Crap Culture

[commonpeople1]

I deleted my previous entry because I wasn't happy with it. The more I thought about it, the more I felt sick with myself for dipping into the latest celebrity car crash - especially in such a cynical way. I don't read Heat magazine and I have no intentions of starting now. And to make matters worse, I went to a screening + Q&A last night with Kenneth Anger that was incredibly shambolic, sad... depressing. It left me feeling nauseous. I've been feeling cold for days...

I don't know much about Kenneth Anger except that he is known for some cult films. It seems to me that last night's organisers, Shunt, made him and the paying public a diservice. The whole thing was badly organised, people pushed and shoved as if they were trying to get inside an airplane, I had a seat obstructed by a column (and I was one of the lucky few that found a seat), there were tons of problems with the video and sound, and then an old pile of tosh got applauded because it was Kenneth Anger. To me, we were all there because we wanted something different, something exciting, something beyond Hollywood, TV - something queer - and it just was impossible for those expectations to be met. That's a very depressing realization for this day and age... What we got were video clips that in any other context, by any other person, would have been jeered and thrown out with the garbage. In fact, some people did jeer his found footage of Nazi youths (who reminded me of American summer camps and Guess models). I'm guessing they were the few jews in the audience. But, again, I feel unsure about this judgement because my nausea last night made me feel incapable of trusting my opinion. Kevin says it was a very bad first impression.

Comments

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

I regrettably agree with everything above. I want to make a long post about it myself as I have a lot to say on the matter but, unfortunately, have to actually do some work. :(

It's a shame that Anger didn't get to talk for longer about his more relevant and interesting work and an even bigger shame that they didn't show his older stuff.

Last night was a farce and a total insult. Shunt's "organisers" should be punched in the face repeatedly.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Please do write a long post when you have a chance. I'll fill in any gaps. I think it needs to be posted everywhere what happened last night.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Long post is loooooooooong...

Done. :)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It was good seeing you too. I heard your voice message afterwards - it sucks so bad that we didn't have mobile reception in there! I'm sorry you were kept waiting, but at least it was all well in the end.

Kevin told me later your take on the Nazi youth film - that it was about humanizing them - and I agree with you! But at the same time, it was just found footage with a score chosen by him... everything he showed was so underwhelming for me - was something anyone could have done (and probably better).

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

Great to see you although it was all too brief and don't worry about anything. I was feeling a bit off all night; really needed sleep.

I'd be interested to hear your take on the night actually. It was one of those frustrating moments when I left a) because I wanted to see if Anger got into a fight with anyone over the Nazi film and b) because I wanted to rant to everyone about the whole night but couldn't as I had to run to get the train. :(

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

1) There's nothing wrong with cynicism.

2) Kenneth Anger is amazingly over-rated. And a good 30% of Hollywood Babylon was made up.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

1) Cynicism in myself makes me ill. But I keep doing it... want to see if I can curb it.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Pretty much every cynic is, at heart, a frustrated idealist. We know how humanity and the world ought to be, but are generally pied off that it isn't and it never will be.

What you need to avoid is going beyond cynicism into misanthropy. Although to be honest it never did me any harm so far as I can tell.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Your misanthropy comes disguised in charm, so it's OK. for those of us who can't manage that, there lies the danger!

[oatmeal-texas.livejournal.com]

Yikes.

That's too bad. I really loved his short films that I've seen.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Kevin says his first work is really good, and that last night is not an indication of the quality of his work... so I'm going to reserve my judgement until I watch those. At least I got to see him talk! He was in good spirits and was a complete gentleman, despite the terrible organisation and the disservice done to him by the people at Shunt Vaults.