Is There Such a Thing as a "Mubi-Style?" If So, Can Someonen Explain Just Exactly What That Is?

how dare you oppress me like this papa

Yeah, most people here are secretly both at the same time. ;)

Using the current American definitions of the terms, a ‘liberal’ person is socially tolerant but believes in solving social inequities with direct government intervention and large amounts of tax money. A ‘conservative’ person believes in a government that enforces a strictly religious culture and makes things easier for big businesses.

Using the real definitions of the terms, a ‘liberal’ person believes that people should be free to live as they choose, and a ‘conservative’ person believes in preservation of culture. Both real definitions apply to the majority of people in western countries.

Ron Paul… I’m not nearly as extreme as him on economic matters, but I believe he oversteps in the correct direction from the center. People should be able to live as they choose, the government should only intervene in economic matters in harmful issues like pollution or to ensure people basic right to survival.

In other words, I am Lockian. Every person has a natural right to life, liberty, and property, and the government exists solely to protect those rights.

I agree we should think in terms of a global community, but if you do so, how do you deal with some of the disgusting injustices in other parts of the world? All the gender inequities in middle eastern countries, the one child rule in China, or violent repressive dictators in general. How do you live in a global community then tolerate unjust laws? Declaring war certainly isn’t the answer, but ignoring it isn’t either.

In other words, I am WOMAN.

(sorry I couldn’t resist, Jirin — this conversation is getting too heavy)…

no, odi I am woman!!

HEAR ME ROAAAARRRRRRRRR

Choosing the subculture Cinester in character creation?

To nudge things back to the topic, I have never understood the passion for categorizing motion pictures as mainstream and not mainstream.
At Mubi, a hierarchy is almost always implied by that distinction, and YOU guys don’t need ME to explain which one sleeps in the top bunk.
As I rebuild my stack of favorites for my profile here,
I choose pictures that I think are worth enjoying on various levels.
I wouldn’t know how to pretend to care about where they are located on a cultural continuum.
Related to this aspect of Mubi-style (if such a thing exists), is this remark about the New Yorker magazine:

“The New Yorker has always dealt with experience not by trying to understand it ,
but by prescribing the attitude to be adopted toward it.
This makes it possible to feel intelligent without thinking,
and it is a way of making everything tolerable,
for the assumption of a suitable attitude toward experience can give one
the illusion of having dealt with it adequately.”

— Robert Warshow (The Immediate Experience)

for the assumption of a suitable attitude toward experience can give one
the illusion of having dealt with it adequately.

Well isnt’ that all about conforming anyway? Whether you conform to “cool dude” or “dope” seems to be what it’s all about for some people. Real secure thinking (not).

But seriously, not wanting to make assumptions about anyone because I only know a handful of people here personally and not really well at that — more than anything the whole interaction is about, as Matt said, people thinking they know what someone is saying and then making a statement based on that. That’s typecasting people in an instant. What is nice about some users is that they actually ask you to clarify yourself if you just said something that came off sounding “off” to their ears. Then people can actually join the conversation going on instead of being kept at arm’s length because they are purposely misunderstood.

And for sure, there are users who will insist on painting you one way so that they can score a victory for those who agree with them. It’s just easier for some people, and more gratifying for some angry people, to do that kind of thing. Unfortunately.

The New Yorker is also how I came to my understanding of ‘pretentiousness’ in college. I was asked to go out and write a review of a local writers’ event for an assignment. When it was returned to me, it was returned with several articles from the New Yorker which I had mostly unconsciously taken on the ‘voice’ of as a critic, with the warning from the professor, “Don’t write in this mode, as if you’re talking down to the people who are putting their voices out there, you shouldn’t try to deny their bravery with your tone.” LESSON LEARNED. I didn’t even get bad marks or have her correct any errors or anything, she just read a few paragraphs and said

and I’ve been pretty wary of that voice since.

—PolarisDiB

It’s really disconcerting when The New Yorker writes good reviews of things like Tower Heist and stuff in that tone. I mean, at least come on and be elitist!

I didn’t realize other people didn’t like their tone, too, though…

Well the issue she pointed out to me with highlighted passages (don’t have the articles anymore though, sorry…) is that whether the appraisal is good or bad (for instance, my review of the event was good), the tone tends to deny the artist an appreciable amount of respect. If you want to elevate criticism to something more than ‘Those who don’t do, criticize’ you have to approach criticism with respect for the people you are criticizing. And where respect is lost should be part of the dialog of the critique, if you are in fact judging a piece of art or an artist as not respectable.

—PolarisDiB

Cool story, Polaris. A nice lesson to learn in college.

I don’t think ‘mainstream’ is a necessarily derogatory term, but it does have the connotation of high tech, accessible, pre-digested, melodramatic, riskless. It also implies that this is a film it’s easy to discuss with friends and co-workers.

I’ve liked a lot of mainstream films this year, but there is a difference. Maybe there’s a better word to use than ‘mainstream’ to reference those qualities?

upstream, downstream, middle of the stream, to the side of the stream, midstream, understream, surfacestream, lazystream, widestream, dumbstream, idiotstream, knownstream, tiredstream, dirtystream, halfstream, wackstream, smackstream, slidestream, finestream, it’sFridayandI’mtiredbuthappystream…………………………………

The essence of Mubi-style?

ok. that’s the best thing I’ve ever seen

brilliant

I’ve seen that before. The cat looks so damn irritated, lol.

“upstream, downstream, middle of the stream, to the side of the stream, midstream, understream, surfacestream, lazystream, widestream, dumbstream, idiotstream, knownstream, tiredstream, dirtystream, halfstream, wackstream, smackstream, slidestream, finestream, it’sFridayandI’mtiredbuthappystream…………………………………”

Slipstream.

Dream.

—PolarisDiB

:D

What on earth has this thread turned into…?

I;m reading it backwards. Makes much more sense.

Hahaha