibitions of some hot new artist in Soho (whom someone important has said that they're the next big thing!) which they charge ludicrous sums of money for attendance or keep the invite list down to only a select few other "important people to know." They sneer at the hip hop artist down the block who speaks poetry to millions. Elitists can be the coffee shop hipsters who loved Jason Meraz when he performed at Lestat's and have since, branded him a sellout because he's on a big label. Or the Ravers who liked a DJ before he "went mainstream" by using vocals on his newest tracks (not considering for a second that he might be evolving as an artist and has always wanted to use vocals but couldn't afford it). Elitists can be the independent movie goers who refuse to see any film which gets play on the big chain movie theaters. These same movie goers are the ones that go to see a comedy from Spain but watch with intense seriousness because they mistakenly believe that "good" art must be very very serious art indeed. This one hit me personally... The last time I went to see a Pedro Amadovar film at The Ken, I laughed at some parts (because they were fucking funny) and was given dirty looks from other attendees who felt that I was perverting their cultural outing. A buddy and I had a similar experience when watching Sideways (a full on comedy!) at the Landmark in La Jolla.
There is so much great art out there that the masses don't find access to because they are intimidated by the elitists who guard the gates. They conclude that if you prefer Budweiser over Heiniken, than you must be a flunky who just won't "get" the art they hold so dearly (as a status symbol). They guard the gates by serving only wine and asking you to order it for yourself. They haze you by forcing you to pronounce the kind of wine you want and correct your pronunciation when you do; a very subtle "fuck you" if you ask me. They talk about you and that cheap suit you're wearing and the shoes that don't match your belt. The pattern of your tie is out of style because someone important said so. They make it so you will walk away thinking you'll never be caught dead in another gallery opening so that you'll never have to wear the monkey suit on a Friday night again. They breathe a sigh of relief because secretly, they are terrified that you can kick their ass. They were bullied in high school, physically, so they grow to bully you, intellectually.
The elitist is a bully, plain and simple.
Elitists suck. When I call someone an elitist, it is the equivalent of calling their mother a @#%^ loving #$%@ who loves to #$^% their own *&@#.
The Lives of Others is a near perfect film. See it. Laugh at the funny parts and be moved by the emotional parts, in whatever order you choose. Don't make it an important cultural outing... Just grab a beer from the fridge and watch it casually, in your boxers. Fuck the gate keepers. You don't have to go past them to enjoy great art. The gate only exists in their imagination.
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