In the last few weeks I’ve touched upon horror as a genre, and argued how film can and should be used to to speak to students and used in education to a far greater extent than it has in the past. 

With this in mind, it only makes sense that I dedicate at least writing (if indirectly) to both subjects collectively, through a film that’s fairly unknown. This is what leads us to today’s article.

In a word: the article itself as an opinion piece is solid but flawed. I like it. It boasts a very relaxed and conversational tone, which, when coupled with its relatively short length and simplistic language, allows it to flow with an enjoyable ease, that both satisfies and doesn’t waste your time.

It makes its stance and argument clear from the start with its opening line: “Sometimes, a movie comes along that shows many problems with the horror/thriller genre while simultaneously being an above average movie in and of itself. Disturbing Behavior is one of those films.” Before launching into a summary of the film, and its argument for seeing it.

Said summary, though, is likely the article’s most problematic feature, as goes far too deeply into detail regarding the film’s plot, even spoiling certain bits specific cahracter’s stories, when it doesn’t need to. A better move may have been to focus more on analysis of the story as a whole, perhaps diving into it’s themes or the production values in greater detail. As it stands now, however, the summary as whole just comes across as unnecessary and even detrimental padding.

Beyond this issue though, the article deserves credit for its use of evidence as well, drawing upon both the writer’s personal experiences with the film – seeing the director’s-cut on cable – and the issues surrounding the mediocre theatrical release of the film to counteract any oppositions’  likely main argument for avoiding it, before wrapping the entire thing up with his own recommendation. All-in-all, as I said, this is a solid article. It does exactly what it needs and wants to, with an engaging tone, a well-composed argument lacing in any noticeable fallacies, and a clear message defining the writer’s opinion. It only stumbles in how little it chooses to delve into analysis, focusing more than its own considerations. Barring this ,admittedly, glaring flaw,however, I believe this is well put together article accomplishes its goals more than admirably.

Source:

“Disturbing Behavior (1998) Review.” Horror Freak News – The Best Horror Movies Website, 7 June 2016, horrorfreaknews.com/disturbing-behavior-1998-review.

So… Anyone else notice their attention span slipping?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to preach about it, but, it’s hard to deny, that with easier access to smartphones, laptops, and anything else that let us hit the internet at the click of a button, focusing on any one thing for more than about three minutes has become far more difficult.

I, for one, love movies of largely any type, but, I find recently if a film doesn’t manage to grab my attention in some way, or I’m not in the right mindset to sit still and watch, I’ll find about 15 other things to do at the same time and miss the whole thing.

That got me thinking though, do you know when my mind never wavered from the film in front of me?

In class.

I’m dead serious. The mix of escaping the daily grind and being surrounded by my (nominal) friends at the same time, actually managed to hold my attention for hours on end, where my teachers and textbooks had failed.

While some amongst you may roll your eyes or shake your heads at this – “Obviouslyyou were just too easily distracted” – I believe it goes deeper than that. Film, as a medium, engages and entrances the mind in ways that books never really can.

Think about it. Books are amazing avenues for storytelling – the basis of any well-constructed lesson based upon the relevance texts – but are, by their nature, limited by the reader’s ability to comprehend them; One misplaced strand of thought – an overwrought description, or an author’s excessive use of four-syllable and above words – can unravel any chance for certain individuals actually understanding their content.

But film, a visualmedium, holds no such danger. Barring an inconvenient plot-hole brought-in on the part of the filmmakers, film can bring to life moments and lessons in ways that can endear them to viewers in ways far beyond the toneless memorization typical in public education.

If implemented correctly, it can even push one

If you don’t believe me, believe the numbers: In 2017, when taken from a sample of millions, individuals aged from 2-24 accounted for 27.7% of frequent moviegoers in the U.S when taken together.

The fact is, films resonate with youth, and what some may call a distraction from “actual” schoolwork, when implemented correctly, holds the potential to push curiosity and engagement in students to new heights.

So maybe, rather than looking down on their use in the classroom or shoveling them to the side in favor yet more test prep and paperwork, or even just as a last lazy resort, teachers and administrators should structure a few lessons around them, and allow them to act as an actual tool, rather than a mere distraction.

Wouldn’t that be something that keeps your attention?

Citations:

MPAA. (March 21, 2019). Number of frequent moviegoers in the United States in 2017, by age group (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.statista.com.libproxy.highpoint.edu/statistics/251466/us-movie-theater-audience-by-age/

As my last attempt at critique was, admittedly, a bit stiffer than I would have liked, this time, I’d prefer to try a more relaxed approach if I may be allowed. To compliment this, I believe I should start off by saying: I love this article. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but, as of this moment, i find it to be a phenomenal example of an opinion piece, which shows competence in most, if not all, relevant areas, which shall be explored below.

For instance, it begins with a fairly solid and simple scene setter, discussing the why and how of people going so far out of their way to scare themselves, before diving into the actual meat of its argument – The declining quality of popular modern horror films. This, mixed with the incredibly personable tone employed throughout the entire piece, does well in both grabbing and keeping the audience’s attention from start to finish.

In addition, despite the fairly relaxed tone, the piece also presents its arguments in coherent and well-thought out ways, drawing upon examples from various films as well the writers personal experiences, while consistently avoiding any fallacies that may waylay his point. This allows the piece to flow from point to point in a way which feels natural for the subject matter, often coming across as more conversational than lecturing as one might expect.

That said, the article is not without its fair share of faults. Most glaring is the sheer length of the piece. While again, the tone is helpful in allowing the “story” of the piece to flow freely and the piece itself is even split into marked sections for convenience, these don’t take away from the fact that it’s incredibly unwieldy, especially for an opinion piece, to the point it can become a chore to read through in very little time, which greatly hurts any and all of the  arguments it tries to make.

Beyond this, the piece also suffers from a lack of quantifiable evidence. While, again, its arguments are solid, most if not all of them spawn from the writer himself drawing upon moves made in various films to bolster his arguments. While this is forgivable, considering it is an opinion piece, the lack of aid from outside sources does leave it weaker than it might have been with them in a way which bears mention.

To conclude, this piece is incredibly solid, combining a simple beginning which grabs the reader’s attention, a conversational tone which does well to hold and guide it throughout, and ends with an understated call to action – “Give us nightmares again”.  Though it I’d argue it suffers from over inflation as it goes on – straining the limits of the tones ability to engage the reader – and is markedly lacking in any form of evidence beyond that formed by writer himself, it nevertheless presents its arguments well and in a way which both allows room for the reader to both understand them and to form their own conclusions. Overall, very well done, engaging and jus thought provoking enough to be enjoyable.

Source:

McGlynn, Doug. “The Fundamental Issues of Modern Horror Films.” Medium, Movie Time Guru, 3 Dec. 2019, movietime.guru/the-fundamental-issues-of-modern-horror-films-aaf20c413f6f.

So, we’re about a  month into the new year now, and as I’m searching the internet  for my latest distraction from the abject boredom and depression of college life I happened to stumble across a list of upcoming movies. 

Not just any kind-of movies either, horror movies.

So, I guess I should ask: When the heck did they get so boring?!

Not all, of course, there were a few stand out contenders, like “Antebellum” and the new “Invisible Man” interpretation, but, on the whole, this latest crop seems like it will be the same as the last: Dull, overdone, awash in special effects , gore and mindless disturbing imagery for the sake of it.

Worse, even those continuations that may be interesting, like “A Quiet Place Part II” for instance” , are lost in the deluge of mediocre sequels and reboots that seems to plague every genre these days; Bright blips of sunlight in an otherwise overcast sky of possibility.

It’s truly a shame. No other genre quite lends itself to the depths of  creativity available to horror. Just stop and think for a moment; They’re meant to allow us to indulge our “basest desires”  surge our adrenaline, and fill us with a thirst for understanding one can only get from watching the most depraved and twisted elements of the human condition. Now, though, they’ve grown predictable, lazy even, relying on shock factor and spectacle with no real depth beyond -at most- an  interesting premise if one’s lucky.

So what do we do about it?

Well, that depends.  If your an aspiring filmmaker or writer who sees this as a challenge, more power to you. But, on the off chance that your one of the rest of us, the best advice I can give is to just get your opinion out there anyway you can. Talk to friends, relatives; you never know who has connections. Maybe take to social media; Twitter is a powerful tool, even if its rarely used for good.

Heck, do what I’m doing right now; Blogging isn’t quite dead yet.

When did horror movies get so boring? Honestly, that’s in the eye of the beholder, but, what matters is that we make sure they don’t stay that way.

If there’s one thing I should make clear here, if only for future reference, it’s that when it comes to opinion pieces – whether it be writing, reading  or critiquing them – I am an amateur. As such, any opinions I give from now into the foreseeable future should be taken with a larger than normal grain of salt. That said, were I to give my opinion on the article I found today – “The Radical Politics of Sci-Fi Film Snowpiercer.” – based on the criteria provided, I’d say it’s fairly mediocre. 

That’s not to say it fails on all counts. Overall, the article has a well-defined and clearly stated theme – the meaning behind the film’s political symbolism –  flows incredibly well from point-to-point, and by extension, does a fair job at holding audience attention as its argument progresses. In particular, the writer crafts his words incredibly well to both suit and accentuate the theme of the article in a way which feels natural, as shown in the following quote:

“ At a certain level of privilege, the only difference between political approaches becomes one of semantics, the film argues. For the underprivileged, however, simply being able to survive is the ultimate struggle.” – “The Radical Politics of Sci-Fi Film Snowpiercer.”

With this said, the article also seems to fall short on a number of other elements. Though its arguments are well-thought out and reasoned, the majority of their information seems to come from reviews of the film. Though credible in regards to the film itself, the majority of said sources do not delve into the themes espoused in this article, while those that do, do not do so in great enough detail to propel the entirety of the writer’s argument. In addition to this, though the arguments – in spite of their lack of substantial evidence –  are, again, quite solid, between the articles use of a simple straight and descriptive lead, and a kicker – be it the one atop the article itself or the one provided by its citation – of much the same nature, neither serves to enthrall or interest the reader in any outstanding or especially relevant way.

Overall, the article itself is beyond competent, strong in its reasoning and argument, but fall short in its structure and appeal to a wider audience.

Source: VanDerWerff, Emily Todd. “The Radical Politics of Sci-Fi Film Snowpiercer.” Vox, Vox, 7 July 2014, www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5875835/sci-fi-movie-snowpiercer-is-one-of-the-most-political-films-of-the.