Posted by Darth Dobbin at 208-58-251-27.s27.tnt2.nwhv.ct.dialup.rcn.com on June 19, 2000 at 12:07:08:
In Reply to: This is on indieWIRE today - regarding Clerks posted by Redial on June 19, 2000 at 11:41:35:
Do these folk feel better about themselves passing judgement on what is or is not "relevent?"
A poet, bard and visionary of our time once sung,"What have you done for me lately." (No, her name AIN'T "Baby.")
That seems to be the watchword of the would-be cognoscenti. But it begs the question- What have they done EVER?! It takes no talent, effort, or vision to say "That is SOO six years ago." It just takes the propensity for being a buttplug.
I suppose, however, the baying of the jackals is part and parcel of "making it." Taking nothing away from the indie film mentioned in the 1st letter, CLERKS, & Kev's work in general, is specifically NOT art-house-lesbian-pathos-drama. That's why these folk are pissed. In a way, Kev is the non-conformist of the non-conformist indie crowd by having more mainstream appeal. How dare he be lauded and lioned when there are OTHER low-budget, B&W sleepers out there, without their "just due." That's an absurd, pretentious viewpoint, and is usually voiced by the perrenial "losers"-- The ones for whom mainstream sucess is villified, because they KNOW they will never achieve it, thus they poo-poo it.
Even when Kevin made a $250,000 picture about a lesbian love story--It's the offbeat sensibilities that are, in fact, kinda-in-beat, the wit, and most importantly, the omnipresent dick & fart jokes that make the stories fun, funny, AND insightful.
Ah well. Don't let the bastards get you down.
-Dobbin
(And you can do a LOT WORSE that getting the sucess and "saturation" of BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD. Or SOUTH PARK, for that matter. I love how superior people feel knocking a venture that made its creator rich beyond his imagining, and opened up lucrative avenues wherein he is making fat dollah by writing for a living. Mike Judge, I'm sure, is ALSO hated by this creepy crowd...He, like Kevin, commited the WORST of all possible sins- He made something from whole cloth that people enjoyed, and gave lie to the notion that a "garage band" type "indie" creative person CAN NEVER get famous and make it. Assmunchs, one and all.)