Here’s a music video I directed and edited for a song I produced and rapped on with my collaborator Andy Weston, under the pseudonym Posse In Effect. We released one EP a few years back and this is an old song that Andy had rapped on, but I had never really finished, besides putting it up on Soundcloud. Andy visited Auckland for a wedding and we decided to shoot a video, seemed a suitable time to bring this one out of the archive. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, there’s a bit of dubstep in there towards the end, so you can tell it’s a product of 2011; but there’s heart to the lyrics and the video turned out fairly nicely considering how quickly we shot it.
If you’re interested in checking out more of Posse in Effects stuff, find us on bandcamp or facebook:
Kung Fu Elliot (Matthew Bauckman, Jaret Belliveau), compared to Big Men that I discuss in the post below, provided an interesting opposite example of how to make a documentary. Either the filmmakers got perhaps a little too involved in their subject or the authenticity of the film itself is up for doubt. Elliot ‘White Lightening’ Scott plans to become the first Canadian Kung Fu film star, shooting no-budget short films on a consumer point-and-shoot camera, doing all his own stunts with the help of his supportive partner Linda. The filmmakers follow him around over two years as he attempts to finish his 2nd film, Blood Fight. His Kung Fu is dubious at best, as is the acting and stunts which he attempts, and yet he has an enduring belief in his talent.
During the course of the film, the stories Elliot tells about his life and achievements begin to unravel. Linda waits patiently for a ring to make their engagement legitimate. Elliot continues to delay. The production of his third film, Blood Fight, continues to be delayed as well. During all this, Elliot’s commitment to his partner becomes doubtful, as the filmmakers document his increasingly suspicious behavior.
It’s an at times hilarious film and at times painfully awkward. The third act gets particularly strange and stories we are told about Elliot break down in front of us. If it is a real documentary, the filmmakers become aware of facts about Elliot that they withhold from his partner Linda (infidelity etc), and they become fully involved in Elliot’s illusion, breaking down the usual subject/filmmaker barrier ( it could be seen as a personal version of Harlem County, U.S.A.)
That is if we are to believe the film is a real documentary. Elliot could very well be a mockumentary that hasn’t been outed as one yet — I’m doing a little bit of social networking research on this topic and the real Elliot does indeed have a facebook fan page, but nothing has been posted on it since 2013. I contacted the filmmakers, asking if Elliot had seen the film, to which they replied stating that neither Elliot nor Linda have seen the film, yet a few of the cast members had.
So perhaps this debunks my theory, and the filmmakers practices getting that close to the subject are in my eyes questionable, or maybe they’re pulling a Cannibal Holocaust on us to get press for their partially kickstarter funded project.
Not to put anyone off seeing the film. It is hilarious and a well made debut, so see it and form your own opinion, add to the discussion. It’s sure to become a cult favorite. A particular memorable scene was one in which Elliot visits an actual Shaolin monk in China, and attempts to fight a real trained Kung Fu monk. The results must be witnessed.
To the filmmakers credit, they raise some interesting questions about the fantasies we build around ourselves. That is, unless the trick is on the audience, but that remains to be seen.
EDIT: The filmmakers have responded further on Facebook to my questions, stating that Elliot is most definitely a real person. There’s a good vice article on the making of the film, which gives insight to show that the filmmakers were led on by Elliot’s lies and fantasies, just as much as his friends and associates were.
POSTSCRIPT (23rd July): Based on this new information that Elliot and his friends are completely real people, and the insights that the filmmakers give in the above vice article, I have to say that the film has become an even more intriguing thing. It was not just Elliot’s girlfriend Linda and his friends that were lied to, but the filmmakers as well. The documentary team started this project following Elliot expecting completely innocent things; that they were following a delusional but well natured man, who desires fame as much as any of us do, but whom is prepared to build fantasies around himself to give himself a sense of achievement beyond what most people have the capability. The darker side of Elliot that slowly emerges throughout the course of the film, was something the filmmakers themselves were also unaware of and the way they have structured the documentary, we the audience become aware of this as they do. Therefore the filmmakers were not withholding as much information from their subjects as what I assumed they were, and the dramatic revealing of information that occurs throughout the last section of the film is made all the more potent by the fact it is completely real.
Elliot wanted the fame, he let the documentary crew in and the exposed his life in a way that he perhaps felt the illusions he had built had made him immune to. In that way the film perhaps shows the limitations of desiring fame from many perspectives; the example here is that if you’re prepared to build very large illusions around your life, than you to should be prepared to have those illusions shattered, and to lose those people in your life that you have gained through maintaining those illusions.
I’ve been checking out a bunch of films at the NZIFF Auckland leg, and it feels right to write up some thoughts on them.
My selection so far has been dominated by documentaries; the Nick Cave day-in-the-life musical drama 20,000 Days On Earth opening the fest for me, followed by the questionable Kung Fu Elliot on the Sunday and a revealing look into oil mining in Africa, Big Men today. Amongst that I found the time to see The Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet, a charming novel adaptation by the director of Amelie and Alien Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Of the films Big Men has so far hit the hardest. An incredibly thorough documentary from Rachel Boynton, who’d previously exposed the corruption of South American politics in Our Brand is Crisis (2005), now tackles the secret world of African oil deals. Boynton takes us deep inside the big players on all sides of the African oil war, the CEO’s of the American oil company Kosmos, the governments of Nigeria and Ghana as they do deals with the companies and the armed militants, unafraid to sabotage the oil extraction efforts to get a cut of the profit for their own people. There’s corruption on all sides and huge billion dollar deals but the bigger questions are asked; who is entitled to the money made from these oil deals? Will the impoverished people of Nigeria and Ghana see any benefits from the extraction of their countries own minerals, or will the money go straight into the pockets of the investors and the government officials?
Boynton objectively documents the events and probes into players motivations, never directly passing judgement, letting the audience build it’s own opinion. It’s certainly a complex situation but the failings of the profit driven capitalist system are ever prevalent as is the systems victims, everyday family’s caught in the wake of the all consuming machine. In this case the victims are the Nigerian and Ghana families; one could sympathize with the militants even as they wore balaclavas and held rocket launchers, mostly because as they explained, all they wanted was to leave something for their children and bring some of the profit from the oil drilling back into the community.
As the title suggests, all these major players are motivated by the desire to be big men, and Boynton looks at this ego-driven mentality as one possibility for the chaos that surrounds the business of extracting such in demand resources as oil. The CEO’s want to protect their reputation, the African government leaders want more for their country (and their own pockets) and the militants want the profit to be directed to the communities.
These are the broad themes but the film also tackles specific deals, particularly between Kosmos negotiating with the Ghana government over the first drilling of oil within Ghana, documenting the financial collapse as it directly effects these events. I recommend the watch never the less.
A modern vampiric romance set against decaying Detroit streets with the odd Tangier alley-way thrown in for good measure, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive succeeds because of the chemistry between it’s lead stars, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston.
Playing a couple with a love that has lasted several centuries, Lovers sees Hiddleston’s Adam holed up in a Detroit mansion writing droning funeral rock music on antique guitars, while his wife, Eve (Swinton) lives in Tangier. We see both of them securing blood through underground measures not requiring the eating of living people, Adam from a doctor and Eve from a fellow aging vampire, a ghost writer of considerable success in a past time, Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt). Adam also has a friend in Detroit who secures him the antique guitars he plays, Ian (Anton Yelchin) and other black market things. The depressed Adam makes a call to Eve, and quickly convinces her to rejoin him in Detroit. After a brief period of romantic reunion, Eve’s sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska) arrives on their doorstep, shaking things up slightly.
The plot is not especially dense, but Jarmusch is more concerned with mood, as per his earlier films like Dead Man. The soundtrack is a highlight, matching the sombre visuals (all at night, hence the life of the vampire) with droning guitars and the occasional Moroccan instrumental. Jarmusch puts particular emphasis on making the vampire situations not overly staged, the plot refrains from big twists that might feature in a mainstream version of the same plot. The conversations between the key vampires are all pretty interesting and topical as well, with Adam and Eve both concerned with science, astrology, Einstein’s entanglement theory, toads and giant humming crystals in the sky to name a few. Adam has a love of antique instruments and Eve indulges his passion, thus anyone interested in classic guitars would probably get a kick from the references.
I’m by no means hugely schooled on Jarmusch’s filmography, having seen Mystery Train and Down By Law quite some time ago, but I feel the film stacks up against cult favourite Dead Man, being similarly hypnotic in pacing and detailed in scripting. The film is mostly appealing visually, though there is a few ugly shots here and there (some of the car perspective driving shots I felt looked out of place). The images of a decaying Detroit were particularly striking, and with never aging vampires set against this backdrop, Jarmusch seemed to be making a point about the finite nature of human existence. The humans of the film, referred to as zombies, are a kind that ignorant to their own decay, and the destruction of their civilization around them. All themes that were tackled without being heavy handed – and at the end of the day – ever lasting love is what prevails in this Gothic romantic tale.
The highly awaiting chance to see Arctic Monkeys live again got taken up to the next level due to a chance opportunity to go to both Auckland and Wellington shows. I had posted on the Arctic Monkeys online forum weeks in advance asking if anyone had a spare ticket to either show, as I had missed out on the original G.A. sale and was looking to not buy from scalpers if possible. Just last week an admin of the forum named Athena saw this message and offered me a spare Wellington ticket she had, as she could no longer make the trip from Australia. I was blown away by the generosity and offered to pay for the ticket but she insisted on no payment. Fellow Monkeys fans are the best. So after a few days of deliberation I jumped at the chance (perhaps self-indulgent but I will pay it forward when the opportunity arises) to go to both shows.
Early morning plane to Welly
Crowds queued up early at both shows, with mostly the teen fan base taking a place long before the doors open, attempting to get as close to their heroes as possible. Wandering the streets of Wellington in the early morning, about 8.30am after my plane touched down, I came across a small group of fans who were already sitting outside TSB Arena, complete with sleeping bags and necessities to keep them going. Some told me they had been waiting since four in the morning. It seems Arctic Monkeys fandom has well and truely continued after their initial success of the last decade, undoubtedly on a second wind due to the success of last years AM.
The night before in Auckland I arrived relatively late to the venue, only securing my ticket very last minute. I caught up with a few friends and then took my place inside, having missed the opening act Pond. I would catch them the next night at Wellington, and there they were awesome, sounding heavier and carrying more weight live than on their albums. They deserve to have their own limelight, and escape the shadow of fellow Perth-psychedelic rockers Tame Impala, who they have shared several members with.
Anticipation has a habit to set you up for disappointment in evening entertainment some say. And I had years of pent up anticipation brewing before the Arctics took stage in Auckland. I had a seated ticket for that night right down the back of the arena and as the boys came out and launched into One For The Road I quickly realized this seated thing would not do. The music sounded great, the band looked great, but Vector Arena’s screens weren’t on and many people were staying in their seats, not dancing around my area. I made my way down the steps to the side of the barrier, with the arena within jumping distance below me. I did not plan this, but by the time of Arabella I felt my decision had been made for me. A security guard turned his back and in time to the music I jumped, hitting the floor and loosing my footing as I fell. I quickly got up and ran into the standing masses, a little shocked and incredibly excited that I had not been caught and thrown out. I continued to make my way into the mass of people as the band started up with Brianstorm. Any potential disappointment was soon eradicated, within the standing crowd was the place to be, as I had previously assumed.
Adoring Masses, Vector Arena
“…Evening Entertainment”
Boy had things moved on since New Zealand last saw the Arctics live at the Big Day Out 2009 before the release of Humbug. We’ve all followed the youtube streams, Glastonbury performances and other album promotional stuff since then, so the look of the band came as no surprise. Nick O’Malley still rocking his beastly beard, Jamie Cook now back with long hair, Matt Helders letting his curls grow out a little longer and Alex with the characteristic quiff and expensive suits that have come to define him in this period of the band. The first time I caught them live in 2009 at the Auckland Big Day Out the band opened with Pretty Visitors, a completely new track at that time, which sounded great but felt a slightly awkward opening to a festival set (Alex played the keys then which is now left to touring keyboardist Thomas Rowley). This time the Arctic’s took the stage bathed in red light to the sound of a backing track, which led into a slightly extended One For The Road intro. The confidence the band has gained from years of non-stop touring is immediately apparent. I was glad to see the band had brought the giant AM lights down this side of the world (although they were no doubt smaller versions than the colossal ones present at the 2013 European tour) and the general lighting design went for the huge and impressive, with smoke and strobes utilized to impressive effect. A far cry from the couple of lamps that littered the stage back at the Big Day Out.
The new songs sound almost studio perfect live, with Davey Latter filling in the extra percussion and back up vocals, his spot to the back left of the stage just to the left of the giant ‘A’ light, but still visible. As well as keyboards Thomas Rowley fills in extra live guitar, often doubling the Jamie’s rhythm licks, with fills up the sound. Matt’s drumming is on point, he’s an ever impressive live drumming nailed every fill and beat. Occasionally I wondered if the tempos were slightly slower than on the album, but this was possibly only noticeable in the old material, Florescent Adolescent and Dance floor particularly, perhaps a symptom of the band moving on from their punk roots and towards this more groove orientated direction. Jamie’s playing was also tight as, and he seems to be moving around a bit more, though still keeping near his pedals. He was particularly in motion at the Wellington gig, perhaps encouraged by the rapturous crowd response at that second gig. Nick’s stage presence is also at a new peak nowadays, due largely to his great beard and his backing vocals were one of the most impressive parts of either gig. He now performs Josh Holmes vocal spot in Knee Socks and if you close your eyes you can barely tell a difference between the two. Hopefully they continue to use his vocals in the future.
Finally Alex, now every bit the front man, teasing the crowd between songs – stalking the stage with just a mic in Pretty Visitors and Arabella like some indie rock Elvis – nailing the vocals of every song and switching between lead and rhythm with effortless ease (Alex’s lead/vocal double act in the chorus of Knee Socks is some pretty impressive stuff to watch). Ladies love him, guys want to be him (judging by the Alex turner haircuts around both arena’s); he might come across a bit more full of himself than the Alex of 2009, but it seems to be working in terms of pulling off a gripping live show.
The lights, Vector Arena
Wellington or Auckland, “Do I Wanna Know?”
In terms of the differences between the gig, I think the Wellington show had better atmosphere, the crowd was electric and really densely packed due to the small venue. The boys seemed to register this and the energy on stage was higher, as well as more banter from Alex at that second show. At one point Alex asked for the audience lights to be turned on, at which he pointed to a silhouette in the back of the arena, stating something along the lines of “that’s some trippy stuff Wellington, looks like a James Bond title sequence” in his Sheffield-cum-Rockabilly drawl. I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about but the audience appreciated the interaction. Later before final track R U Mine? and after I Wanna Be Yours, Alex pulled out the effective routine of “we are yours Wellington, but I have one question to ask.. R U Mine!?” (paraphrased). His in between song banter through out was as amusing and the crowd responds enthusiastically every time. Auckland was as good of a show as well, not to do any disservice to it, but due to me having to mission into the G.A. area part of the way into the set and perhaps the more intimate size of Wellington led to me putting that second show just slightly above the first. Maybe also the fact it was my first show at the TSB Arena in Wellington, and the little I had adventure surrounding that second gig with a 6am flight (not to mention the last minute hook up of the ticket from Athena); these personal elements probably have some part to play in my preference of the second gig. But both amazing shows none the less, justifying why I hold this modern rock band so much higher than many others.
The boys lookin’ sharp in Auckland
“Nothing on the early stuff”
As well as nearly hearing the whole of the new album over the course of both nights (we got Number One Party Anthem at the second show, the only songs missing were Mad Sounds and I Want It All ) the band treated us to many of their old classics. Having missed the Suck It And See tour, I was stoked to hear She Thunderstorms. I’m a big fan of Suck It And See and was hoping for just a few random tracks from that album, so that did the the trick. Library Pictures was also a highlight of both sets, the fast numbers standing out even more against the groovier new numbers. From Humbug we got the ever kick ass Crying Lightening, a live favourite of mine. At the Wellington show, a rare live stumble occurred just before this song with Matt cutting off an introduction from Alex by counting the song in perhaps too soon. Both shows also got a version of Cornerstore, with Alex playing the first verse and chorus acoustically by himself. Auckland also was lucky enough to receive an epic version of Pretty Visitors from the same album. From Favourite Worst Nightmare both shows featured Brianstorm which never fails to set the crowd jumping, the sing-along of Florescent Adolescent which I felt was played slightly slower (and perhaps has been since the Humbug tour) and 505, which seems to be quite a crowd favourite. Auckland got 505 as the traditional encore closer, whereas 505 closed the first set at Wellington, with R U Mine closing the show that time round. I have to say I prefer R U Mine? as the set closer and it’s good to see them mixing it up. From the first album we got the very welcome Dancing Shoes and that other song which needs no introduction (Bet You Look Good), that seems to forever remain their number one crowd favourite (the little kids seem to have got into it like it was 2006).
The lights in Wellington
I should note that the new material got some of the largest applause from the audience, particularly and perhaps unsurprisingly Do I Wanna Know?, which I felt worked better earlier in the set, such as in Wellington, than as the first set closer as per Auckland. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? came early in the set in Auckland so had more of an effect on me when placed at the start of the encore in Wellington. At that second show, High? came across to me as one of the biggest set highlights and I hope it remains a fixture. It was also great to hear I Wanna Be Yours both nights, which I assume won’t stay in the set forever, but is probably the darkest song of the set at the moment and a real moody juxtaposition. Great to hear Helders on the electronic samples during this song as well.
Being on old fan since the Beneath The Boardwalk days, I have to be lame and say I miss not hearing a lot of the old material. There was sadly no Old Yellow Bricks that I was hoping for given it’s inclusion in 2013, and part of me left Wellington wondering what had happened to Teddy Picker/Still Take You Home/A Certain Romance, that sort of stuff. They’d be huge crowd numbers so I hope they don’t retire them for good, but in saying that they’re starting to amass quite a large list of classics so it’s impossible to hear them all. They also seem to have stopped playing b-sides at the moment, and even though it’s not yet had a live debut, it would be great to hear stuff like Stop The World which I personally think is one of their best songs and probably deserved to be on the album.
But in spite of being a picky AM nerd, both gigs were amazing and satisfied the several-year long urge to see the band live again. For the time being that is, I see me travelling to see them live many times in the future, hopefully at some international festivals. I don’t see why it won’t happen as well, they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
Alex in the blue
“Your heroes aren’t what they seem…”
The only other disappointment of the weekend, was I failed in my attempts to stalk and get a photo with any member of the band (but this is definitely periphery to the music). I spent most of Saturday waiting around TSB arena, the hoping to spot the boys coming in for a soundcheck. At around three o’clock their music could be heard from within the venue, so we all thought it was them soundchecking. Turns out false alarm, and was just the sound crew testing the gear, fooling us all. I was there however when their cars arrived at TSB arena, and led a gang of 15 year olds at their first concert up to try and meet the band. They were running late so went straight inside though but Alex did give us a wave. Was kind of cool as well to see who traveled with who, Matt was in a car with Jamie, Alex with Nick in another car. Apparently they were hanging out at Wellington bar Mighty Mighty later that night, but I was pretty exhausted after the show, so we’ll have to give up the stalking until next time (or maybe give it up completely and repress the instincts of the teenage fan-boy within).
TSB Arena, the morning after
But I hate to end on a pessimistic note and it was a pretty damn good couple of gigs indeed. The Arctic fan base in strong down these southern ways and seems set to remain, so hopefully the boys come and grace us with a few more gigs next tour. With another couple of albums the size of AM, they could be doing their own stadium shows rather than basketball arenas next time we see them here.
To finish, here’s a video of R U Mine? recorded on an Ipod Nano I had in my pocket. Pretty awful quality, but alright for archival purposes:
*I’d just like to note I’m not necessarily an Atheist and you don’t have to prescribe to such specific definitions of spirituality to enjoy this book.
In the second chapter of Religion For Atheists, Alain de Botton compares the approach of education in the secular state to the religious approach to education. Talking about literature in either, de Botton raises the subject of how religion (Christianity in this case) understands the forgetful nature of people, using the term akrasia, “a perplexing tendency to know what we should do combined with a reluctance to actually do it, whether through weakness of will or absent-mindedness”. Due to this Christianity, which is primarily dedicated to educating people on how to improve their lives on an emotional level as opposed to secular education whose primary purpose is the imparting of facts, has set up a system where the lessons of christian text (the Bible) are constantly reinforced, be it in sermons, religious holidays or other ceremonial type things. De Botton raises the point that we could learn similar life changing lessons from secular classics, such as the work of Chekhov or particularly emotionally moving films. Often we leave the theater, cinema, or finish a book and feel like completely changing our lives based on the values in that text we have just experienced. But then the feeling fades and we go back to mundane life. So whether or not that was the key point of De Botton’s chapter, I’ve decided to combat that akrasia by writing more about everything I watch, read or listen to. May as well start with the book that inspired the impulse.
Religion For Atheists argues the case that the secular world could learn a lot from religion. By largely rejecting elements of the main religions, the secular world, atheistic or not is allowing a lot of helpful ideas or activities that were in the past more general human concerns to be entirely claimed by religion. If we were to look for positively on religious things we might be able to improve the way the modern world works, de Botton argues, in areas such as community, art, education, kindness, architecture and institutions. You may find many parts of modern religious dogma unappealing but de Botton successfully illuminates the positive elements of religion, and in doing so creates a book that’s informative, eye opening and as helpful as any self help book.
Several threads from de Botton’s other books are continued here, such as looking at modern consumer societies status obsessed society, and shows how religion can help us to ask the questions about our lives and souls to really improve our existence, beyond the temporary fix that is chasing material possessions or satisfying shallow urges. De Botton uses this humanistic kind of outlook to appeal to people who have no interest at all in religion and couldn’t put even a slight belief in any deity. Regardless of how atheist or agnostic you are, it’s difficult not to relate to human creations, of which religion can be understood as one, which exist primarily to try and help people live their lives as best they possibly can.
If you don’t get totally carried away and want to start integrating into your life secular versions of religious activities, the book also proves interesting as an overview of the many varied aspects of religion that the non-religiously inclined might not be immediately aware of. At times the book felt genuinely revelatory, either that or I’m just naive and like a sponge when it comes to reading about de Botton’s self-help pop philosophy. Particularly the section about Buddhist ceremonies and their purposes I found struck a chord. De Botton partakes in a Buddhist weekend retreat for novices; there he engages in activities such as breathing meditation, which he describes the purpose as being “to open up a modest distance between our consciousness and our ego”. It just resonated with me the perhaps obvious to others thought that there are cultures of the world entirely dedicated to such things as separating your ego from your experience, such as in this Buddhist way which seeks to show people how they can view the world as it is, being mindful of such things as the blood running through our veins, the wind against our cheeks and tiny little details of what is happening right now in the present. Ignoring self absorbed, ego driven concerns is not something the modern western world does very often at all, and being so surrounded by propaganda fueling our selfish insecurities, driving our material lusts, it is refreshing to join de Botton’s search in finding the parts of human culture that are dedicated to making the human experience better.
His ideas may be commonsensical at times and perhaps over simplistic but I felt there was a lot of positive thought within the pages of Religion For Atheists. The last few chapters detail Art, Archeology and finally end up with a literature review of some of the other key idealists who have sought to reclaim religious ideas into some kind of secular church. It may not have happened yet but it’s good to know there’s thinkers out there willing to constantly challenge the capitalist modern machine and provide us with alternatives on how to better live our lives.
I’m sitting here, watching classic episodes of The Simpsons at work (don’t ask why, but it’s my job, this isn’t procrastination) and a thought came to me. People won’t remember these episodes in twenty years time. The next generation won’t have the attention span to watch them because of the archaic animation. When they look back at The Simpsons to see what it’s like, they’ll likely go straight for the latest episodes, the best looking, but the ones which are a shallow immitation of it’s glory days. Because The Simpsons has now been going so long, and been so milked, that it isn’t certain that future generations will be able to look back to understand why it had the cultural impact it did. Seasons 1 – 6 (and arguably up to 9, but I’m going to call 1 – 6 the classic period), between 1989 and 1995 is the reason for The Simpsons having such longevity. It’s where all the good plots, jokes and character moments can be found. But people won’t necessarily know this in the future, unless they’ve been guided, they’ll just cherry pick any episode-and a lot of people will choose the episodes with the CGI’d animation-and thus will miss any actual reason why The Simpsons was as influencial as it was. And if they do go to the old episodes, they’ll find them difficult due to the animation, just as I find difficult watching a cartoon from the 1930s.
Not everyone will of course. Some future people will be able to look past the animation of the early episodes and find the classic material within. I’m currently watching episode 24 from season 6, the one where Bart and his friends go on a mission to retrieve their towns stolen Lemon Tree, a symbol of Springfields origins, from neighbouring Shelbyville. It’s hilarious for so many reasons and inspired this whole post. Any maybe the animations not too terrible, and that future people will be able to look past that. But I worry that instead the 20 years of crap episodes will over shadow the few years of classics.
They could always remaster/re-animate the first six seasons, and I almost think they should, if only to keep this classic stuff alive for future generations. I’m starting to think like George Lucas here but maybe he was onto something. If he hadn’t remastered Star Wars (and made the prologue trilogy), would it still have the same cultural impact to this current younger generation? Those guys are still playing with Star Wars lego, it was one of the most popular christmas toys this past season. Surely Lucas’ recent efforts, tampering with his classic series, as awful as they may have been, are probably a large reason for Star Wars staying relevant. So maybe we need to remaster more classic shows, in order to keep them relevent for future generations. Or perhaps just The Simpsons because those first six seasons are absolute gold.
But then again, on the other side of the coin (because I’m a libra and have to survey all sides of the argument) we don’t really want to defile classic animation and make it all CGI and shit, do we? The old animation adds to a good portion of the charm of the classic seasons. If they were to spend all that money on upgrading early Simpsons, they’d need to make a lot of profit in return. I’m sure they would, selling it off to networks worldwide and creating a new line of merchandise to go with it. That’s what capitalism does. I hate to go too far in this direction as well, but at the end of the day, all this entertainment, it’s just distraction for the masses to make profit for few. So should I really be spending my time mourning a forgetting TV show. Probably not.
With all this I’m ignoring the fact that the show isn’t yet forgotten at all. I’m sitting here preparing this episode, and dozens more, so that they can be re-aired on New Zealand television (ok, so I did tell you what I do at my job). Once again, classic Simpsons will take it’s place just as early evening entertainment for the masses, just as it did twenty five years ago. This could carry on for some time. But at some point the mainstream re-runs will end, the jokes will be forgotten, the show will become a relic of a past genenation, just like early shows with some amount of cultural impact such as Happy Days or I Love Lucy. These shows were hugely popular, resonate with a few generations, but not mine. Or at least I haven’t bothered to check them out, I’m not hugely interested, because they look not very aesthetically pleasing. Why waste my time on old jokes? This is the same indifference that I’m expecting future people to have to the culturally important things of my youth, such as The Simpsons.
The original reason I started this post was to discuss whether milking every last drop of potential revenue from a successful cultural item such as The Simpsons diminishes it’s relevancy in time due to the excessive amount of poor quality content overshadowing what made it successful in the first place. This, I suppose, is a predominantly American problem, with any show successful on US television getting renewed for a crazy amount of seasons until the writing is sloppy, key actors have left and the fan base has stopped caring. The Simpsons (and it seems other cartoon series such as Family Guy or South Park) can I suppose go on for a greater amount of time than non-animated television series, so long as the voice actors, or suitable replacements, are around to voice the characters. Writers can be replaced, show runners can change, but the studios can keep on turning out material and thus revenue. Long running non-animated shows, that eventually have to change actors, perhaps run out of steam quicker. I’m sure there’s plenty of arguments against that last point, but my main point is, wouldn’t it be more beneficial if studios didn’t constantly feel the need to milk their product, but make have a good few runs until the inspiration has left, before said show has jumped the shark, and then wrap the whole thing up and package it (and perhaps remaster it) to be consumed for future generations?
To summarize this ramble – classic era The Simpsons rocks. But we only needed about ten years of it.
