A Plea From Somewhere Other Than the Low Point

It's not exactly groundbreaking to tell you that Western Culture has made the decision to appeal to its lowest common denominator. From entertainment to news, things are made to attract the stupidest and the basest of all of us.

Now, that isn't always bad. I'm sure some of us actually occasionally enjoy some "mindless entertainment." That's fine. I'm not upset that professional wrestling or Survivor exist (although I have no use for them personally). What I'm upset about is, that's all there is. There is no gamut. There is no wide range of choices. There are very few "intelligent alternatives," and the ones we do have are often inaccessible or difficult to find.

Let's take a look at this summer's movies. Not all of them were terrible (Evolution was terrible), but not a lot of them are exactly intellectually stimulating. Shrek was pretty good. Swordfish was okay. I'm still not sure what I think of A.I. Did I mention that Evolution was terrible? If David Duchovny came to my house and personally apologized for how shockingly unfunny he was, I'd still be mad I saw that movie. But I digress.

Probably the most intelligent movie I've seen this summer is Memento. But my wife and I (and our friends) had to drive over a half-hour to get to it, because it's only in a few theaters in the whole Seattle area. I'm sure that if we lived in a smaller community, we wouldn't even have had the opportunity at all. Why? Because some idiot thought we wouldn't "get it." Because the movie doesn't hold our hands all the way through it, explaining things (that need no explanation) twice. Memento, whether you like it or not, requires you to actually think while you're watching it. It assumes you aren't a moron. It's nice when people don't assume I'm a moron. It makes me... well, what do you know... it makes me not want to act like a moron. Who would have thought it?

As Sean at seanbaby.com puts it: "Everyone thinks that everyone else is stupider than them.... Idiot movie executives dumb down scripts written already by idiots, and you get things like The Mummy Returns. Think about this: The people that made The Mummy Returns think they're smarter than you."

Someone once told me that the reason that Hollywood never puts out something new, fresh, and intelligent is simply this: When you pitch a movie to the financers, you have to say that your new movie is just like some existing movie that did well, so that you'll convince them that your movie will also do well. So, by very definition, Hollywood can't put out something new or something daring. We're stuck in this lowest common denominator rut for a long time.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Monte, you're looking for intelligent entertainment in movies? What are you thinking?" Well, that's a fine question, and sort of my point. Why shouldn't I be able to find an intelligent movie? Or television show? Or news broadcast? Why not an intelligent alternative that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator? Conceivably, there's got to be at least a niche market out there for people with triple digit IQs.

Why not create some entertainment that the lowest common denominator doesn't quite get? The "powers that be" underestimate us -- we just might surprise them regarding what we can understand. Something intelligent won't necessarily lose most people, just some people. If we're not afraid of turning off intelligent people, why can't we be unafraid to turn off a few stupid people now and again?

Look at it this way: In the restaurant market, there are fast food places with cheap, simple food. There are restaurants that cater to ethnic tastes, there are places that offer nutritious meals, and there are very expensive restaurants that serve intricately prepared meals for a premium price.

Now, imagine we used the same model for the media. Mindless entertainment is offered cheaply in large quantities. Then, for a higher price, you can get better quality stuff. To continue using movies as an example, imagine that a ticket for Evolution cost $1, but A.I. cost $5, and something like The Matrix cost $8. Then, like when dining out, the price would be an indicator of what you're getting.

It'll never happen, of course, because of the fallacy that one movie is as good as the next. A studio would never want to admit that its crappy, mindless rehash movie isn't worth as much to see as something well done and thoughtful. In fact, the opposite is true: Some stupid, ill-conceived but expensive blockbuster like Armageddon is often considered "worth more" than something "artsy" like Memento or Pi.

And to be honest, I'd still be mad that I paid a dollar to see Evolution. But that's Another Rant....