Now, I don’t have what you might call, “guilty pleasure” type of movies. I either like a movie, or I don’t, it’s as simple as that. While I would be the first to admit to you that I have a fair collection of a movies that are just fluff, cinematic candy with no real greatness about them. However, they are fun, and I will argue you to death if you try to tell me why a show that I like is terrible. I know a fair amount of people in my life who act as if indulging in a goofy movie, or even a fun bad one, is such a waste of time that it affronts their senses to think that a person could derive any pleasure from it. Now before I proceed, let me define what I mean by a bad or silly movie.
I don’t mean by fun bad something that has excessive amounts of gore or nudity and sex. That’s just garbage to me. No, what I mean by fun bad is a movie that is Mystery Science Theater 3000 level of bad, or nearly so. A movie that drifts into that “fun bad” territory might have Nick Cage in it, but not always. We’re talking everything from Flash Gordon to Battlefield Earth. These “fun bad” movies, usually don’t lack for moments that just make you wonder what was going through the actors, the producers, the directors, to even the caterers—minds when the movie was in production. Did they know that they had a real dud on their hands? I’d be willing to be that some of them did.
Then there are those silly movies. Not that they are bad necessarily, but that they are the type of movies whose premise alone seems to earn people’s scorn. For example, one of my favorite set of movies is the Tron films. Are they great films? Likely they will only be appreciated by fanboys like myself, but that doesn’t make them terrible. Currently I have Krull playing in the background as I watch this. Was it a fantastic film? Not really. Certainly fun, but not fantastic. Both Tron and Krull were just fluff. Simple, fun movies out there to make you have a good time. They were silly, but not because they were awful or anything like that. It’s just that they had parts in them that either made no sense.
Krull for example, is fun and silly movie. Why do I call it silly? Well, despite the fact that it has some truly great character design in the villains, the dude playing the main hero has a few over-acting moments (such as not being able to cry convincingly.) Furthermore, the “powerful weapon of the true hero” that the hero acquires at the beginning of the film, rarely gets used. However, there are some truly well written moments smattered throughout, and it has a couple of memorable supporting actors who somehow make their smaller roles have more depth than that of the main star. It’s weird like that, but that’s part of the fun to me.
Then there’s the matter of Tron and its sequel, Tron: Legacy. I know people who act like I’m somehow an inferior person simply because I like this film. However, the people who act uppity about the film are so busy bashing it for the premise of a man getting sucked into a computer, that they keep themselves from just taking a break and enjoying the films for a bit of silly, fun entertainment. It’s as if the need to point out how brilliant they are to point out how absurd the premise is dominates their response to the movie. What gives?
Why do people act as if movies such as Krull and Tron are not to be taken at more than face value of what they (the movies) apparently are claiming to be? Yet, I know people who act like Tasmanian devils when it comes to a film like Tron. It’s as if they can’t help but snap, snarl, and gripe about how “Terrible they thought the movie was” or “What a colossal waste of their time” that the show was. I feel like they’ve forgotten how to just sit back and enjoy themselves. Like they purposely go into a film that is of the “Just for fun” variety, so they can be the first to tell you how awful and time wasting it was. That one really gets me, the wasting time one.
You’d think that they were on their way to perform major surgery or negotiate a peace treaty in the Middle East with how they act after having seen a “just for fun” movie. Not that I’m trying to offend people here, just that they need to have a little perspective. I know people who are actually worse net-junkies then me (heard to believe, I know) who complain so loudly about how their time was wasted if they see something that feel wasn’t “important enough” that it takes everything in me to not roll my eyes and pop out a sarcastic remark. I mean really, if you don’t realize that simply sitting there, watching a film is about as passive as it gets, it’s time to take a hard look at yourself.
Yes, movies can be a fantastic medium. It can transport us to far off worlds, fantastical alternate realities, and periods from the past. Movies can also teach us about ourselves, reaffirm our beliefs, or outright attack them (more on that in another post). However, when we watch them, we are just sitting there, so stop pretending like it is something more than that. World hunger won’t be solved by you watching a documentary on it. Your “awareness” of a problem doesn’t make it go away, nor does watching a movie about characters who meaningfully address major issues somehow imbue you with their resolve and strength.
Sorry if I seem to ramble a bit here. It just saddens and frustrates me when people act superior or scoff at my tastes in movies if I want to watch something that just drifts towards the fun side of things.
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