On 12/31/15 2:41 PM, Marv Gandall wrote: > John Wight, writing in Counterpunch, sees Star Wars and other > contemporary shallow fare as cultural expressions of the neoliberal > zeitgeist, a reaction to the more creative and critical culture of > the rebellious 60’s.
That's the kind of stupid, dogmatic crap I would expect from someone who defended barrel bombing open-air markets in Syria. These "reviews" trashing Hollywood blockbusters from Wight and from assorted contributors to Jacobin are a throwback to the film reviews that Irwin Silber used to write in the Guardian in the 70s. "Rocky"--oh so racist. "The Green Berets"--oh so warmongering. It is a crude Stalinist mindset that is as predictable as it is useless. You would think that "alternative" media would hone in on the neglected films that need to be supported but instead we get this sort of thing. When I get around to reviewing "Bridge of Spies", I'll have a word or two about the East Germany studies professor who wrote about the film's Cold War mentality as if he could not come to terms with this being Spielberg's best film in years. To give credit where credit is due, James Agee gave a thumb's up to "Birth of the Nation" against its leftist detractors when he was the film reviewer for The Nation. People like Wight need to read Trotsky on art and literature but I guess he first needs to learn how to read. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
