There is a good deal of fan activism. Look at how it influenced Star Wars, especially in the retcon following THE LAST JEDI.
I may be coming to the realization that I am not a “fan” in the sense many people are fans (hey, y’all know I am slow on the uptake).
It was you SAF saying that you are “disappointed” that triggered these thoughts. I realized that as a fan, I am never disappointed. I want the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl and threepeat. If they do not, I will be … what? Disappointed feels too strong a word. Sad? Maybe. But whatever I feel, the emotion will last a few minutes, and then I will move on. I had an acquaintance who had to stop watching football because he so loved his team that when they lost, he was actually disconsolate.
I did not like NTTD, but I cannot say it disappointed me. It just wasn’t a good film. Moving on.
Over my years of film viewing, there have been instances were a favorite film or filmmaker lost my interest/admiration. Again–I moved on. On the other hand, I was pleased recently when my re-watch of Howard Hawks’ movies revealed how much I still enjoyed them. I had a similar pleasure last night with LE SAMOURAI, and look forward to tonight’s viewing of BOB LE FLAMBEUR.
With this discussion, I am realizing that my approach to fandom may lack a key ingredient: the condition of disappointment. I go into every film/experience wanting to like/enjoy it. But If that is not how things turn out, I am okay with it. Maybe the way to phrase it is that I have expectations, but not specifications.
As always, thanks to all for inspiring these thoughts, and reading my ramblings.
You have a more healthy perspective on this, and I actually am not that disappointed that I can’t think of anything else (even if my constant posting might indicate otherwise).
It’s just that I enjoy discussing Bond because these films have accompanied me through my life, and I hope they will continue to do so because they are just so much fun and time capsules which do tell me something about the past and society‘s state of mind.
My current rewatch sessions again prove to be so interesting to me because they also tell me something about myself, and the changing opinions I had so far also make me realize that I watched these films (and others, I assume) with a certain expectation. I am now really trying to watch these with a much more open mind, and the distance of time sometimes make these films seem brand new when I really have imprinted them on my memory for decades.
So, my only disappointment or shall we say regret is that I can’t watch more of them. Just as I am disappointed or regretting never to be able again to watch a new Sydney Pollack or Stanley Kubrick or David Lynch movie.
But to have those which exist is also wonderful, and sometimes the limitation adds worth.
Agreed. The movies are fascinating from a sociological perspective.
You have shown a great ability to re-see a movie, and upgrade your opinion of it. That happens for me sometimes–notably with SHUTTER ISLAND–but not all that often. Sometimes, my greater acquaintance with a movie diminishes it for me.
Of course, we will revisit my inability to feel disappointment if and when I cannot make it through a re-watch of DAF.
Like William Wyler’s response to Billy Wilder at the funeral of Ernst Lubitsch:
Wilder: No more Lubitsch.
Wyler: Worse than that. No more Lubitsch movies.
I did not think that I would feel like doing a whole rewatch-festival, I planned to spread it out over the year. But damnit, I am hooked again, and now I will continue with GF, TLD, NSNA, and then finish the three Brosnans left before giving the Craig cycle a fresh look.
Funny, how the Bond films still can lure me in after all those years. Maybe even more than ever.
I even don’t have enough of those I recently rewatched and feel like watching those again soon, too.
But are you saying that you don’t normally watch Bond films a lot? I watch them all year round, often the same ones (DAF, MR etc.), but in general I watch at least ten to fifteen different ones per year. After all, that’s what I’m a Bond fan for.
In my many decades of movie watching the Bonds have been my ongoing companion - but after the last complete rewatch session (every film in chronological order in 2015) I was a bit Bonded out and only occasionally chose one.
Since, ironically, rewatching DAD last November, however, I am back on that train and full steam ahead.
I never watch Bond films like that, watching them back to back seems like such an obligation, I just watch them if I like it and choose which one I feel like watching at that moment, sometimes I wait another week or so on purpose, so that I get even more excited for it the next weekend, which works very well for me!
I actually think it’s a brilliant idea to mix and match them as SAF is doing. It’s frankly a chore to go through them all in chronological order. For one thing, despite how much the films have changed over time, those changes were gradual, with most films looking not all that wildly different from the ones that came immediately before or after (for example, DAF, LALD and TMWTGG all end with a henchman making one last attempt on Bond after the villain’s dead, TSWLM and MR are essentially the same in structure, MR, FYEO, OP, AVTAK and TLD all begin or end with Bond clinging to or falling off an aircraft, etc).
But I don’t watch them in order, I tend to pick out the few favorites and give the others the breeze. I think it’s a cool notion to randomly pick entries from throughout the series while committing to eventually seeing the lot of them. If I go back to the series this year – which at this point isn’t guaranteed – that’s the way I’ll do it. Maybe I’ll make a list ahead of time so there’s no cheating and QoS and SP don’t end up “accidentally” forgotten.
This is something I’ve never done but I might do it the next time I watch the films, but how about watching them in the reverse order of your personal rankings–so from the least to your favorite. So you theoretically get more excited to watch them as you go along. That should be a good mashup of eras.
Normally this would go into our odd news thread - but it’s not exactly news and since we’ve discussed the Academy Awards snubbing Craig’s effort here it’s perhaps the best place to leave this. Many observations in this piece we’ve made ourselves over the course of CBn…
In one way, the article ties into our discussion about reflection versus vicariousness:
Mexican audiences and critics have not known whether to laugh or cry at Emilia Pérez’s depiction of their country and culture. On the one hand, there is the cast’s accents. Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez said of watching Gomez: “Every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say, ‘Wow, what is this?
It once again proves that awards like the Oscars are merely a popularity contest depending on the zeitgeist.
I haven’t seen this film yet but if that performance was good enough to be mentioned by many critics and nominated for many awards the actress should have a chance to win it.
But it really is not about the work, it is about the perception of the human being doing the work.
And it is, I think, embarassing that a transgender woman first gets accolades and is moved into a position to win an Oscar - and then gets kind of canceled because her old tweets are not in tune with the perception the award giving caste wanted to put on display and bathe in that glow.
As for Craig - he is not well liked by many in Hollywood, maybe because of envy (the money), maybe because he does not play along with the ruling class. And homosexuality does not seem to be interesting enough in Tinseltown this year.
Of course, I haven’t seen „Queer“, and it could just be not good enough. The clips I have seen made me think „Craig in ACTING mood, look here!“