it demands a lot of responsibility both of the creator and of the reader/viewer. There needs to be a critical eye on both sides for it to work.
Very true. And it terms of critical eyes - on the audience/viewer side, I think that's harder to find than we might think. Thanks to VHS tapes, DVD's, cable TV and now the internet, we know a lot more pieces of information, we have access to a lot more of the cultural products of our age (films, pictures, recordings, etc) than any generation before us. But without context (back to that word) or an ability/willingness to analyze. And not that it's entirely our fault? Or rather, the rush and amount of images, the speed of the computer, are addictive (or why else do I sit here so many hours?), and beyond the brain's ability to process. Which I guess is the point? Don't think about it, just consume it, soak it in. (As with political ad campaigns and commercials.)
I'm actually pretty stunned by the amount of analysis fans do regarding BtVS (hell, I'm surprised how much I have to say about it). But that's just one fandom, not the general public. If religion was the opiate of the masses in Marx's day, I guess "entertainment" (video games, internet, etc) are ours.
It's one of the central tricks of marketing: sell something mass-produced to people by convincing them that it makes them individuals, tell them to be rebels by following your narrative.
The other trick is the one Betty Friedan wrote about in The Feminine Mystiqu, which is actually related, that of preying on people's negative self-esteem, on their fears and their desires to be better, to be respected, to be loved "if ONLY you use such and such a product" otherwise your life will be incomplete.
Hell, Eisenstein himself was selling the revolution.
no subject
Very true. And it terms of critical eyes - on the audience/viewer side, I think that's harder to find than we might think. Thanks to VHS tapes, DVD's, cable TV and now the internet, we know a lot more pieces of information, we have access to a lot more of the cultural products of our age (films, pictures, recordings, etc) than any generation before us. But without context (back to that word) or an ability/willingness to analyze. And not that it's entirely our fault? Or rather, the rush and amount of images, the speed of the computer, are addictive (or why else do I sit here so many hours?), and beyond the brain's ability to process. Which I guess is the point? Don't think about it, just consume it, soak it in. (As with political ad campaigns and commercials.)
I'm actually pretty stunned by the amount of analysis fans do regarding BtVS (hell, I'm surprised how much I have to say about it). But that's just one fandom, not the general public. If religion was the opiate of the masses in Marx's day, I guess "entertainment" (video games, internet, etc) are ours.
It's one of the central tricks of marketing: sell something mass-produced to people by convincing them that it makes them individuals, tell them to be rebels by following your narrative.
The other trick is the one Betty Friedan wrote about in The Feminine Mystiqu, which is actually related, that of preying on people's negative self-esteem, on their fears and their desires to be better, to be respected, to be loved "if ONLY you use such and such a product" otherwise your life will be incomplete.
Hell, Eisenstein himself was selling the revolution.
*nods* And denial is not just a river in Egypt.