The Shape of ThingsI think I have become, for a while at least, a full-fledged anti-intellectualist. Whatever that means. I guess, probably just an anti-conversationalist. Unless it's stimulating conversation. Wait, what was this post about? Let's just not talk about Werner Herzog films, ok?
More for Big Dan here.
More for Big Dan here.
4 comments:
I didn't realize how anti-intellectual I had become until I went to a talk at the Maison Francaise here at Columbia not long ago. I just wanted to see the Zidane film they were showing at the end of it, but to do that I had to sit through 1.5 hours of intellectual hogwash pertaining to the Algerian Colonial experience in France, etc. It was a funny combo, since, as far as I know, Zidane is not a very public person and has never made any kind of political overtures about immigrants, racism, etc, but here they were kvetching about all this crap that had nothing to do with really anything, and was better suited to a bar and beer atmosphere. I used to sit through this kind of stuff in grad school and never minded it, but I found myself having a physical reaction to it. I could barely stand to listen; I started to feel unsettled, then nauseated. For the record, I have nothing against France (except the people), or Algerians; I've seen the movie, found it somewhat boring, so there was nothing else to move me one way or the other except for the baldfaced intellectualism of it all. It was stifling, pretentious, irrelevant, provincial, and many other unflattering things, but I guess that's why they call it the ivory tower. Just a big fallace that a certain bunch of people pray to. Not me. The Zidane movie, by the way, was amazing. Todd, you'll love it. Welcome to the philistine club.
Kill em all. Especially the architects.
Do you have anything against Werner films Todd?
No, I just don't want to talk about how "crazy or "great" his films are. Nor do I want to hear about his "crazy" or "great" opinions about things. Something about Herzog. Something about the sort of quasi intellectual bile people assume they can vomit on you after they see one of his films.
Mostly, it's just fun to be cynical about that sort of thing.
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