The Holtonian

I'm on the Illinois Side of Indie

I wrote this long piece at work about a recent revelation made to me.

Indy, culture has always puzzled me, and after a long talk with Roe last
night, it seems I'm more frusterated with it than ever. I think I have a
grasp (perhaps not the best) on indie culture's view of music and movies.
It seems the next outworkings of the counter cultural movement that has
been embedded in American culture and exploded in the 60s. I often think
indy's want me to be "into" the alternative culture and shake off my pop
culture atire. And I've always felt I did a addequate job at attempting to
do that. Mainly cause I've never considered myself a person wrapped up in
pop culture. In high school what was popular was DMX, Chili Peppers, Pearl
Jam, the big head liners. I liked two out of three of those ok but stuck
to the 80s mostly as I do to this day. Why? Mostly because I consider
myself kind of a geek and feel that the 80s was when the geeks were the
coolest as far as music is concerned and for that matter movies too. I
mean how cool was Revenge of the Nerds one and two? Answer: Very. I always
related with Booger. So i've never felt a product of pop culture, because
I've mostly just felt like a product of past culture, which really appeals
to my desire to stay behind the times.
But as I met new people in college I was challenged to seek the
world of indy, to explore movies that aren't made by the big names and
have more thought and less money in them. And I've found a lot of movies I
really liked that otherwise I might not have seen. Wes Anderson flicks,
About Shmidt, and Punch Drunk Love are some examples of movies that I
really liked but were not as in the spot light as other films.
So I discussed with Roe my views of Lost in Translation and he
expressed the frusteration some of the indy folk we know have with me. I
became very defensive because frankly I do my best to be open to other
forms of culture than the mainstream. But part of me sees indies'
critiques of my movie opinions as very close minded. For instance I really
do think Lost in Translation was a boring story. Josiah rebutted with,
"its real." True, but so is my life and frankly I think my life is just as
real, if not more so since I'm not acting. But you don't see a movie being
made of me sitting in my cubical coming to various conclusions on how life
at times is lonely, seemingly meaningless, and inconsistent. Why is this
movie not being made?? Answer: it would be boring, interesting perhaps,
but very boring. Thats how I felt Lost in Translation brought across these
very interesting themes and ideas, in a very real, but very boring way.
Thus I think the movie is not as great as everyone is saying it is.
The movie has great aspects. Like I said, themes, acting,
cinematography---all good to great. But due to the movie's "boring and
slow nature" this kept the movie from being truly great in my opinion. I
also feel that a good majority of the people that have ate this movie up
like it was a bowl of French Onion soup have done so mainly because
they're being told its great, thus my sarcastic review in my earlier blog.
"Man you just don't get it man, they're like lost in the translation and
they're lost and you're so lost that you can't get the translation." This
as Josiah last night pointed out is not the movie's fault but merely some
indie wannabe or hipster dufuss trying to sound smarter than their store
bought degrees can really allow. I can appreciate others' love of the
movie but I cannot agree with the movie's overall greatness or have the
same love for such a movie that almost put me to sleep.
Now this is where I get annoyed with some Indie's because I feel
like they thus dismiss my opinion because I'm not, truly "into" indie
culture and don't carry the same clout that say someone who goes to every
indie movie the Bijou shows and listens to the Vines, Roots, and Trees (I
made that last one up) and see them as the best bands in history because
they so capture whatever they capture. I see this as the critical flaw of
many in indie circles. Failure to appreciate non-indie folk's opinion. I
feel at times they are guilty of the same sin (not really a sin just using
for affect) that they accuse the zombies of pop culture of. Indie folk i
feel criticize the mainstream for failing to get out of the mainstream and
enjoy the fringes of culture. However, the indie folk seem to dismiss the
pop culture folk or shmoes like me, folk who try to dabble in all culture
has to offer. That being said, i will admit I'm not as well rounded as I'd
even like to be but indie hipsters need to realize that being into fringes
of culture requires things like money and time both of which i have very
little. I'd love to go drop 8 bucks on a movie (16 if my wife goes) but
frankly I can't rationalize that in my head. Why can't I? Because I have a
thing called a mortgage payement and if I don't spend my money wisely the
bank will come take my house away from me. People have different
priorities in life and staying up on whats hip is far down the list on my
opinion.
I babble, but I babble out of frusteration. We all have critics,
people who dislike our quirks, our interests, and don't really understand
why we do what we do. But one thing I've always done is love the people,
and try to love and take interest in others hobbies. But I guess Roe sort
of just pointed out people's disgust of my interests and it offended me.
Most often than not we don't know other's attitudes towards our views and
hobbies thus that irritation that I experienced is rarely felt. I guess
Indies want me to be into their culture, but I'm just not. I'm open to it,
sometimes interested in it, but not necessarily "into" it.
Its the same battle I've been fighting with people who think video
games are stupid wastes of time. Yes they are but in the grand scheme of
things most hobbies---movies, sports (watching them), model building,
baseball cards (though that can be an investment at times). My hobby for
most of my life has been video games, i find them fun, interesting, and a
good discourse with other geeks.