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It’s amusing to me that most people think that something has to have value or meaning before they can appreciate it. I hear it all the time: “I thought Bad Boys II had cool explosions, but I couldn’t really find any deeper message. I probably won’t see it again.”
People are obsessed with meaning. But I love to be entertained. I can name literally hundreds of things that have neither value nor meaning, but that I find perfectly entertaining. Here’s five just to get you started:
- Couch forts
- Watching someone with sea legs on dry land
- Bad Boys II
- Shiny objects
- Jeff Goldblum
The point is that art and entertainment doesn’t NEED to have some sort of social agenda or political message in order to be worth my time.
I can watch Jackie Chan’s Legend of Drunken Master a bazillion times and it will be just as great. Hell, I’d watch The Fast and the Furious if I Paul Walker wasn’t such a horrible actor.
And besides, entertainment is so much more entertaining if you just sit back and allow yourself to be entertained. More people should try it.
{ 4 comments }
Corvus 05.24.07 at 10:40 am
“And besides, entertainment is so much more entertaining if you just sit back and allow yourself to be entertained. More people should try it.”
That’s a highly subjective opinion! What if some of us aren’t coded in such a way as to be able to accept the messages inherent in even the most banal of entertainment media? What if our enjoyment actually comes from examining the subtext of every narrative we experience?
Your argument is suspiciously close to “you think too much,” an accusation that rankles me to no end!
1. Couch forts: reenactment of childhood ritual which recalls a time when we felt protected and safe
2. Watching someone with sea legs on dry land: subconscious assessment of survival probability (I can run faster if a Puma attacks. ha ha!)
3. Bad Boys II: shallow and unintentional commentary on the casual ignorance of other’s cultural norms
4. Shiny objects: oooo, pretty! shiny often equals jangly. keeping jangly bits around alerts us to intruders with sea legs stumbling about our homes
5. Jeff Goldblum: I got nothin’!
Jason 05.24.07 at 12:51 pm
Clearly “meaning” isn’t something that’s just inherent in the media - people take on all different kinds of meanings based on their previous experience. That’s totally fine, in fact, I think that’s probably why I enjoy a lot of “mindless entertainment.”
What amuses me is that lots of people refuse to admit that a movie like Bad Boys II connects with them on some level, simply because they can’t consciously ascribe meaning to it. If your subconscious is telling you it’s entertaining, it probably is.
Corvus 05.24.07 at 7:46 pm
Don’t mind me, I was just randomly pushing buttons all afternoon!
Gavin 05.25.07 at 12:05 pm
How can one not love Jeff Goldblum, he is wonderful!
I am apparently now shamed to dislike the Bad Boys series..
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