I've been ignoring the Cloverfield buzz, but while scoping out some of the viral material I came across a lot of resentful comments. "What is this?" "Just some lame viral."
A number of things occur to me about this:
-- It sucks to get in a negative mood about a movie because of how it's marketed.
-- For some people, it seems like the viral marketing has the opposite of the desired effect.
-- Maybe that's how it should be -- like Ralphie and his Little Orphan Annie decoder pin, we should be disappointed when something turns out to be a crummy ad.
I think you're too charitable towards those people.
All the nay-sayers upset me, because it makes me think that concerns about how "the MTV generation" has "no imagination" and "no attention span" etc. etc. are actually justified.
I mean, there's some basic level where they don't get it and it makes them angry. They don't seem to care about the artistry or the suspense at all...the only thing they want is the "answers," or else the art in question "sucks" and they move on. It's very disconcerting.
I'm serious: I think the problem's that stark and direct. "Any ambiguity at all" = "This sucks," every single time, for the majority of posters. It's unnerving as hell.
For me, Cloverfield ended, and I thought wow what an adrenaline rush! Few movies are able to make me forget where I am for a moment, but Cloverfield did that for me. As the lights came on, and the credits rolled, I was in a daze, feeling like I had left my environment, though, I was suddenly brought back, as I listened to several teenagers make comments, such as, “I’m so mad I came to see this, and ugh, this is the worst movie ever.” I was in shock, and thinking who are these people and what is wrong with them.
Then a couple days later I talked to some guy at my work about Cloverfield. It was just as you mentioned Jordon; the problem is with the ambiguities. This guy said he had read some reviews that Cloverfield sucked and that blah, blah, blah, and blah were left unanswered. In countless emails, I expressed to him that it is not about having all the answers but, as we all seem to agree here on the blog, about the artistry, experience, and ones’ imagination. He said I had convinced him to watch it, and he came in the other day, and said he fell asleep while watching a bootleg copy, but he would give it a second attempt.
Sometimes in life something happens, or is said that just makes me sickened or disappointed with humanity. The reactions I’m hearing to Cloverfield are one of these times.
It blows my mind that the creativity and craft of this film cannot be appreciated. There are so many sequences that are put together so perfectly. And they didn’t just fall into place magically; it was very purposeful and planned.
…but I have to shut up and go to work, but I could defend Cloverfield all day.
Thanks, Jordan, I hadn't been aware of a lot of that stuff. A similar site needs to be set up for all the LOST viral stuff. For example, did you catch any of the 3-minute webisodes over the past few months? Also, did anybody watch the "special message" from Oceanic Airlines that aired at the end of whatever that new post-LOST crappy show is?
Whilrygirl has been sharing her annoyance with anti-Cloverfield people for a while. We both agreed that her co-worker was an idiot.
Is it the fault of all the prequels? This constant "now we'll find out the x behind y and where z comes from" nonsense to make these movies seem essential? Now everybody thinks that's what movies are about.
People reacted to War of the Worlds the same way. Jerks.
When I was hanging out with a bunch of 19-20 year olds last year, I noticed a trend in wantonly tagging things as "terrible," and I think that's just become part of the language. Pretty annoying.
It's not the fault of the prequels. It's bad schools.
February 07, 2008 2:48 PM
[Image] This page presents an accumulated list of all Cloverfield viral/web information (with links) so you can read it all without doing all the grueling investigation. (Now that the movie's in theaters I think it's okay to just read this stuff rather than sleuthing it all out.) Overall, it's a fascinating Lost-style backstory for the movie and I'm very impressed. These days, boundaries are blurring: it's almost fair to say that this stuff is part of the movie (since it involves, in some cases, peripheral characters visible in the movie and other direct connections to the movie's story). It's "canon," in other words. Don't go near this stuff until you've seen Cloverfield.
Translating "Jerk" into English: "Cloverfield sucked" = "Cloverfield contained ambiguities and unanswered questions, which provokes an unfamiliar (and therefore unpleasant) sensation."
"Cloverfield viral roundup"
8 Comments -
I've been ignoring the Cloverfield buzz, but while scoping out some of the viral material I came across a lot of resentful comments. "What is this?" "Just some lame viral."
A number of things occur to me about this:
-- It sucks to get in a negative mood about a movie because of how it's marketed.
-- For some people, it seems like the viral marketing has the opposite of the desired effect.
-- Maybe that's how it should be -- like Ralphie and his Little Orphan Annie decoder pin, we should be disappointed when something turns out to be a crummy ad.
February 07, 2008 12:41 AM
I think you're too charitable towards those people.
All the nay-sayers upset me, because it makes me think that concerns about how "the MTV generation" has "no imagination" and "no attention span" etc. etc. are actually justified.
I mean, there's some basic level where they don't get it and it makes them angry. They don't seem to care about the artistry or the suspense at all...the only thing they want is the "answers," or else the art in question "sucks" and they move on. It's very disconcerting.
February 07, 2008 3:16 AM
I'm serious: I think the problem's that stark and direct. "Any ambiguity at all" = "This sucks," every single time, for the majority of posters. It's unnerving as hell.
February 07, 2008 3:23 AM
For me, Cloverfield ended, and I thought wow what an adrenaline rush! Few movies are able to make me forget where I am for a moment, but Cloverfield did that for me. As the lights came on, and the credits rolled, I was in a daze, feeling like I had left my environment, though, I was suddenly brought back, as I listened to several teenagers make comments, such as, “I’m so mad I came to see this, and ugh, this is the worst movie ever.” I was in shock, and thinking who are these people and what is wrong with them.
Then a couple days later I talked to some guy at my work about Cloverfield. It was just as you mentioned Jordon; the problem is with the ambiguities. This guy said he had read some reviews that Cloverfield sucked and that blah, blah, blah, and blah were left unanswered. In countless emails, I expressed to him that it is not about having all the answers but, as we all seem to agree here on the blog, about the artistry, experience, and ones’ imagination. He said I had convinced him to watch it, and he came in the other day, and said he fell asleep while watching a bootleg copy, but he would give it a second attempt.
Sometimes in life something happens, or is said that just makes me sickened or disappointed with humanity. The reactions I’m hearing to Cloverfield are one of these times.
It blows my mind that the creativity and craft of this film cannot be appreciated. There are so many sequences that are put together so perfectly. And they didn’t just fall into place magically; it was very purposeful and planned.
…but I have to shut up and go to work, but I could defend Cloverfield all day.
February 07, 2008 6:24 AM
Thanks, Jordan, I hadn't been aware of a lot of that stuff. A similar site needs to be set up for all the LOST viral stuff. For example, did you catch any of the 3-minute webisodes over the past few months? Also, did anybody watch the "special message" from Oceanic Airlines that aired at the end of whatever that new post-LOST crappy show is?
Whilrygirl has been sharing her annoyance with anti-Cloverfield people for a while. We both agreed that her co-worker was an idiot.
February 07, 2008 7:08 AM
Is it the fault of all the prequels? This constant "now we'll find out the x behind y and where z comes from" nonsense to make these movies seem essential? Now everybody thinks that's what movies are about.
Maybe.
February 07, 2008 9:50 AM
People reacted to War of the Worlds the same way. Jerks.
When I was hanging out with a bunch of 19-20 year olds last year, I noticed a trend in wantonly tagging things as "terrible," and I think that's just become part of the language. Pretty annoying.
February 07, 2008 9:53 AM
It's not the fault of the prequels. It's bad schools.
February 07, 2008 2:48 PM