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Thread: Dooms messages

  1. #1
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    One more thing about the subjectivity of movies: Sometimes a picture just

    speaks to you. There`s some inexplicable confluence of the film makers`

    psychological pathology and your own that makes the viewing a shared

    experience between the two parties, and one has a kind of empathic

    relationship to the movie. This can be in spite of the fact that you

    intellectually recognize that the film just isn`t that great. I call these

    "Secret Sin" movies. They`re the films that you watch and don`t

    necessarily tell people how much you like them because you know that they

    really aren`t good enough to merit your adoration. I`m a film buff, so I

    have lots of these. One of mine is Altered States. William Hurt, Blair

    Brown. Lots of psychedelic, drug-induced visuals and pseudo-scientific

    dialogue. It has a simplistic, even banal, basic theme and the kind of

    smarmy "I love you... Oh, I love you too" ending that would normally makes

    me want to throw my popcorn. I still love the flick. It rocks. If it`s

    on TV or if someone happens to pop it into the VCR (I`m sure it exists on

    DVD someplace, but I don`t have a copy) I can`t help watching it. I`m

    entranced. It`s just too much fun to watch. One can`t legitimately knock

    such an opinion on a movie because it is pretty much the definition of

    subjectivity. Arguing the point would be like arguing about whether or not

    one likes broccoli, wall paper or the color orange.



    There is a difference, however, between enjoying a movie in spite of

    oneself, and actually confusing it being a good movie, and that`s the

    distinction I`m trying to draw here. When it comes to fantasy films, I

    think there`s definitely a secret sin aspect involved for me personally,

    and I`m sure for most gamers. There`s just something fascinating about

    people swinging swords (the obvious Freudian aspect aside) that makes such

    things more watchable than another film. One should, however, recognize

    that factor when trying to objectively rate a movie. The LotR series are,

    objectively, nowhere near "tens" when considered

    intellectually. Cool? Absolutely. Entertaining? Yes. Quality

    films? Pretty much. Well adapted for the screen? No, not

    really. Perfect? Hardly.



    If the argument is that The Return of the King "rocks" then, hey, no

    argument from me. It does rock... whatever that means. If the argument is

    that the film is a masterpiece, or that Jackson completely encapsulated

    JRRT`s work then I have to disagree and I can cite chapter, verse, scene

    and sentence to show that`s not true.



    Highlander is another film that is, objectively speaking, not at all

    good. In fact, it`s pretty bad. Far worse than any of Jackson`s work

    going back to The Feebles. It`s outright dumb in many ways. I`ll still

    watch it. I watched it again just the other day. There probably is a

    secret sin aspect of the film that relates to BR also, in that some of the

    plot points of Highlander coincide with bloodtheft, regency and divine

    aspects of characters who are, otherwise, human. I suppose it`s sensible

    to extend the thinking into campaign settings. BR is in many ways a secret

    sin setting. Much of the basic material is objectively not very good. The

    domain level is rife with holes, the published materials are full of

    internal inconsistencies, and some of the writing is mediocre at best. In

    a genre that represents a secret sin, however, BR is a particularly sinful

    setting.



    Gary

  2. #2
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    > BR is in many ways a secret

    > sin setting. Much of the basic material is objectively not very good.

    > The

    > domain level is rife with holes, the published materials are full of

    > internal inconsistencies, and some of the writing is mediocre at best.

    > In

    > a genre that represents a secret sin, however, BR is a particularly

    > sinful

    > setting.

    >

    > Gary





    I nominate the above for the first verse of our official Birthright

    themesong. I can start writing up some guitar tabs, and I can have the

    gaming group sing the chorus. Someone around here must have a triangle

    we could use...



    --Lord Rahvin
    NOTE: Messages posted by Birthright-L are automatically inserted posts originating from the mailing list linked to the forum.

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