A Burbank Day

Happy Thursday! Try saying "Blurblank." It's fun. So driving on unfamiliar freeways and streets is, um, great. I didn't crash. I didn't run any lights that mattered. I only thought we were going north when we were going east once.

So pretty much the only thing I did this week was play Oblivion and watch BSG. Finished season one of PUSHING DAISIES and got halfway through UGLY BETTY. Started re-reading Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing.

Let's talk today about qualifying value in narrative entertainment. We've previously discussed how I used to be pretty narrow in terms of It's Good or It's Bad. Recently, I've developed the It's Poorly Made and I Hate it to It's Well Made and I Love it spectrum (where you can like something even though it's "bad" and hate something that wins awards).

My current system allows for relativity of taste, accounts for the viewer's emotional response separate from the critical one. But I've been wondering, why is it that I'll hate something, and quote the reason as being "because it's awful," while at the same time I can love something that has the same faults. (e.g. hate 21 for it's flawed script and poor acting, and love HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL despite of those complaints.)

I used to say that the first thing I looked for in a narrative was the writing. The story, and also how it was written (which are actually two different things). Then I went to character (which to me are a subset of the writing), and then acting and then cinematography and so on. So that I could appreciate the art behind the cinematography and acting of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, but since the story didn't interest me, I can't claim to love it.

In Sound Design, of all places, he presented us with a new hierarchy of values. I don't remember them because that class was dumb, but I do know that it started with Emotion. I remember because I immediately fought that and said that the number one value was the writing.

But now I see that he was right. In watching BSG, I've come to absolutely realize that it is emotional response that drives my commitment to the show. Every other episode literally tears me up, which is saying a lot. I feel very deeply about the fate of the characters, to the point where I don't notice the writing or the story or the characters or the acting or the cinematography. If the scene is sad, then I'm sad. If it's bittersweet, then I feel bittersweet. If it's exultant, I am exultant. If it's not an emotion-driven scene, then I'm simply interested, which I dare to qualify as an emotion.

I like HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL because it makes me feel something. I like any number of poorly made or ridiculous or pointless things because there's a spark of something in them that I care about. And while I can intellectually look at things like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and understand why they win awards, I can honestly tell you that I don't like the movie because there's nothing there that makes me care.

So I think emotion is the most important. What I need to do is write things that I find emotionally important, and hope there's an audience out there who feels the same. And I won't hold grudges against those who don't care, because everyone has different tastes. It's a matching game. And please don't hold it against me when I fawn over something you don't understand. I'll try not to hold it against you, either.

-Stephanie