tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30487573.post5258674062545435855..comments2024-03-14T19:14:03.059-05:00Comments on Acidemic - Film: WATCHMEN Dig My EarthErich Kuerstenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850572368098319317noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30487573.post-85148537762289839152009-04-12T11:35:00.000-05:002009-04-12T11:35:00.000-05:00Loved this piece, as usual. Amid the carnage of yo...Loved this piece, as usual. Amid the carnage of your prose (I mean that in a good way) you hit on something I've been thinking about: how postmodernism is more a dead end then ever...you say that Snyder couldn't really get the self-referential irony across, but I think it's a matter of postmodern everything's-just-a-signifier-let's-swap-signifieds anarchy having completely flamed out, much less the potent malaise of Watchtower being filtered away by constant overuse. What you call "New Sincerity" may be a good thing if it means approaching the world at face value (or what feels to the spectator/creator like face value, which is essentially the same thing) instead of putting everything in quotation marks and turning films into elaborate exercises in dead-end half-hearted symbolism (hey it's the monk burning, that signifies Vietnam folks, let's bypass the more immediate fact of a live person being consumed by flames, let's facilitate our own desensitization woohoo!). I'd love to see a return to modernism which is probably not possible exactly, but could we all just casually take that "post" and chuck it out the window. It's just presumed that we have to look at everything from an ironic distance, without remembering what originally made an image or a song or an idea potent - that overfamiliarity breeds indifference and the interplay of dislocated signs is all that remains. But why? If we will ourselves past this complacent attitude, or better yet just start ignoring the contemporary cultural ethos (already fading in the light of Obama & reality-inducing economic pains) - tune out the crap - perhaps we can return to the garden. But since Eden is ostensibly un-obtainable (and represents a possible return to blissful naivite, instead of greater wisdom) how about another metaphor: what's so absorbing about the shadows, after all - let's all leave Plato's cave.<BR/><BR/>On the count of three...<BR/><BR/>Not sure exactly where this tirade came from (perhaps from sitting in Mass with the family for an hour on Easter Sunday after a year of not going to church...)<BR/><BR/>By the way, I've tackled that 10 characters meme (expanding it in the process). I didn't tag anyone, but you should definitely jump into the fray.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30487573.post-80986500578897992302009-03-31T10:23:00.000-05:002009-03-31T10:23:00.000-05:00I would never blame Moore. A) he's a real hippy (a...I would never blame Moore. A) he's a real hippy (as SWAMP THING and his magic fruit amply proves) and b)Watchmen came out long before even the problem with "I Feel Good" not to mention "All along the watchtower."<BR/><BR/>BUT Snyder could have a) opted for the Dylan version of Watchtower, or b) played in a more ironic context. c)Snyder's NO hippy.Erich Kuerstenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02850572368098319317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30487573.post-69671367514149802952009-03-30T20:51:00.000-05:002009-03-30T20:51:00.000-05:00Dylan's The Times They Are a Changin', All Along t...Dylan's The Times They Are a Changin', All Along the Watchtower, and Desolation Row are all referenced in the original graphic novel. So whether you were thrilled or annoyed by their inclusion in WATCHMEN:THE MOVIE, you can put the blame on Moore.C. Jerry Kutnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10901663264449536920noreply@blogger.com