Media criticism of two pop culture hits

[shadowkat]

Ah...someone who was mildly critical of the Avengers flick, and amusingly upset Samuel L Jackson (who I honestly think was joking - seriously, Jackson starred in Snakes on a Plane, this man is no stranger to bad critical reviews.)

NY Times Critic AO Scott's review of the Avengers.

Here's the criticism:

....while “The Avengers” is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting. The light, amusing bits cannot overcome the grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre. Mr. Whedon’s playful, democratic pop sensibility is no match for the glowering authoritarianism that now defines Hollywood’s comic-book universe. Some of the rebel spirit of Mr. Whedon’s early projects “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly” and “Serenity” creeps in around the edges but as detail and decoration rather than as the animating ethos.

Clearly the critic is a fan of Whedon, just not of the comic book The Avengers. (I'm somewhat the same way, was never much of an Avengers fan. I loved the X-men. But outside of the X-men, group superhero comics bored me. Feel the same way about the Justice League. And yes, it's due to the authoritan aspects of the genre, which Alan Moore famously critiqued in Watchmen. Watchmen is actually a critique of The Avengers and Justice League comics.)

I've read a few Avenger's comics (because they kept crossing over with the X-me) so I know the stories and team. This film is missing a few characters - Scarlett Witch (Magneto's Daughter),
The Wasp, and Antman.

Haven't seen it yet. Just getting this from the various reviews. Flist has been reviewing the Avengers for the past three weeks. I have to keep skipping posts, because I don't want to be spoiled, but I do want a general review.

In other news...I finished The 50 Shades trilogy and have read various reviews and comments on it. Some rather sexist and misogynistic. Someone from SNL stated that they couldn't deal with seeing the middle-aged lady across from them reading this book. Interesting, personally I find seeing a guy reading American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis across from me, far more disturbing, particularly when he's loving it and looks at me over the rim. (I've read the book and Ellis details the psycho's rape of women in an erotic manner that well, makes you mildly ill.) (Clearly they have no idea what is in the book (50 Shades not American Psycho) or that middle-aged ladies can read a lot worse on the internet, I'm sorry, does this come as a shock to you? Internet erotica (aka porn) is not just read or viewed by horny men. Also middle-aged ladies libidio is a bit more active than 20 something libidios..which possibly explains why middle-aged men prefer to date 20 somethings...they can't keep up with women their own age. LOL! See I can be sexist too.)

This is not to say the books are necessarily good or ground-breaking. The media reaction to them however...is bewildering and somewhat offensive, also proof, in case we needed any, that the media looks at sex the same way a 12 year old boy does - will it give me cooties? I'm also tempted to state the media is a tad on the sexist/misogynistic side of the proverbial fence.

The publishing industry's bewilderment over why they are doing well amuses me greatly. Because, yes, a book can sell millions without being gutted. What's good about the book isn't the sex or really the story for that matter. Nor how it is written - the writing is more or less standard pulp fair. But the how the writer plays with it. If you've read fanfic, and almost everyone reading this journal has, you've seen it before. Text messages in the book. Times and dates. About five to six pages in the back showing everything from the guys point of view at the very end of the last book. Detailed description of every part of the romance. Things editors usually cut out, are left intact. The writer is playing, and we don't often see that in published stories, unfortunately. That is a fault of the publishing industry not writers. And with any luck this book might make the publishing industry rethink their tactics - trust readers more, and stop trying to make everything fit an established formula.

The plot which has been reported in the major reviews doesn't factually fit what I read. Here's what I read: 21 year old Anastasia Steele gets roped into interviewing insanely successful multi-billionaire Christian Grey for a college magazine that her roommate edits. Her roommate, Kate Kavanagh got the interview with Grey and persuaded Grey to do it. But comes down with the flu on the day of the interview and persuades her roommate Ana to do it for her. Ana does, and it's lust at first sight. Christian is your typical tortured hero. He's the beast of this tale. It's not Taming the Shrew as many of the reviews have indicated, no, it's Taming the Beast. He wants to engage her as his newest submissive in a BDSM relationship. Being sexually inexperienced, she
resists. He never really gets her to commit to it. Instead she ends up pulling him away from that lifestyle, so although they do have BDSM sex - it's not that much. Ana is on the eve of her graduation. She's taking her final exams when she meets him. And graduates from college when they begin to get together. She moves to Seattle with her roommate, Kate, and gets a job at a publishing company...when she's dating him. So, I wouldn't describe her as a college student.
She also falls in love with him before they really have sex. So it's not a one-night stand thing.
This is more of a romantic fantasy novel with lots of sex than an erotica novel. Erotica novels don't tend to be romantic.

It's not as good as Nauti's Crave. But it is better than a lot of other Everybody's Human fanfics that I've read. If you like that sort of thing - it's fairly cheap on the kindle. You can grab a sample. That's what I did. But I don't really rec it. The first book was the best of the bunch.
The last book was sluggish and plodding at times, and not a lot happens. The second books falls somewhere between the two - better than the third, not as compelling as the first - which is often true in the romance genre. Once the two characters get together...you get bored. All the writer can do is break them up. Which she does at the end of book 1, very beginning of book 2, they get back together...and the rest of it is the battle of the genders - or taming the beast.

Romance novels are in a way - gender battles. Two genders fighting each other. Sex is the fight scene. Or Taming the Beast.

Comments

[ceciliaj.livejournal.com]

The publishing industry's bewilderment over why they are doing well amuses me greatly. Because, yes, a book can sell millions without being gutted. What's good about the book isn't the sex or really the story for that matter. Nor how it is written - the writing is more or less standard pulp fair. But the how the writer plays with it. If you've read fanfic, and almost everyone reading this journal has, you've seen it before. Text messages in the book. Times and dates. About five to six pages in the back showing everything from the guys point of view at the very end of the last book. Detailed description of every part of the romance. Things editors usually cut out, are left intact. The writer is playing, and we don't often see that in published stories, unfortunately. That is a fault of the publishing industry not writers. And with any luck this book might make the publishing industry rethink their tactics - trust readers more, and stop trying to make everything fit an established formula.

I love the way you put this. It's made me want to check the book out. I will read anything that plays with form like that.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

How James played with form and broke rules fascinated me as much as the media's reaction. She includes a BDSM contract along with an email exchange regarding the contract that is hilarious. But critics had problems with that - because including a contract and text messages in a novel is against the rules. It is considered bad writing. (I don't know why.)

It's a hilarious in places. The third book less so...I think James got tired. But, there is a rather clever bit at the very end of the third book where you get to see the characters first two meetings through the male lead's eyes. That surprised me. People don't do that. I'm curious to see if James plans to re-write all three books through the male lead's perspective, because if she does - that would blow the publishing world's collective mind. Fanfic on her own novel. Only fanfic writers do that...which is a shame, because it's new and interesting.

[kerry-220.livejournal.com]

As far as the more negative reviews of the Avengers go, I thought Andrew O'Hehir's was the most honest and entertaining. He was completely upfront in his criticism of the comic book/action genre, but found the fun as well. What impressed me the most, though, was he took the time in the comments section of his site to respond to his critics - leading to some very thoughtful debate.

I suspect that is why there is far less vitriolic comments on "Rotten Tomatoes" than some of the other critics.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I need to hunt his down.

There is something to be said though...for critiquing a superhero movie for well being a superhero movie. I mean what do they expect? What did AO Scott expect? It sort of told you it was a superhero movie going into it. If you don't like superhero movies or movies about a team of superheroes fighting a big menace...why would you like this?

[kerry-220.livejournal.com]

And you've just summed up what most people complained about. Well, that and the fact that fans are insulted -suggesting "grinding hectic emptiness" defines a genre really doesn't say much about the fans of said genre:P.

O'Hehir's review was critiqued more because he was really discussing the genre, not the movie and that he was approaching it from a elitist perspective. If memory serves he said he probably should go back to reviewing movies about Lesbian Sheep herders (I'll find the review)

Here: http://www.salon.com/2012/05/02/the_avengers_will_superhero_movies_never_end/

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

O'Hehir's review was critiqued more because he was really discussing the genre, not the movie and that he was approaching it from a elitist perspective.

Reminds me a great deal of the criticism and reviews of 50 Shades of Grey.
The reviewers critique the book, much as they did Twilight, for not being a literary work of art. And I'm thinking but the writer never intended to write a literary work of art - the writer was writing their "fantasy" and sharing it with others. I mean, hello, 50 Shades is a heterosexual romance novel with a lot of kinky and vanilla sex in it. If you hate that sort of thing - why would you read the book? Let alone review it.

Same deal with The Avengers...it's a fantasy movie. It's not supposed to literary. It's supposed to be fun. If you don't like watching a bunch of people dress in costume, fight bad guys, with lots of big explosions and snappy dialogue...don't see the movie.

You can't criticize something for being what it is. Be like criticizing an orange for having a rind and requiring peeling. It's an orange - sort of goes with the territory.

Granted there are super-hero flicks that sort of jump outside the genre and try to be something else - but I don't think its fair to compare The Dark Knight to The Avengers, any more than it is fair to compare Twilight to
Near Dark or The Lost Boys. The creators aren't after the same things.

And you are right criticizing the genre for being well empty headed pulp...
is elitist and snobby. Sure, it's pulp, we all know that. That's why we love it. Often you can play more with pulp, write fanfic, ship characters, etc. But empty-headed? That's highly subjective. It's like an Opera fan telling a Andrew Lloyd Webber or Bway musical fan that they have no taste. No, they have "different" tastes. One isn't better than the other.

(Sigh, if people had more eclectic tastes and were less tunnel visioned - they would see this.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Just read his review, thanks for the link. It's fascinating. He really doesn't attack the fans so much as the media's response or his fellow critics and the marketing behind the film.

Someone will invoke the ghost of Pauline Kael to instruct us that movies are meant to entertain, and someone else will suggest that the editors send me back to covering films about lesbian sheepherders made in Azerbaijan.Well, there just isn’t enough output from Azeri lesbian cinema to keep me busy, so here we all are again. Cutting to the chase: “The Avengers” does what it needs to do, absolutely.

He pretty much states - right up-front - yes, I know this is a superhero film and yes it accomplishes what it sets out to do. And I know that criticizing it will most likely get me into trouble.

My problem is less with the movie or its audience or Joss Whedon — although I honestly don’t think being an A-list Hollywood director serves his talents appropriately — than with the penumbra of bratty, entitled coolness that surrounds the whole project. It’s a neat little postmodern trick, actually, to simultaneously position this movie as the most central pop-culture event of 2012 and insist on some kind of edgy, outsider status that renders any and all detractors as pipe-smoking William F. Buckley squares, defending a nonexistent Establishment.

I agree with this comment. The problem with the Avengers ...is it is not new or different, it's just another super-hero movie in an endless string of super-hero movies. (I finally got burned out on the genre, seen too many of the dang things on tv and in the movies, not to mention having read the comic books.) To say it's a huge event, the best thing ever, a huge deal is well, disingenuous. Because it is actually the opposite. It's the same problem I have with media response to 50 Shades and Twilight and to a lesser degree Harry Potter. The media has made these stories out to be more than they are - purely because they've made a lot of money. If something makes millions and millions of dollars it is deemed to be amazing by the media, fantastic, the best thing ever - and OMG, we must all rush out and copy its success, create another movie or book just like it! Because if we create something just like it - it will make millions too!

Art as a business venture or popularity contest. It has to sell millions or it isn't good.

I think what both of these reviewers are trying to say is...you know what, yeah sure Avengers is the biggest blockbuster of all time, but I kinda preferred Buffy and Firefly, which barely made a dime, and were a lot more interesting and memorable. They don't have any problem with "us" enjoying the Avengers or 50 Shades or Twilight, nor do they fault the creators of these works, their issue is with the media marketing machine's reaction to them. Which, I think, is a valid point. At times I think we live in the age of misinformation or babble than in the information age - due to the dumbing down of our cultural media - which seems to be in love with the all-mighty dollar.

Fifty Shades...

[lizziebuffy2008.livejournal.com]

Well, I took your suggestion and downloaded the sample of the first book, it interested me enough that I went ahead and got the whole book, then the second one...I don't feel compelled at the moment to get the third (although, at some point I probably will.)

It really took me about halfway in to the first book, before I felt anything much for the characters, other than curiosity. By the end, when she broke them up, I knew I was going to have to get the second one. Truthfully, though without that little page at the end of book two, I could have been happy with ending it there.

It definitely felt like reading fanfic. I have some questions, because I do not know anyone else that has read it and we share some similar likes and dislikes...I have not read or seen Twilight, and other than the 3 main characters, know nothing about it. Also, I have only ever read BtVS and True Blood fanfic (mostly the former-got bored with the latter) and I really thought they were nothing alike. I did however think there were similarities between SoG and some BtVS fanfic and wonder if the author was "inspired" by that as well (particularly Crave.) I was wondering your thoughts?

I feel like writing Nauti and telling her to hunt down the person that got James' trilogy out there and make them read her stuff...

I also thought that the sex that people are making such a big deal out of was pretty tame. Ok, there was spanking (there is a whole market of spanking websites and books out there; nothing new,) some bondage, again pretty tame, some toys, ok maybe the media is unaware of some of the "romance-erotic" books available at your local Barnes and Noble? I mean, if you have ever read Sarah Aless' BtVS Spike as the dom stuff, you would laugh hysterically at everyone so up in arms at FSoG. I feel like sending the media a reading list of certain, published authors. Is this part of the "lets treat women like they aren't supposed to be sexual adults, responsible for their own bodies" turn the US has taken in the last 10 years?

I have to say, I did get tired of the "he is so beautiful and I am so not." Also, of the same phrases over and over (not "laters baby," because that was a running joke;) holy cow, etc. Do you think that had anything to do with the writer being English trying to write American characters?

I know you are busy with work and life, I am just curious as to what your thoughts might be.

Re: Fifty Shades...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I don't feel compelled at the moment to get the third (although, at some point I probably will.)

The third book drug, don't highly recommend. Also nothing major revealed that isn't in the first two...except that Grey finally gets over himself and is no longer as obsessive by the end of it.

I did however think there were similarities between SoG and some BtVS fanfic and wonder if the author was "inspired" by that as well (particularly Crave.) I was wondering your thoughts?

Agreed it is very similar to the BTVS Everybody's Human fanfic that I've read. Including the text messages/emails/contracts - which you never see in published books but are in fanfics. (Actually I liked the text messages and emails and contracts - thought that was hilarious, but mostly because I got the inside joke.)

It reminded me a great deal of Nauti's Crave. In fact I did tell her at one point that she should just publish her erotica, and replace the names. Easy. Apparently she's considering doing that...and has a publisher that is looking into it. EL James writing style reminds me a great deal of Nauti's - lots of dialogue, not much description and a casual twenty-something tone.

To my knowledge James has never read BTVS or TrueBlood fanfic, I know she's very involved in the Twilight community. And...from what I've seen of the fanfic in various fandoms, it's not that different. 50 Shades is basically proof that the Twilight fanfic is no better or worse than the Everybody's Human BTVS fanfic. IT is however a great deal better than many similar "published" (non-fanfic) novels out there just like it, believe it or not. Which may explain why it is doing so well - it's meeting an itch that well nothing else is.

I haven't really read Twilight either - couldn't make it past the first 50 pages. So can't really tell you how similar they are. Nor have I seen the films. (Personally found Twilight to be unreadable, James is a better writer than Stephanie Meyer, granted so are a lot of people...)

I also thought that the sex that people are making such a big deal out of was pretty tame.

Agreed. Disappointingly so, actually. But go read some of the reviews of Sylvia Day's Bared to You which compare it to 50 Shades (Day's sex is even tamer), which state it's not as risque or over the top! (LOL!)
I've read two books - that aren't fanfic, also poorly written, which were far more out there, Bottom's Up and Dom of My Dreams - both of those had menage a trois (two guys, one girl) and anal sex.

The most risque bits in Shades are in 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed - which involve the silver balls, spanking, a curved vibrator,
handcuffs, and a small butt plug. He never really claims her ass.
While most BDSM books include a lot of anal sex. Heck, Rosemary Roger's contemporary romance novels did.

But keep in mind that most people haven't read this stuff. Story of O is foreign to them. Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series, Anais Nin, oh so many others. They never read the fanfic we have. They don't know it exists.

Really, read the Amazon reviews...highly entertaining.

Re: Fifty Shades...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I mean, if you have ever read Sarah Aless' BtVS Spike as the dom stuff, you would laugh hysterically at everyone so up in arms at FSoG

Okay, now I want to hunt down Sarah Aless' fanfic. I do remember reading other's though that were equally graphic - SaberShadowkitten was notorious, as was DeadSoul, Herself, Wisteria, and various others.
Nauti is actually pretty tame - but had a sense of humor. And I think that's what is selling 50 Shades - it is the difference between 50 and all its copycats or the other books out there that are vaguely similar.
James has a sense of humor. The book made me laugh in places. (Particularly the text messages and the heroine despairing over her insane lover.) Most of these books unfortunately don't have a sense of humor. That's what Nauti had and a lot of the other erotic fanfics didn't - a sense of humor.

They don't take themselves or their story that seriously. The others, sigh do.

I have to say, I did get tired of the "he is so beautiful and I am so not." Also, of the same phrases over and over (not "laters baby," because that was a running joke;) holy cow, etc. Do you think that had anything to do with the writer being English trying to write American characters?

Possibly. It didn't bother me all that much - oddly enough. I expected it too. But the whole "holy" bit seemed to just be an Ana thing. Part of her character. In much the same way - that laters baby was an Elliot thing. Note that no one else uses the holy cow, holy shit, holy crap, holy fuck phrases, and she rarely utters them aloud. Ana is 21, not broadly read, and well not exactly highly articulate. He makes fun of her vocabulary on more than one occasion. Christian meanwhile uses fuck alot. Repeated uses of specific phrases to show a character's idiosyncrasies are allowed. It puts you more fully inside that character's mindset - how they think. Ana would say holy crap. This is how Ana thinks. And I thought...having read some 21-19 year old fanfic and blogs...not to mention tweets...that yes, some of them appear to think like that. So I shrugged it off. (And it should be noted that before I started this - I read Sleeping Beauty - god that's horrible. And Story of O (talk about repetitive), and Bottom's Up (ugh), and many others that basically make 50 Shades look really well written in comparison. I mean have you tried to read Story of O and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty? Or Twilight for that matter...)

The other repetitive phrases...I think are mainly due to James being an amateur writer or undisciplined. Or having a bad editor. Although, I'll give them credit for three things: almost no typos (that's rare in e-book erotica/romance, the dang things are filled with typos), the sentences actually make sense and are not long and rambling, and the dialogue moves at a nice clip and isn't overly repetitive, also it doesn't come out of nowhere and the characters don't sound alike.
(I've read some really bad books.)

Re: Fifty Shades...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you have any rec's for good romance novels? I've been striking out. 50 Shades seemed great because everything else is really bad.

Trying Sylvia Day's book...will let you know.

Probably should just go and read Tess by Hardy. But I want the sex scenes, dammnit.

Re: Fifty Shades...

[lizziebuffy2008.livejournal.com]

Have you read any of Janelle Denison? I liked "Wilde Thing" (parts of the plot were pretty lame, but the sex, oh mama.)

I also liked Lisa Kleypas' Wall Flower (historical) series, starting with "Secrets of a Summer Night."

Like I said before, I liked Sylvia Day's historicals. I started with an anthology, "Bad Boys Ahoy" and really liked the first two stories in it (the third one is ok too, just did not push my buttons as much.) The second one has I think my favorite couple Julianne and Lucien. I have read all of the series. "Pride and Pleasure" actually has a very different heroine from most books.

Strangely, even though I love BtVS, I do not gravitate toward paranormal erotica, not sure why...

That is all I can think of for now-most of my books are at home and we will not be back there until next month (temporary assignment.)