Flutterby™! : Loss of sincerity 2013-03-02 00:42:57.809155+00

Loss of sincerity

2013-03-02 00:42:57.809155+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Impudence, The Oz Problem, in which Columbine discusses the new Wizard of Oz movie, and sincerity and angst in movies.

It continues to astonish me that The Mummy actually was allowed to exist, that someone didn’t come along and piss in the soup and add a dose of existential angst or some obligatory hint that they would not, in fact, live happily ever after. It amazes me that the pure fairy tale got told. By 1999 those were already in short supply.

There's more there, and I'm not sure where to go with it because the lack of sincerity in modern media touches a chord with me. It doesn't have to necessarily be positive, but...

Over a decade ago, Charlene dragged me kicking and screaming to Disneyland. I went, expecting kitsch, and it was, but it was played so straight and so sincerely that it worked: I could have viewed it with ironic detachment, but it was earnest enough that I was able to bypass the detachment.

I think that's part of what makes good films work. I had a longer write-up tying in to why the new Man of Steel Official Trailer #2 (2013) leaves me so flat, and I think part of that is that it concedes the modern "well, you liked Batman as the over-acted conflicted hero, let's shovel that trope here" rather than finding a core and saying "no, damn it, this is the story we're telling, fuck you if you don't wanna play along".

Thanks for pointing to it. I happened to like the Mummy (and follow-ons), for a lot of the reasons mentioned. But then I also watch a lot of old movies, and this helped trigger an understanding that the sincerity is part of what I find appealing.