This picture is pretentious as shit
This is not true at all.
Visual media often needs this from its viewers. Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather. all these films can be called pretentious but they’re not the stupid mans form of entertainment.
So many people HATE these films after watching because they DO require thought and patience after viewing. No high school film student came out of Citizen Kane understanding why it was a masterpiece. They thought it was crap and dismissed the thing as pointless until growing up into a pretentious shit later on in life to claim they have always loved the movie and passionately understand all of its themes.
A problem when it comes to the media of books is the author gets pulled into the trap of explaining out everything to its audience. Movies do this as well, but because it’s a visual medium this happens much less often and the symbolism needs to be figured out largely by the audience. Stanley Kubrick isn’t going to have Jack Nicholson say the meaning of The Shining while he’s axing the door down. It’s a film that’s still discussed today only because so many things are left unsaid but you can tell the hints to a meaning are there. They are scattered throughout and were placed there intentionally. There’s a reason the movie will be remembered more than the book.
A great example of how film REQUIRES patience and time to think on is Eyes Wide Shut. I went into it wanting it to be about the secret society. Guess the surprise I was in for when it ends in the most visually anti-climatic way of Nicole Kidman telling Tom Cruise to fuck her. You rewatch the film again and realize it had nothing to DO with muh conspiracy societies and everything to do with their relationship. The film WILL NOT tell you this and mainly focuses on Tom Cruises nightly adventures. Like getting a costume for a party. Or visiting a woman after her father died. Or going to a hotel receptionist to talk for five minutes if someone in particular checked out. Things so mundane and pointless but there’s meaning in the scenes.
I know the movie is based off a book and bought the book after watching the film. It’s the literally the size of the communist manifesto. Rushes through all the actions. Although the story is almost an exact replica of the film there are things it can NOT do that the movie can.
When Tom Cruise escapes the creepy orgy party he is followed. He notices the stranger while buying a random newspaper and takes refuge in a restaurant. What does it say on the front?
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Cringey? Perhaps. Pretentious? Hell yes. But for a book it is IMPOSSIBLE to do this without literally spelling it out. You need to be paying attention and wasting your damn time if you want to catch this in visual media.
Sorry, this thread was about pretentious books, right? The Crucible by Arthur Miller or some shit, I don’t know…fuck that commie.
I think it is very important to talk about gender equality within the framework of this discussion. Recently, I have been reading a lot of articles and books about how people fought for gender equality in different periods of history. At
https://studyhippo.com/essay-examples/gender-equality/ you can read some helpful articles on this subject. While gender inequality is still a big problem as women do not receive equal opportunities in education, workplace and daily life, at least there is more equality for children. This is already better because there is a growing generation that accepts that equality is very important.
