I Have to Be a Cylon

First of all I would like to apologize for last night's bizarro post - I had a few beers in me and reading it this morning, it made absolutely no sense. So I deleted it. No hard feelings.

Bheeler made a great point about how (un)important it is for a product of popular culture to have some sort of an artistic merit. This was a response to my praise for  BSG to be an intellectually stimulating and challenging show. I agree with Bheeler that when comparing a show like Lost with the works of Shakespeare, the winner is  determined - by proxy - to be the latter because of its chronological advantage. Not that Shakespeare doesn't merit academic scrutiny, but the pedestal the academics and the critics put him on makes me question the validity of his artistic merit even more (that's two merits in one sentence). Same goes for the Oasis vs. the Beatles battle.

I also agree that studying or debating the made-up mythology behind popular culture is also an act of legitimizing them in our minds that they are serious shows and not just popcorn entertainment. A show like Lost, or BSG, or Alias have as much popcorn value as they do artistic value, but because of their chronological disadvantage and their inferior medium (television) will make them less worthy in artistic terms when academics will look back on early 21st century popular culture.

I have just watched last night's episode of  BSG online and I had goosebumps all over me. Yes, I keep salivating over this show too much maybe, but my excitement does not only stem from what I see on the screen, but what this show will represent in the years to come.

The filmmakers of our generation will be remembered for a few new innovations and developments that are, in my opinion, rather bland compared to the previous generations. Now, I'm not trying to say that Casablanca is a more worthy addition to the film cannon than Fight Club, but I would rather my generation be represented with filmmakers not named McG or Eli Roth. Let's  face it - the current filmmaking generation sucks ass. Yes, Scorsese still comes up with a scorcher once in a while. Yes, the Coens got their groove back (somehow), and yes Fincher just revealed a side we have never seen before. But they are not  strictly our generation. (Well, maybe Fincher is. And let's not forget Nolan). But, the predominant products of popular culture of our times are rather ... well... un-artistic, for want of a  better word.

Now, here's my point. I see a show like BSG shining like a beacon for the generations to come. Not because it has the best special effects on television I have ever seen, nor because it put a fledgling cable network (SciFi) in the big league. But because I feel that it will be a show critics and academics will be talking about not because of its place in a timeline, but because of its content. How many shows or films of the last 20 years can claim to that? You can go on about Blair Witch and Cloverfield's brilliant marketing strategies, but they are nothing but glorified Creature from the Black Lagoon - again, nothing is wrong with that. But BSG, in my humble  opinion, goes a little beyond that. And that's why I think it will be a landmark show - not in a popular sense (how many people can say that an Antonioni film is their favorite?), but in an academic sense. I can now claim to have been witness to a show that transcended popular culture and academia legitimately.

So say we all ...

The Ru

P.S. There are a few slight SPOILERS in this link, but it is an interesting article about shows that ultimately come to an end.

Cylons, Others and TV's Mythological New Wave

Okay, so the title of this blog sounds a bit more academic than I'm actually feeling right now. To be honest, I think there's a paper there, and if I ever get REALLY, REALLY bored, I'll write one. But the fact is, the mythology we're finding in shows like Battlestar, Heroes, Lost, Fringe and basically anything else that has to do with J.J. Abrahms has a great number of us dedicating hours to television without actually (and conceivably ever) sitting down in front of one. The symbolism in numbers, the complications of history, the meaning of the name of a character, a passing character, even a hydrogen bomb - the diehards in our audience spend hours dissecting, to varying levels of insanity. Occasionally I find myself asking "why?" It's like succumbing to a spell, this dedication to determining meaning, often in things that were never meant to be determined.

Ask yourself this - is it really necessary to ponder whether or not the H-Bomb in this week's episode of Lost was named after an Archie character. Is it a coincidence? Are we wasting our time searching for meaning in the meaningless? Or are we mean to decipher that fact? And even if we do, what answers, insight, NEED could that reasoning ever really supply/meet. What I'm asking is this - why does it even matter?

It's at times like this, when I'm wondering if I'm playing ridiculous mind games with a dubious, manipulative opponent who's spinning me around like a carefree marionette player, that I wonder why I even bother. Sometimes, it just feels like too much energy wasted on something that will only in a very small percentage actually change my life (if at all).

But then again, that isn't the point. We may be putting too much faith in these shows, dedicating too much of our lives to popcorn entertainment (I'm 87% certain I am with Heroes), but it's fun. We're not going to stumble across a life-changing secret. But we can debate, relate and contemplate with our fellow viewers, dorking our way through this new age of entertainment the same way great philosophers dorked their way through story time, and great minds studied Shakespeare. What makes Shakespeare so worthy of studying? What does his work have that Lost does not?

Nothing, if not prestige. So yeah, I'll continue to read the Doc Jensen columns over at EW. (daily, as long as I'm trapped at my desk at work). And at some point I'll delve into BSG. Because a.) it's fun b.) it's intellectually stimulating d.) it's every bit as artistically credible as fucking Kafka.

Peace n Love

-Bheeler