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Mad Scholar Frights
@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social

If the "takeaway" of a film is widely misunderstood, who is to blame, the filmmakers or the audience? For instance, if Marines watch Apocalypse Now and cheer the destruction and come away thinking Kilgore and Kurtz are awesome, are they media-illiterate, or did the movie fail in some basic way?

andy™
@andylevy.net

this is not even close to a complete answer, but if the “takeaway” is meant to be “this looks cool but it’s not” (goodfellas, fight club, etc) there will always be people whose takeaway will be “this looks cool.” for these people the seductiveness resonates but the comeuppance doesn’t

16 reposts279 likes

Tachyon Transmitter
@tachyontransmitter.bsky.social

Isn’t the point of a lot of that work that it *is* cool until it isn’t? The bill comes due, but an artist like Scorsese (who is well acquainted personally with the euphoric effects of drugs, for instance) isn’t going to shy away from portraying a subjective energy that leads people to be antisocial