-A stone's throw away-
It was my intent to post the results of a snarky experiment, comparing "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (Steven Soderbergh) with "Sex, Lies, and the Truth." (Focus on the Family) This intent was motivated by the titles alone; at the beginning of this week, I hadn't viewed either, and only knew of each film as VHS boxes checked out and returned by two very different groups of people.
Someone should watch both, I decided, and did so. Now that I have, I've cut the project's funding.
It might have been fun to lash the latter video's naivete, but I couldn't help but feel cruel setting a 30 minute abstinence video against an award-winning film written and shot by a young but unmistakably talented director. If Focus on the Family is to be faulted, it would be for usurping the name. And that usurpation was the reason for the experiment, wasn't it?
Surely, there are some thrills to be gained from 'Truth,' which seem to compare lust to assault by carneys. Like the scene with the unwed mother who tells her weepy tale over the nervous laughter of her friends. One could even excoriate the interviewed athletes, or the former family ties cast member who hosted, but I don't believe that would make the exercise worthwhile.
Mort Stahl criticizes media commentators for "using spitballs when they should be throwing rocks," which I take to be an argument against the feckless satire practiced by self-aggrandizing 'personalities.' If such persons spoke out against authority for the betterment of the masses, they have no need of covert, ego-feeding bullying. So I'll spare them the wet paper while I gather stones.
Someone should watch both, I decided, and did so. Now that I have, I've cut the project's funding.
It might have been fun to lash the latter video's naivete, but I couldn't help but feel cruel setting a 30 minute abstinence video against an award-winning film written and shot by a young but unmistakably talented director. If Focus on the Family is to be faulted, it would be for usurping the name. And that usurpation was the reason for the experiment, wasn't it?
Surely, there are some thrills to be gained from 'Truth,' which seem to compare lust to assault by carneys. Like the scene with the unwed mother who tells her weepy tale over the nervous laughter of her friends. One could even excoriate the interviewed athletes, or the former family ties cast member who hosted, but I don't believe that would make the exercise worthwhile.
Mort Stahl criticizes media commentators for "using spitballs when they should be throwing rocks," which I take to be an argument against the feckless satire practiced by self-aggrandizing 'personalities.' If such persons spoke out against authority for the betterment of the masses, they have no need of covert, ego-feeding bullying. So I'll spare them the wet paper while I gather stones.
posted by Benedict | 11:40 PM
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