why do movies and tv shows have myspaces?

the title of the post pretty much sums it up. but seriously, why? bands do it so people can hear their music and teenagers do it so they can sound cool when they say "you on myspace?" to each other while i'm trying to teach them. but movies and tv shows? can't we just read about them on a million other web sites and look up their trailers on youtube? i mean, i'm well aware my perception of reality diminishes every time i engross myself in pop culture, but one can't really be a friend (not even a cyber friend) with a movie or tv show. right? in any case, here a few recent things i've endured/enjoyed that have myspaces for some reason.


pan's labyrinth: while i feel bad that one of our friends who went to see this with us thought it was going to be a fanciful children's movie, i still enjoyed this film about as much everyone else in the world. and generally, i fall asleep during fantasy movies, so i applaud the spaniards for coming up with a fantasy movie with a child as the main character that i not only tolerated, but ADORED. but my FAVORITE thing about this movie is that i can be friends with it on myspace! finally, right? sure before i could list it in my "favorite movies" boxes on myspace and facebook, and could even recommend it to my friends both digitally and in the real world. i could write on its imdb message board about how it totally isn't a children's movie at all (as if it's some kind of genuine revelation) or i could link to various reviews that back me up about how awesome it is on my personal blog next to my complaints about how my sliding glass door is freezing shut and it's annoying. but that does not bring me close enough to this movie that i so dearly love. i need to claim to be FRIENDS with it until my life can be fully validated in this movie-loving moment i'm experiencing, and THEN i can move on. probably.

dexter: of course the people who are commenting on its "space" have goth/anime icons. i feel a little too counter-culturey and gross inside when i watch this just as i did when i saw the video for "sweet dreams" on the box music television in the 7th grade. as qualler pointed out during our viewing of the first couple eps of dexter, it's pretty much saw: the tv show, except more intelligent. but there are still a hefty number of stupid things in it too. and that will probably upset my friends who think it's genius and are obsessed with it. but seriously, pick a tone, dex! are you going to be campy and kitschy or are you going to be dramatic and deeply explore the vast reaches of inherent good and evil in humans. cuz mixing both up back and forth up and down until you don't really know whether you're watching a drama that's sometimes funny or a comedy that's sometimes dramatic is just aggravating. regardless, it's got a certain something to it that brings it up a notch from most dramas on tv. and i think i'll someday be able to accept david from six feet under as a detective/serial killer rather than a gay funeral parlor manager. oh and i'd hesitate, but eventually accept its friend request on myspace. but dex is gonna have to come to me. i won't put forth the effort.

jesus camp: who knew liberals made stylish documentaries? bizarre, i know. and do you know what a frame story is? it's when a story is like, INSIDE ANOTHER STORY. (i feel like i've blogged this before). it's complicated, i know. but luckily jesus camp starts off with a liberal talk show radio host explaining how crazy evangelicals are, then SHOWS us the crazy evangelicals, and then whenever we might start thinking they're not that bad, it cuts back to the liberal talk show host reminding us how crazy they are. ok, so they're pretty crazy (sometimes), but we're not dumb. you coulda let the awesome ominous ambient soundtrack speak for your linking frame story and cut out the "what is WRONG with this country?" harangue altogether. but i've never been one for these kind of documentaries. check out this social problem! you should care about it for 84 minutes and then go buy more gas and hang out with people in the same social class as you, the same race as you, the same political mindset as you, and the religion as you. and if you mix it up, at least don't talk about any of the aforementioned. just watch heroes. no, i will NOT be your myspace friend jesus camp! deny! (but i will be friends with the film score composer).

now i will go watch heroes.

#10-6 of my top 50 songs of 2006 are up on the listulator! i'm almost done and then i can finally start blogging about some of the great new 2007 music.

This entry was posted by chris, on Saturday, February 10, 2007. You can leave your response.