I've been watching YouTube reaction channels, and there are a large number on Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. I'm a white man of a certain age, and while I'm not an historical enthusiast or a military fetishist, I do have a fondness for WWII stories, and also have a strong emotional response to the recurrence of, shall we say, enthusiasm for final-solution-type-thinking, and so ignorance in this area is a little vexing. Look, everyone has to start somewhere, and watching young people come to understand history through these dramatized accounts is moving and engaging. But it wanders into annoyance when they begin their reaction (as one did) by saying they don't know what Saving Private Ryan is about, they don't know which war it is, and that they think it's about war, generally. It reminds me a little of the (curated, no doubt) vox pop that late night talk show hosts do in which they lure the general public into looking incredibly idiotic. I mean, we did vote Trump in twice, so there is something to that. But I still want to believe that this has all been a mistake, somehow.
The punchline here is that everyone - EVERYONE - comments with surprise at seeing Vin Diesel in Private Ryan. Every. Single. One. There are plenty of other amazing performances, many from unknowns in 1998 (as was Diesel at the time), but by far he is the actor they all key on. This strikes me as indicative of a generation gap the nature of which evades me, and that really bugs me.
Anyway, combine that Gen X facial tic with the surreal idea of having a reaction channel that features the silent reading of poetry. Because that channel would be absurd, and particularly if the reader had zero context for the material that they were presenting. Because who would watch that? Who would find that a valuable use of anyone's time? Influencing.
This one is mean-spirited.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching YouTube reaction channels, and there are a large number on Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. I'm a white man of a certain age, and while I'm not an historical enthusiast or a military fetishist, I do have a fondness for WWII stories, and also have a strong emotional response to the recurrence of, shall we say, enthusiasm for final-solution-type-thinking, and so ignorance in this area is a little vexing. Look, everyone has to start somewhere, and watching young people come to understand history through these dramatized accounts is moving and engaging. But it wanders into annoyance when they begin their reaction (as one did) by saying they don't know what Saving Private Ryan is about, they don't know which war it is, and that they think it's about war, generally. It reminds me a little of the (curated, no doubt) vox pop that late night talk show hosts do in which they lure the general public into looking incredibly idiotic. I mean, we did vote Trump in twice, so there is something to that. But I still want to believe that this has all been a mistake, somehow.
The punchline here is that everyone - EVERYONE - comments with surprise at seeing Vin Diesel in Private Ryan. Every. Single. One. There are plenty of other amazing performances, many from unknowns in 1998 (as was Diesel at the time), but by far he is the actor they all key on. This strikes me as indicative of a generation gap the nature of which evades me, and that really bugs me.
Anyway, combine that Gen X facial tic with the surreal idea of having a reaction channel that features the silent reading of poetry. Because that channel would be absurd, and particularly if the reader had zero context for the material that they were presenting. Because who would watch that? Who would find that a valuable use of anyone's time? Influencing.
Like I said, mean-spirited.