Pretention

I realize it's been a month since I've posted anything here. I wonder if anyone will notice. Well, to test it out, how about some good old-fashioned ranting? Disclaimer: Since it's hard for me to be dishonest, I must say that much of the below is vicious hyperbole. But this is my place to complain about things in order to make myself feel better, so I'll take advantage of it, dammit.

I really don't like the people in my film class. Not that I hate them. Not that they're bad people. But they are artists, and this is a liberal arts college that caters to people who consider themselves to be "different." I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if they're all pretentious children.

It's the boys that are especially bad. Not that I enjoy the girls much more; they're flighty, ditzy even at times, and several of them are actresses, which they proclaim constantly as though it wasn't already obvious from their behavior (loud and self-centered). After watching a film, they always kick off the discussion by announcing how much they identified with a particular character, and how all the other characters are jerks to her. Much of their analysis of the film will then center around that character's perception of their situation. Clearly, actresses.

But the boys are far worse. They all sit casually in their chairs, wearing jeans and t-shirts with obscure alternative/punk rock references, their hair cut in whatever fashion they deemed would make them look most artistic and "out there." They believe that their most solemn duty in life is never to be impressed, unless that which impresses them is thoroughly ignored by everyone else, so that they can pretend to be the only person who really "understands" it. With all the wisdom of their barely two decades of life, they dissect every film put before them as, at worst, the work of a "hack," and at best, riddled with flaws. They measure a film's worth as directly proportional to how difficult to understand it is and indirectly proportional to its popularity. Movies, apparently, are not art unless they leave their audience in a confused daze. Now, this isn't to say that the most popular films aren't often among the worst, but I'm certain that their reasons for feeling this way are singular: they don't want to appear to like anything that doesn't make them feel special and knowledgeable. They treasure their disdain as though it were the only thing that could garner them a shred of respect in this world, rather than the things they make themselves.

Clearly, artists. This college is full of them, of all disciplines, both male and female. They should all grow a little self-respect instead of relying on other people's mistakes to create some for them. Rant over.