what is it with DU's collective reluctance to criticize Quentin Tarantino?

[trumad]

or Stephen King---or---Edgar Allen Poe--- or Jack Clancy--- or Elmore Leonard---or Vince Gilligan--or Ann Rice-----

I could go on and on and on....

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Hmmm

Not sure if I understand what this is coming from. . . but I don't 'get' Tarantino if it makes you feel better. Scorsese's violence always makes sense - Tarantino's not so much.

[stevenleser]

5. I think Trumad is responding to this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3696080

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Thanks!

I wouldn't have clicked on it - because we aren't video game people. My husband bought one of those things the year before I met him (2008 - an xbox?) played with it for a month - and got bored. He'd rather be in his studio sculpting. But - I think I would love a Wii(sp?) for the boxing, tennis, etc. etc.

[fujiyama]

47. I did the same thing years ago

I bought an X-Box 360, played it for a while when I had a fancy home theater setup. It lost its novelty within a few months and has mostly collected dust since.

I realized, I'd rather waste my time on this website and with all the reading I am into, I have little time for video games.

[sharp_stick]

2. I'll criticize the crap out of Stephen King

if it makes you feel better.

[kestrel91316]

22. Stephen King is an old-school progressive Democrat. You'd do better criticizing

his RW nutjob counterpart, Dean Koontz.

[sharp_stick]

25. That doesn't mean I have to like all

his books does it?

[HappyMe]

3. Offhand, I don't have any valid reason to.

[Dash87]

4. Quentin Tarantino is a hack who steals everything from other movies.

He does what old, obscure movies did, but not as well. His movies only look good because the rest of Hollywood is so bland.

[joeybee12]

10. Exactly! +1

[demwing]

49. Unless you invent everything new

You steal from someone who came before you..

As TS Elliot wrote:

"The immature poet steals, the mature poet plagiarizes."

[stevenleser]

61. Or as Sir. Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"

Love that quote

[WCGreen]

51. I never thought much about TArantino..

He was, to me at least, a hack with a pension for uber violence...

[sarisataka]

6. Oh I criticize Ann Rice...

and could say a thing or two about any Steven King work less than 25 years old

But I'd much rather criticize the noticeable lack of anvils falling on animal's heads in modern cartoons.

[onehandle]

7. Fuck Fiction! I get my violent horror from right-wing radio.

And Grand Theft Presidency I was a classic!

[NuclearDem]

40. Stephen King, get on it.

A story about a half robot/half jackass who runs around shooting people in the face and generally being a shitstain on America's underpants. It writes itself.

[demwing]

50. sounds funny on paper /nt

[pinboy3niner]

8. I remain philatelically reluctant

If pressed, I just hold my breath...and stamp my feet.

[cali]

9. what is it with you copycatting my op?

[stevenleser]

14. I'm guessing this has something to do with it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023695319

[Tien1985]

18. Common DU

Distraction/straw man tactic. "I don't like what you're saying, so I'll create a new post that's a sarcastic version of the OP that I didn't like." Wish crap like this would be locked.

[el_bryanto]

26. I don't know - sometimes it's effective

As a way of underlining the central complaint.

Bryant

[Tien1985]

46. I don't think

Making a new thread on a topic is bad, if the new poster has something important to say, particularly if it would just run the original thread completely off topic.

But this kind of post doesn't add to the debate at all. It's immature and makes the the poster look like they can't come up with any better argument.

I'm actually pretty interested in hearing the other side of this debate, as a gamer, a parent and as somebody who does service work involving domestic violence and drug use.

I don't believe video games "cause" violence, and, in fact science supports my belief. I do think *some* games normalize violence and stereotypes--I strongly support game ratings because of that.

I think discussion about the violence in games (and other forms of entertainment) could be a good and fruitful one. But not when someone drops the level of conversation like this.

[kestrel91316]

23. Can't handle a little mockery of your foolishness, eh?

[grantcart]

28. let me translate it for you

my opinion of the OP is so important and the original OP is so devoid of content that it doesn't warrant my precious time to actually engage the subject matter so I intend to dismiss it by an irrelevant and sarcastic copy cat instead.

[Humanist_Activist]

34. Because your OP is rather, shall we say, near sighted...

Its like criticizing literature because of the Twilight series.

[johnp3907]

12. This is the first time I've seen any of those names mentioned here.

[spanone]

13. interaction is a whole 'nuther thing imho

[stevenleser]

62. Wait til we get to the kind of interaction suggested by the Star Trek the Next Generation holodeck!

I wonder what kinds of fantasies people will try to live out in those things when we get there.

[DFW]

15. Never met any of them (and am in no hurry to meet Poe or Leonard where they are now)

Although Tarentino once tried like crazy to hit on a friend of ours. They met in an airport once, and she gave him her email (seemed like an interesting acquaintance to have, after all), but then he was emailing her like mad that he couldn't stop thinking of her etc. etc. She said it was almost like an obsession, but it finally subsided after a few months.

[TheKentuckian]

16. If it is too long between flicks then I complain about that. I also felt a little let down by

the sound track to "Inglorious Bastards".

Other than that, I'm usually good.

[Rex]

17. Well it is a slippery slope

criticizing can be construed as outrage and that is the fuel that drives the bus! Vroooommm!!!! Vroooooom!!

[PowerToThePeople]

19. O-Ren (nsfw)

[11 Bravo]

20. The "your meaning sailed right over my head" brigade will be along directly.

(Those of them who aren't already here.)

[Nye Bevan]

21. Or sado-masochistic pornography like "50 Shades of Gray"? (nt)

[leftstreet]

33. Insert flame war here: That book sounds creepy

I read some excerpts and the wiki entry, and I have to wonder...

Would the female protagonist submit herself to that shit if the dude was an unemployed impoverished guy?

No, I didn't think so

There's a bizarre wealth/power dynamic there that has NOTHING to do with the sexuality
Creepy, creepy

[djean111]

53. Someone lent me the books.

I flipped through one of them and read something about someone's brain having a conversation with them or something like that. Snickered, and then read a bit further - 50 Shades is sort of like a Harlequin book with a bigger vocabulary and maniacally detailed wardrobe descriptions.
Gave the books back. I prefer nuance, and my imagination filling in the blanks.

Stephen King - early stuff better, too much telescoping in some - I don't want to know every damn time that a character will be dead by the end of the chapter - and ending things with giant spiders or alien children from outer space really does deflate a whole book's worth of reading for me. The JFK one pretty good, except maddeningly sparse detail on what happened in the alternative time period.

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. Or Miguel Cervantes for that matter.

Conflict, either caused by or culminating in violence is the most common literary device in all of literature.

[cemaphonic]

27. Sounds like fun

Tarantino - Built a 20 year career on exactly 3 good movies. Uses the Coen Bros trick of cobbling his movies together out of bits and pieces of older movies, except instead of Night of the Hunter, and The Big Sleep, it's all stupid 70s blaxploitation and kung fu movies.

King - (former) Raging drug fiend, doesn't say a word about the many crappy movie adaptations of his work, yet constantly disses Kubrick's The Shining.

Poe - Raging drug fiend, married his underaged cousin.

[Initech]

29. SAY WHAT AGAIN!!!! SAY WHAT AGAIN !!!

[Boom Sound 416]

32. They speak English in What?!

[Throd]

30. Tarantino is an overrated hack.

[demwing]

52. Overrated by whom?

[Boom Sound 416]

31. Which one of your expamples

Markets to children

[cemaphonic]

37. Well, Poe married a child...

And I loved the crap out of both Poe and King when I was about 12 or so.

And games like the GTA series are primarily marketed to adults. Median age for gamers is in the 30s.

[Boom Sound 416]

45. Median age is not 30's

[stevenleser]

63. Every reference I could find says 30

http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp for instance

Game Player Data

Today's Gamers

30

The average age of today’s gamer.

13

The average number of years gamers have been playing.

68%

of gamers are age 18 or older.

45%

of gamers are female.

62%

of gamers play games with others, either in-person or online.

36%

of gamers play games on their smartphones.

25%

of gamers play on their wireless device.

Parents of Gamers

89%

of parents are present when games are purchased or rented.

88%

of parents feel that the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system is helpful in choosing games for their children.

86%

of parents believe that the parental controls available in all new video game consoles are useful.

71%

of parents believe game play provides mental stimulation or education.

59%

of parents believe games encourage their family to spend to time together.

Data from http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2013.pdf

[Boom Sound 416]

64. Interesting. Looks like I stand corrected

[Humanist_Activist]

38. Uhm, all of them?

Mostly because they market to the general population, just like many R rated movies, etc.

If you are implying video games are only for kids, that argument died in the 1990s.

[Boom Sound 416]

41. It's not that it died in the 90's

It's that the kids in the 90's never stopped playing them

[Humanist_Activist]

42. I sense a whiff of judgement from this post, is there something wrong with adults...

enjoying video games?

[Boom Sound 416]

43. Not at all.

I enjoy the occasional game

I worked for rockstar for a while and even wrote video game reviews for a small magazine.

I think I know a little something about their strategy.

[Humanist_Activist]

44. I don't doubt that Rockstar markets their games to all ages...

but I would say that's why parents should take an active role in their kids lives and interests, and find ways to steer them clear of things the parents find inappropriate. This includes all mediums, I find it just as disingenuous that parents were upset at taking their kids to the "wholesome" xmas movie that was called "Gremlins" as I do about parents shocked that the game they bought for little Jimmy with the "M" rating sticker on it has sex or violence in it.

[Dpm12]

35. I LOVE Quentin Tarantion

Pulp fiction is one of my favorite films.

[BootinUp]

55. My favorite of his is

True Romance. Then Inglorious Bastards, then Pulp Fiction.

[Aerows]

36. Considering that I knew Anne Rice

back in her glory days of the Vampire Chronicles and the Halloween parties she threw ... uh, it's kind of hard to bash her.

[seveneyes]

39. I don't know

But the writers of Breaking Bad seem to have watched some of his work.

[SidDithers]

48. DU rec...nt

Sid

[BootinUp]

56. For that?

lol.

[Boom Sound 416]

54. Is this a fair equation

Something you watch across a couple hours vs an interactive simulation that might be played over 5 hours per day?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

57. Wait...what exactly did Quentin and Stephen do???

[baldguy]

58. Because most children and adults can usually distinguish between fantasy and reality.

And Anthony Hopkins didn't eat all those people, either.

[BootinUp]

59. took me a few to see what this was about.

The truth is I am caring less about what DU collectively criticizes lately.

[trumad]

60. I agree

And I was trying to make a point that there are a lot more influences in life than stupid video games.