Just watched the documentary Room 237 (its on Netflix streaming -- look it up) and now I feel a great deal better about the various things Ive written about criticism (post-modern and otherwise) over the years. Its one thing to say that every person who watches a move has a right to her or his individual experience, but its entirely a different thing for critics to self-validate their angled projections onto someone elses work by declaring that the creators intent is irrelevant. Such criticism may produce briefly interesting flights of imagination, but seldom greater understanding or deeper insight. And wasnt that the purpose of criticism in the first place? Not that you can write clever opinions, but that your opinions would add value to the readers experience? We are already immersed in static. As for the absurd yet fantastic conspiracy theories explored in the documentary, Room 237 stands as a reminder that if you want to see the image of the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich, just stare at one long enough. Its extremely difficult to talk about reality in the 21st century with a straight face. To many of us, thats an invitation to declare independence from anything that challenges the autonomy of our personal beliefs. I just think that when we cut ourselves off from the world around us, with all its confusion and noise and gravity and -- yes, actual facts -- our drifting perspective does not always return to shore.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:11:38 +0000
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