The problem is that it’s trotted out so often, that I, for one, am now pretty much conditioned to develop my own opinion about you (or whoever is saying these types of things). I have no idea what your amateur or professional experience with film is but when you say things like “has some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen”, I can only hear pretentiousness and ego. Breaking bad is far from the worst writing you, or anyone, has ever seen. I can pretty much guarantee that unless it was among the first shows you ever saw and you never bothered to watch anything after.
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I didn’t say it was, I used the word seemingly for a reason. It is a bad faith criticism used to give the illusion of objective criticism when there is none.
True but at a certain point you can’t simply say “The writing was bad” and then go on about plot holes and inconsistencies for twelve hours or simply leave it at that. Any asshole can pick apart a film plot hole by plot hole or use their encyclopedic knowledge of lore to dismiss a work but I feel that at the end of the day that sort of criticism leaves you no closer to understanding why a piece of media is bad or not appealing than when the knee jerked and you felt blisteringly angry.
I remember when someone asked how Roger Ebert (RIP) approaches a his reviews and I took his answer to heart almost immediately because it spoke to me. He said that the most important question he asks a film when reviewing it is: How? How did the film make him feel? How did it leave it’s impact him? How did it do what it did or did not to do him? If you can’t explain why you are angry at something beyond a surface level analysis then is it anger that is worth having at all?
@schatenjager has a point, there are too many people who expect way too much out of a popcorn film or franchise flick. There are also far too many people who seem to have an intense animosity towards media that is vapid and innocuous. Oftentimes they will do so while only having superficial and unsubstantiated reasons for doing so.
No human being should spend eighty years on God’s Green Earth letting their rage at The Acolyte burn a hole in their heart. A person has to learn emotional regulation at some point and a big part of that means knowing when and what you should let go or at the very least understand and explain why you are so angry at a Star Wars or Marvel product.
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Well it is because they are desperate.
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And they don’t have to be. Their current predicament could have been easily avoided. All they had to do was let Tony Stark, Black Widow, and the Vision retire instead of die, and then wait about 5 years before continuing the MCU so people could absorb all that had come before with the knowledge that it was done, and then be ready to see what’s next when it continued.
But no, they had to kill off 3 beloved characters and push right into the next thing by introducing all new characters and no hints prior to what was coming after Endgame, and hitting with one movie and tv show after another, multiple times a year, before people could even learn to love the new characters and story arcs. Once the story and characters everyone was invested in were done, the corporate fingerprints could no longer be ignored on good will.
“Some of” the worst writing - and I stand by that. I think it’s a dreadfully written show specifically - and as I mentioned above - because it is tonally all over the place: sometimes it wants to be Sicario, sometimes it wants to be My Name Is Earl, and very often in the same episode. There’s nothing wrong with smoked salmon and there’s nothing wrong with bubblegum, but unlike chocolate and peanut butter I don’t want them served together.
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As with all things, there is criticism that’s well done and criticism that isn’t. The kind of criticism you describe above isn’t great (usually offered by YouTubers who don’t understand that CinemaSins is a comedy channel), but plenty of thoughtful people offer legitimate criticism for films on the basis that they’re badly written first and foremost e.g. Folding Ideas’ Dan Olson on The Book Of Henry etc
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I don’t think CinemaSins understands that CinemaSins is a comedy channel. Ha, zing! (Ding?!)
But yes, there is good and bad criticisms but we shouldn’t entertain the most surface level criticisms that @schatenjager is talking about here. I have a feeling he is talking about those sorts of people we are talking about right now.
Of course the notion that a film’s writing is bad is legit grounds for criticism, I was never contending that because that would be nonsense. Jaeger is simply stating that there are people who will use very pithy or very surface level remarks to dismiss a film and those people are also the same sort of people who tend to hold popcorn films to higher standards than is warranted.
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But this of course raises the question: how do you define what “bad” writing (or any aspect, really) is?
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You know that is a very good question!
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Even I, in all my know-it-all, I’m-almost-a-genius-but-can’t-prove-it-on-paper, I’m-right-because-I-say-so arrogance, can’t give a committed answer to that one.
Neither can I so I don’t even bother and I have the degree in literature. i knows what I knows and that is good enough for me.
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Wouldn’t it be more accurate just to say you don’t like it? I didn’t like Inglorious Bastards but I can never say it had bad writing.
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No, it wouldn’t. As I’ve said a couple of times now, it’s specifically the fact that I thought the writing was terrible that made me dislike the show, and I really, really disliked the show. People are free to disagree, buy that’s my honest and genuine reaction to what I saw.
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That’s really all I wanted to see, to be honest. I hate declarative statements that treat opinion as if it’s fact. To say that the writing in Breaking Bad is objectionably bad is a stretch. To say that you think it’s bad I can respect.
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You could have got that from my very first post on the subject, my dude.
I wasn’t just referring to you though. My comments were more general. You just responded is all.
@schatenjager @scat1620 Between the two of you and the various things you don’t like, I don’t know which one of you is weirder. At this point, I’m thinking it’s because both your handles have S and C as the first two letters. Coincidence? I think not!
I assure you it is! My screen name is just a misspelled character title from a 1990s adventure game.
But that’s still how it’s spelled. And I tell you, that’s the common factor!
In that case, it may interest you to know that I’ve never in my life used sunscreen, chapstick, or conditioner!
I watched Fast X today. I have no idea why, but it seems to me that a series that is based (as far as I can tell) solely on people driving cars fast has sure managed a lot of movies out of that concept. I guess there will be an 11th one in a year or two?
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