I once read Christopher Smart’s “For I Will Comsider My Cat Jeoffrey” to someone who, after the first few dozen lines, began snickering, pulling faces and quipping “For it is time for my medication.”
I am so sorry.
The thing is, from what I’ve read of yours, you are aware of the seriousness than can underly comedy and the absurdity in drama, and have a pretty good idea of which part of the emotional Klein bottle to focus on in any given situation.
Thank you. That's a really nice thing to hear. I don't actually worry that I don't have a sense of humor or that taking things seriously means having no joy in life. (I don't worry that I can't relax, either. Most of the things I do to relax just happen to be solitary rather than social. No amount of peer pressure was ever going to make me find a night out on the town relaxing rather than something that I had to relax from afterward.) It was just that I had a kind of flinch reaction at that point in the article and then had to figure out why, since what the film critic was saying was neither directed at me nor insulting in general.
(I’m also slightly annoyed that someone who calls themselves “Film Crit Hulk” does not write thoughtful, intelligent film criticism *in the actual style of* the Incredible Hulk).
I feel like they might have done so at one point, but now they seem to write thoughtful, intelligent film criticism with more definite articles and fewer exclamation points. I enjoyed their essay about The Last Jedi; it's addressing the jaw-dropping wave of visceral hatred that the film provoked from a percentage of the Star Wars fanbase, in the process of which they examine the deep identification and protectiveness that many fans seem to feel for the original films and how readily and aggressively that protectiveness can turn to possessiveness when they feel someone—like Rian Johnson—is doing Star Wars wrong. There's an entire section about humor because a common possessive fan complaint appears to be that the film doesn't take itself seriously, which makes the fans feel that their investment in Star Wars is being belittled and therefore that they themselves are being mocked for caring about Star Wars and then you get nerd rage. Film Critic Hulk really does not believe that the movie is 152 minutes of "Gotcha, suckers, laughing all the way to the bank" and offers all sorts of evidence on their side, but they also argue that the humorlessness of so many of these complaints is part and parcel of toxic masculinity, where a man must be treated with the utmost deference at all times and being laughed at is the worst, weakest, most shameful thing ever (Film Critic Hulk does not at this juncture cite Margaret Atwood, but fruitfully could have. I thought of Thomas More's characterization of the Devil as "the proud spirit [that] cannot endure to be mocked" and then I wondered if anyone has ever written a story where a demon is exorcized by just embarrassing it sufficiently). Hence talking about the importance of not taking oneself seriously all the time as a basic adult skill, and hence my brain going mildly boom.
no subject
I am so sorry.
The thing is, from what I’ve read of yours, you are aware of the seriousness than can underly comedy and the absurdity in drama, and have a pretty good idea of which part of the emotional Klein bottle to focus on in any given situation.
Thank you. That's a really nice thing to hear. I don't actually worry that I don't have a sense of humor or that taking things seriously means having no joy in life. (I don't worry that I can't relax, either. Most of the things I do to relax just happen to be solitary rather than social. No amount of peer pressure was ever going to make me find a night out on the town relaxing rather than something that I had to relax from afterward.) It was just that I had a kind of flinch reaction at that point in the article and then had to figure out why, since what the film critic was saying was neither directed at me nor insulting in general.
(I’m also slightly annoyed that someone who calls themselves “Film Crit Hulk” does not write thoughtful, intelligent film criticism *in the actual style of* the Incredible Hulk).
I feel like they might have done so at one point, but now they seem to write thoughtful, intelligent film criticism with more definite articles and fewer exclamation points. I enjoyed their essay about The Last Jedi; it's addressing the jaw-dropping wave of visceral hatred that the film provoked from a percentage of the Star Wars fanbase, in the process of which they examine the deep identification and protectiveness that many fans seem to feel for the original films and how readily and aggressively that protectiveness can turn to possessiveness when they feel someone—like Rian Johnson—is doing Star Wars wrong. There's an entire section about humor because a common possessive fan complaint appears to be that the film doesn't take itself seriously, which makes the fans feel that their investment in Star Wars is being belittled and therefore that they themselves are being mocked for caring about Star Wars and then you get nerd rage. Film Critic Hulk really does not believe that the movie is 152 minutes of "Gotcha, suckers, laughing all the way to the bank" and offers all sorts of evidence on their side, but they also argue that the humorlessness of so many of these complaints is part and parcel of toxic masculinity, where a man must be treated with the utmost deference at all times and being laughed at is the worst, weakest, most shameful thing ever (Film Critic Hulk does not at this juncture cite Margaret Atwood, but fruitfully could have. I thought of Thomas More's characterization of the Devil as "the proud spirit [that] cannot endure to be mocked" and then I wondered if anyone has ever written a story where a demon is exorcized by just embarrassing it sufficiently). Hence talking about the importance of not taking oneself seriously all the time as a basic adult skill, and hence my brain going mildly boom.