[Antagon]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

yeah, i'm okay with that--blurting out my opinion in this dino forum is exactly how i deal with the territory. and so it goes

anyway just like consumption of media needs to be conscious, so it is with media commentary. commentary is not above commentary, right? commentary goes on and on

so anyway, the reason i felt moved to comment was to warn against certain unconscious reflexes bred by social trends. they are no longer a form of consciousness, but a kind of required checklist. trends, like media, also change with time

and digging for worms was a hot trend for a while, yes. it was initially practiced by americans, who due to their puritanical tendencies generally prefer moralizing to art. this is why america needed john waters. and still does!

but the moralizing disease spread everywhere, carried by modern academic practices and the internet. and in the end it did nothing except create a circular firing squad. and now we're here, where the trend has exhausted and the intent backfired. the culture has moved on from the worm digging

and yet! go to the (stereogum?) instagram page showing the thurston-lee-steve reunion. a glorious noise! but what do some people comment? kim this, kim that, i read kim's book, team. sure sure, i love kim and what she's doing, im team kim too, but a lot of people commenting there are not listening with their ears. they just want to dig for worms and show everyone their moral stance about someone else's life (not their own)

it's like nietzsche said, long after god was dead his shadow would continue (or something like that)

am i conflating those behaviors with yours? no, i am conscious enough to know the difference. i know the two of you, you're gifted, well read, aesthetically inclined, and good writers. but do i see your commentaries lured by the habit of that tired trend? yes, that i definitely do. i'm sorry! i believe my lying eyes

so anyway i'm hoping i don't lose your good aesthetic instincts to that particular variety of the holy inquisition. i don't say this to impinge on your freedom. it's just commentary for people i like and respect. maybe it's useful, and if not just discard

anyway, i like this here link, and i hope you do too, as my offering. happy holidays!

https://youtu.be/iCurxt0ULzk

Ain't nothing required about that. You're disregarding agency here (Both Claire's and mine). Is there a trend towards putting older productions into focus regarding current developments in society? Yeah. Can it from time to time go way too far? Also, yeah. But is every mention of how the view of a piece of media can change over time instantly blindly coloured and dictated by this? Not necessarily. An influx of new knowledge can certainly change the way one views a certain production. That's nothing new. How would people regard The Terminator for instance, if it wasn't Arnie but OJ Simpson - who was one of the initial contenders? That goes many ways. John Carpenter's The Thing didn't fare too well back in 1982 when the other popular depiction of Aliens was either very friendly (E.T.) or part of a beloved franchise (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) - time, social developments ALWAYS have a large impact on how people view things. The Thing went on to become a cult classic later on.



I watched Lost Highway in my late teens - back then I was a lot more apathetic towards such things. I enjoyed it then and I can still appreciate it for a lot of its aspects. However, I can see how new eyes - knowing more than I did back then - can be put off by some of it. The whole "separating the art from the artist"-thing is a very subjective and a deeply personal thing. Having been someone who listened to Manson in his teens and who's bought into the whole "Oh, he's just being very theatrical, it's just an act"-spiel - and who just couldn't anymore after a lot of the revelations (the lyrical content is awfully close to the terrible bullshit he "allegedly" did), I also have my own thoughts on this. That's how we consume media - with our own experiences and opinions.


I've seen and read many thoughtful pieces on (ugh, hate that term, but here we go...) "Cancel Culture" - some of the more critical pieces of course pointing out that if you dig far enough, there's dirt on everyone and that merely pointing fingers leaves no room for redemption or betterment. All valid - and, mostly coming from people who still advocate for a more conscious treatment of media. Cause you know what? It's fucking nuanced. You can enjoy - or even LOVE something and still acknowledge the faults. These trends - as you refer to them - if taken in healthy doses, can inform nuanced takes on pieces of media. There's no indoctrination and no crusade. Wouldn't subscribe to any of this.


This, however, is a band fan forum and I wasn't expecting to write a thesis today. Here we are though. For levity's sake, I'll end on something shorter and more befitting of the format:



What I wanted to say is: Fuck Rammstein. They've always sucked.