[Dr. Boogie]

Originally Posted by JTN

I seem to get the impression from the comments that people think that everybody will like an intelligent, well-written movie 100% of the time, no matter who they are, and that everyone in the world secretly wants to always see those movies all the time.

That's a bit hyperbolic, don't you think? The impression I get from reading the other posts is that some of the posters are tired of hearing that crappy programming is so popular, and that since it has no redeeming qualities, it's their fault for not being able to like crap.

The fact is, mindless entertainment has been around for thousands of years. Freak Shows, Gladiator Battles, Animal Fighting... It's not like it's a new phenomenon that started with television.

I'm not really sure what you're getting at here. I didn't say that mindless entertainment is an invention only a few years old.

There's always gonna be an audience for that stuff that is more than willing to "turn their brain off" for a while and just watch things moving.

I agree. They're called "infants". They're the prime demographic in the "things moving/jingling keys" entertainment niche.

It doesn't make them any more stupid than you and me; it's just a basic human need to take one's mind off of the cares of the day that actually DO require your brain. That's where dancing and sports come from.

Eh, if a person likes cats, we call them a cat person. If they like stupid crap, why not call them a stupid person? Or a crappy person?

Also, that's a rather hefty assumption you're making about the origin of dancing and sports.

I guess I'm collecting from Boogie's article that All movies should be intelligent and well-written. "Turning your brain off" is not necessarily a bad thing. Like chocolate and other sweet foods, it's fine for you to watch it along as you don't make it the center of your life. The fact that that kind of entertainment exists does not indicate any stupidity on the part of the watchers; it's just an indicator of what's happened for thousands of years.

What I said in the article was that in order to like the entertainment examples I gave, you needed to turn your brain completely off. To like Transformers, to like most of what Michael Bay produces, you have to be able to ignore everything except the special effects. To like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you have to forget about the previous films in the series so the comparison won't ruin the film for you. To like Dane Cook, you have to accept made-up words and screaming to be the highest form of comedy.

What I was getting at was that the best kind of entertainment is the kind that engages you. That requires a certain amount of thinking to appreciate. That's the kind of stuff that you're going to remember long after you've left the theater or turned off the TV.