Yeah, I hate a lot of things. In fact, I hate everything. I'm a hate-monger, you know me. Because every time I use the word hate I actually mean some kind of visceral, absolutist hatred.
Jesus christ. Am I accusing you of anything? No! If anything I'm venting about my mother's attitude, and I've already said that.
I think it reinforces those pre-existing attitudes and stereotypes, and a lot of those stereotypes anger me. Is it going to make everybody who sees it think people in the Amazon are moronic poison-dart throwers? No. But for some people who are already ready to accept certain stereotypes, it just makes it all the easier to keep on believing what they believe, and I don't think a country like the U.S. needs any help in that department. Conservative politicians quote 24 nowadays. They know it's going to resonate and make them look cool.
And i don't think Indiana Jones is far enough away from what looks like a modern, real world to be given the same leniency as most fantasy. And if it mocked itself - if it really actually mocked itself - then that would be a different story. But it doesn't. Even Rambo makes more fun of itself than Indiana Jones. But you know, that's the same reason I wasn't impressed with Iron Man. It was just proud of its machismo and offered no room for anyone to say, wait, I don't like this, precisely because it is so aligned with what popular culture conceives as cool. And the same with Narnia and its religious overtones - no room for criticism because to do so is to fight the basic plot of Christianity. That's what it means to be part of the hegemonic culture. Criticism becomes very difficult. I'm not saying that you in particular are making criticism difficult, I'm just noting how these movies set themselves up, through plot and styling and dialogue, so that you can't argue with them and their characters are perfect.
Of course there are parts of the movie that are entertaining and funny. It says something that the most entertaining parts of the movie were the parts where Indiana Jones wasn't perfect. The adventure bits were mostly rehashed from earlier movies and at any rate, hardly surprising. It's not good when the audience solves the riddle before the characters do.
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Jesus christ. Am I accusing you of anything? No! If anything I'm venting about my mother's attitude, and I've already said that.
I think it reinforces those pre-existing attitudes and stereotypes, and a lot of those stereotypes anger me. Is it going to make everybody who sees it think people in the Amazon are moronic poison-dart throwers? No. But for some people who are already ready to accept certain stereotypes, it just makes it all the easier to keep on believing what they believe, and I don't think a country like the U.S. needs any help in that department. Conservative politicians quote 24 nowadays. They know it's going to resonate and make them look cool.
And i don't think Indiana Jones is far enough away from what looks like a modern, real world to be given the same leniency as most fantasy. And if it mocked itself - if it really actually mocked itself - then that would be a different story. But it doesn't. Even Rambo makes more fun of itself than Indiana Jones. But you know, that's the same reason I wasn't impressed with Iron Man. It was just proud of its machismo and offered no room for anyone to say, wait, I don't like this, precisely because it is so aligned with what popular culture conceives as cool. And the same with Narnia and its religious overtones - no room for criticism because to do so is to fight the basic plot of Christianity. That's what it means to be part of the hegemonic culture. Criticism becomes very difficult. I'm not saying that you in particular are making criticism difficult, I'm just noting how these movies set themselves up, through plot and styling and dialogue, so that you can't argue with them and their characters are perfect.
Of course there are parts of the movie that are entertaining and funny. It says something that the most entertaining parts of the movie were the parts where Indiana Jones wasn't perfect. The adventure bits were mostly rehashed from earlier movies and at any rate, hardly surprising. It's not good when the audience solves the riddle before the characters do.