July 21, 2005
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. James Lileks
Screeding today on the state of pop culture, James lays into the director of the soon-to-be-released-disaster remake of The Bad News Bears who wants to let kids know "it's okay to be a rebel":
Yes, everything in the culture today argues against being a rebel, doesn’t it? For heaven’s sake, rebellion is the assumed default position, even if it’s used to make a certain soda brand assume market dominance. Of course there’s an unforgiving sort of conformity undergirding all the “rebellious” messages, but the idea is still quite plain: the cool & the hip define themselves by opposition to whatever the status quo is. (Unless the status quo is the iPod. In which case, conform!) Ever since Brando, all you have to do is say “he’s a rebel” and people nod approvingly. Ah, the rebel. We need those! But a rebel against what? Yes, I know: whaddya got, the stupidest answer in the history of movies. Well, we have rule of law, food inspection, penicillin, and building codes. Okay, if that’s all you got, I’m rebellin’ against that.
Go read the rest, including his juicy takedown of Jon Stewart.
Thomas Frank (I know, not the usual reading for the LB faithful) has a thoughtful book on this issue called "The Conquest of Cool". The thrust of the argument is that the corporations have figured out how to channel the desire to rebel back into the standard consumerism (and reap huge profits on it, including a BNB remake). It is true that the genuine social upheaval and threats to the status quo that happend in the 60's have been diverted back into non-threatening behaviors. While some may bristle at how often the hear the word f**k, it doesn't really have a deep and lasting impact on the corridors of power. For them, if it makes a buck, what the f**k?
Posted by: LB buddy at July 21, 2005 11:10 AMAs a matter of fact, I wouldn't disagree with that assessment. And although you don't indicate whether Frank thinks so (although I can guess), I find it to be pretty appalling.
Posted by: Robert the LB at July 21, 2005 11:26 AM
