I have no opinion of Batman Vs Superman because I don’t want to have one. I saw Man of Steel and learned something: I’m not interested in paying for my own unhappiness. I can find stuff to base fascinating complaints on all by myself. I certainly won’t reward the production of unwatchable nonsense just so I can parade around in my clever-costume wittily spouting innumerable proofs that I should have stayed home.
Money is worth something. Producing a movie people want to see even if they all agree it’s awful, that’s just good business. I’d say it’s short-sighted, but data suggests that’s myopic. The second and third Star Wars prequels made money. Man of Steel didn’t keep BvS ticket buyers home. The studio clearly had a strategy, and that’s good for them. I also want to see Wonder Woman get some well-deserved screen time, but I think I’ll wait for a movie that does her justice, rather than sit through one that’s using her to prop up the big boy’s blah-blah.
There’s no such thing as bad press, in fact, today we seem to prefer bad press, and I think it’s killing us. Some things deserve to be ignored, and we, as a people, should try that strategy more. How you use your time is who you are, and if you love to hate the spectacle, the sellers of spectacle will gladly keep serving you things worth hating.
I’ll admit this post is a performative contradiction. I’m talking about something I’m saying we should stop talking about, and as Ellie says in Contact, “As a scientist, I must concede that.” Except I’m an ex-philosopher. Inspired by Wittgenstein, I wish this conversation was a ladder I could kick away, a language game played so we can get above it and never play it again.
But as Ellie is forced to say: “That continues to be my wish.”
Jeremy Lewit 