But I don’t tackle the big issues. I bitch about the fairly pointless once.
Hence, I will take you through a short list of movie-related terms that I feel have recently been misused inappropriately.
Hopefully I won’t seem like an over-analytical grammar Nazi, but if I do, please call me out on it.
Oh, and just a minor note, I’m (mis)using “you” in the broad sense. If I say something horrible about “you”, I don’t mean you. I like you.
Pretentious
What it probably means
It’s still unclear exactly how you can label a movie as being pretentious. In one sense, the word is defined as being the act of drawing unwarranted/unjustified attention. The quality of pretentiousness means to be one who creates the false appearance of great importance. That’s probably where the negative association comes from. If we were to leave it at that however, we could probably argue that most mainstream releases are pretentious, and that would seem pretty off.
I’ve always understood the word (at least in relation to film) to mean “a seemingly unintelligible text that relies on prior knowledge, meaning or association in order to make it intelligible”. So, I would qualify the likes of Mulholland Drive as being pretentious (the good kind).
Nevertheless, there is a vast number of terrible art house WTF-ness that choose to be unintelligible in an attempt to hide bad filmmaking, hoping their audience will “see” some underlying brilliance that isn’t actually there.
[Don’t see: Wavelength (1967).]
What it doesn’t mean
I’ve heard some people cry “Pretentious!” against some fairly unpretentious films like American Beauty, The Matrix and even Titanic. Here’s the thing: the word is not a simple substitute for “I don’t get it”. Just because your dumb ass couldn’t follow Inception doesn’t make it pretentious.
Underrated
What it probably means
It’s pretty straight forward: if you rate a movie significantly higher than the majority, then you can say you think that film underrated.
What it doesn’t mean
If there‘s a truly great movie that hardly anyone watched, that doesn’t make it underrated. The majority of critics for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World praised the film immensely, despite the fact that it bombed in the box office. Does that make Scott Pilgrim underrated? No. It was rated highly by the 15 people in the actual world who saw it. So, unless you rate the film even higher than the already high majority rating it received, it’s not underrated. It’s unrecognised.
Overrated
How it should be used
To state a personal belief. Considering how movie ratings are subjective, they should be treated as such.
e.g. I think Toy Story 3 is overrated.
How it shouldn’t be used
To state a fact.
e.g. Toy Story 3 is overrated.
The difference is subtle, but pretty damn infectious.
Movie snob
What it probably means
You and a couple of your buds walk out of your local cinema, just having seen Transformers: Dark of the Moon. You’re pumped. A couple of you grunt and groan and hi-5 the testosterone out of your systems, honouring Michael Bay and his unfathomably talented ability to blow shit up.
You proclaim “That movie was AMAZING!”
Andrew states “The ending was EPIC!”
Matt adds to that proposition “Dude!”
You continue with “I know, right!?”
Nathaniel replies “Well, given how you guys don’t watch any REAL movies, I suppose you would think that movie was (*quotey fingers*) “good” (*end quotey fingers*)”
Nathaniel is what you would rightfully call a movie snob. Not only does he express his personal opinion of Transformers 3 in the highest level of smug-like condescension, he makes sure to implicitly state that your contradictory opinion is moronic. Feel free to slap them.
What it doesn’t mean
Same scenario, except Nathaniel says:
“Personally, I thought that movie was a mess.”
In this case, Nathaniel is NOT a movie snob. So maybe he’s an art housey kinda guy, causing his taste in mainstream cinema to diminish somewhat.
THIS DOES NOT MAKE HIM A MOVIE SNOB!
He didn’t judge your differing opinion. He didn’t used condescending sarcasm to make himself look superior. He didn’t use quotey fingers. It doesn’t matter if someone prefers budget indie subtitled foreign cinema over Hollywood blockbusters. If they’re not using that fact to make you think they’re somehow better than you, they’re not a movie snob.
Noir
What it probably means
A gloomy Hollywood crime film of the 1940/50s era that portrays the seedy criminal underbelly, lead by a heavily flawed protagonist and usually involving a female love interest that causes the detective to break the law. Them dames ain’t nothing’ but a wrench in the ol’ jalopy.
What it doesn’t mean
Any black and white film that kinda sorta looks crime-ish.
Film Geek
What it probably means
Typical film geeks are borderline obsessed with a particular world (or worlds) that particular movies create, particularly. This love can yield great power, insomuch as causing those fictional universes to inflate themselves through fan-fiction, fan-films and fan-internet-forum-arguments. The passion and knowledge that brews within certain film geek circles often exceed that of the filmmakers that gave birth to their cinematic deities. Film geeks needn’t fill the obsessive spectrum however, they merely need to show the love an affection for film that goes beyond the causal movie-goer.
What it doesn’t mean
Dudes who like Star Wars.
Black Comedy
What it probably means
A comedy that pokes fun at some otherwise grim material.
What it doesn’t mean
An African-Americanised comedy.
By the end of this short list, you may be aware of some commonly misused terms that I have missed out on (and which I am probably misusing right now). Additionally, you may wonder how I became aware of those morons that incorrectly used the terms.
It’s simple really: I was that snobby pretentious overrated geeky moron.
