book one redone - Coldbacon

“What we feel about a movie—or, indeed, about any work of art, high or
low—matters less than the rise and fall of our feelings over time. The King
Lear that we see as sons and daughters (of Cordelia’s age, say) can never
be the same play that we attend as parents; the sound of paternal fury, and
of the mortal fears that echo beyond it, will knock ever more insistently at
our hearts. Weekly critics cannot do justice to that process; when we are
asked to nominate favorite films, all we can say is ‘Well, just now I quite
like Citizen Kane or Police Academy 4, but ask me again next year.’”
– Anthony Lane
This idea that Lane parrots, like any pithy point, is as much not true as it
is true. Yes, we do see things through different eyes. As we grow old, the
lens becomes more squishy. And yes, it’s true tastes change over time.
Some cheeses become more and less rewarding as taste buds rearrange
according to God’s plan. But friends, I solemnly swear by all that is living
I will never say Police Academy 4 is my favorite movie. And I’m still
waiting with childlike curiosity for that day to come when I no longer
think Eliot is a great poet and Kubrick is more than just some overfed
photographer.
So, on the surface, there does seem to be an inconsistency between the
idea that taste is always changing, yet at the same time we are fixed in
love and appreciation of bad movies we saw as children. However, these
two seemingly disparate notions can be taken together as evidence of
Lane’s supremely disempowering MO to have us as mere passive witness
to our biological trends. I no longer eat spicy food, but by God I still love
The Sound of Music. Is Anthony Lane the only person capable of
willfully cultivating an evolving critical approach only to throw it all
away in an heroic act of faux humanism? While the rest of us are merely
along for the ride? I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.
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