Brows Held High

I was finally able to watch the video, and I agree with everything said by ringkunmori. Instead of showing that The Room is an unintentional critique of the auteur theory, what I really got from this video is that Kyle has a very obvious bias against the theory that colored his own vision of the movie and its reception, no different from the people who see proof that the moon landing was faked when they watched The Shining.

From the description and the very beginning of the video he makes it clear that he thinks that it's rubbish but only barely develops any argument towards it - the only real one being that it tends to elevate directors who repeat themselves to the detriment of those who try to change.

While it's good to remind people that having a specific style doesn't mean it's a work of art descended from the heavens, it's not really a critique of the theory itself. Nor is the fact that it could give directors too much of an ego and turn them into assholes toward their crew.

Oh, and while the tangent about filmmakers who aren't white males having trouble making it in Hollywood is in general important, it's also completely irrelevant. The line about how we elevate some directors "and some other white dudes" in particular sounded like someone who was really reaching to find a societal angle to it, especially when it ignores Jewish directors like Woody Allen or every celebrated Japanese filmmaker (true they're not part of Hollywood, but the auteur theory in no way limits itself to the American people and their racial politics anyway).

I liked most of his recent (last two years) videos more than his early work, but in this particular case it said less about a movie/a film theory than it does about Kyle and something he dislikes with no context or background about it. In fact, it barely said anything about The Room/The Disaster Artist at all. The only thing I learned about it is that Wiseau has an irrational hatred of the French language for whatever reason.

Want to read a real critique of the auteur theory ? Here's the opinion of David Fincher, one guy often called an auteur and who does exert a lot of control over his productions and who was almost dismissively name dropped by Kyle as "some people like this dude, but what about this other one ? "

edited 24th Dec '17 4:37:52 PM by Nithael

What's an excluded middle?

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

"In logic, the law of excluded middle (or the principle of excluded middle) states that for any proposition, either that proposition is true or its negation is true. It is the third of the three classic laws of thought."-Wikipedia

In other words,his films could only be classics because of their controlling behaviour and that if they had given complete control over to his studio it wouldn't worked out,the job of a directer involves having to 'direct' the direction of the film's actors,but what they clearly did was beyond normal directing to the point where they clearly crossed lines to achieve certain result.

New theme music also a box

Yeah, setting up a dichotomy between "directors shouldn't be tyrants" and "directors who aren't tyrants exert no control on set and let folks do whatever, thus ending up with sloppy work", with no room for a middle ground, entirely for the sake of setting up a justification of directorial tyranny.

edited 24th Dec '17 4:58:38 PM by Wackd

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Ah, now I getcha.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

I exaggerated for an effect, maybe too much so.

I've noticed that even within a house style certain directors can still maintain some kind of personal style, like Lau Kar-leung and Chang Cheh, who worked for Shaw Brothers.

Dan Olson has expressed a similar POV about the Disaster Artist in his vlog, that it deconstructs (though not enough in his opinion) this idea that tyrannical raging assholes produce good art, as the Room is an example of the ultimate tyrannical raging asshole producing a flamig trainwreck of a film.

Woody Allen would support his argument, not detract from it, In fact I think he flashes by during the portion several "male figures of power" accused of severe sexual harassment are shown. Woody Allen is, in the mildest terms possible, a pedophile who gets a free pass because he's an auteur, like Polanski. He is a giant indictment against the very concept of auteur, not an argument in favor of it.

The point raised by Kyle, at any rate, speaks more to sexism than racism (he only mentions auteurs as white dudes once). His argument is deceptively simple: attribute these godlike powers to a single man? Don't be surprised when he abuses that power.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."

Has Allen been accused of sexual harassment by coworkers ? It's a real question as I have no idea. I only know about the allegations regarding his kids, which is absolutely awful and, like Polanski's crimes, shouldn't be swept under the rug, but isn't really relevant to the idea of a director abusing his position of power in the industry. And anyway, my point was that Kyle seemed to deliberately ignore some famous directors to argue that there are no minorities considered auteurs, not that Allen is a saint.

Would he be getting away with the shit he is if he weren't a universally beloved and insanely rich film director, though?

I don't think you should feel obligated to mention that some folks succeeded despite racism every time you want to point out racism exists.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

This, so much this.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."

Being Jewish and white isn't mutually exclusive. Much like my own race, Hispanics, it is perfectly possible for some to benefit from white hegemony and others to suffer under it. Allen is definitely a case of the former; same with Harvey Weinstein.

edited 27th Dec '17 9:37:55 PM by Tuckerscreator

Where Kyle examines science fiction and its relationship with technology and how in Black Mirror it's humans that are explored instead

What a reminder of how much science fiction I need to read. @_@

edited 1st Feb '18 10:57:51 PM by Tuckerscreator

What a reminder that I need to watch Black Mirror.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

So, Kyle posted a video on a film called The Watermelon Woman. It's a pretty good video. Also, his girlfriend is in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFdsT5roD4Y

Lemme embed it for you.

Bite my shiny metal ass.

That was a really good video. Just not much else to say except it's really good.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

Agreed. It was a really damn good video. Made me feel angry too.

Bite my shiny metal ass.

Same here.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

I demand we cook and eat Pete Hoekstra alive. Graphically and shockingly.

edited 1st Apr '18 3:16:00 PM by Tuckerscreator

It was a good video, but I can't help but remark on the continuing trend of Kyle coming off as being absolutely fucking miserable in his work. I know the subject matter wasn't exactly cheery, but I genuinely feel concerned for him, particularly knowing he has a history of depression and coupled with the fact that he's noticeably put on weight in the last year or so.

I really don't think it's good to speculate about Kyle's personal life like that.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

Well he has been reported recently on Twitter for saying "Death to Fascism" so that could be one source of his depression.

I thought, at least in this video, he was sorta playing up/into the whole "white reviewer with white guilt and conflicting feelings over/walking eggshells around talking about something because they don't want to be accused of talking over POC" angle.

I'm having to learn to pay the price

Yeah, I kind of thought that, too. I liked the part where his girlfriend told him to not be so uptight.