smokingboot

The tendonitis seems to have cleared up, but yesterday was not easy. I made up for it by doing almost nothing.

We've watched a lot of junk TV and thoroughly enjoyed it; The Witcher 's great fun with excellent monsters! Cowboy Bebop suffered a bit from being watched just after it, but still... Then to crush my heart and soul, I watched Don't Look Up.

It's clever. It had funny moments, and Mark Rylance's performance was stellar, but the whole thing depressed me because I think we're ever so close to this. The Guardian review was intensely annoying ( https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/27/look-away-why-star-studded-comet-satire-dont-look-up-is-a-disaster) because, oh, I don't know, people aren't nice and we are supposed to sympathise with them to get the message? Beyond the eponymous, who recalls the characters in Strangelove? When did satire become about liking characters? Satire is mean and sharp, it is mockery. Satire is not warm and kindly, it has no reassurance, it is not seeking to woo, nor is it about coaxing us into right minded thinking. Satire ridicules, that is its basic nature. Gentle satire is an oxymoron. I daresay there are exceptions to that rule, but right now none come to mind.

To quote the critic talking about a certain scene;

'...As the first instance compelling an audience to invest in any of these characters or the beliefs they represent, it’s the only time Earth seems to be worth preserving.'

The earth only seems 'worth preserving' if you like the humans on it, cos there's nothing and no-one else worth thinking about, right? There, right there, is the problem. Make us like them so we care about them? The film is not about them it's about us. And there are moments when we are shown other forms of life on earth, all that might be destroyed... I found it very distressing.

But no, damn, let's forget that jive. Armageddon will be humanity's selfie.

Maybe the tendonitis has made me crabby. Or maybe the guy's just a bloody idiot.