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Don't mind my quiet spell. I've been a little under the weather and the work lately. To make up for it, I offer two things I should not have laughed at but totally did.
#1. The intersection of angry evangelical Christians foaming at the mouth and angry post-grad intellectuals foaming at the mouth? Joseph Campbell.
Quickie explanation: remember your nerd friend rambling on forever and a day about how Star Wars was based on mythology, blah blah blah, the Hero's Journey? Or your wannabe writer friend who always talks about story structure, blah blah blah, the Hero's Journey? That's all Campbell. He built a career on the idea that all religions and cultures ultimately told the same basic story, and the idea has so permeated our culture that people will often put it forward as an accepted truth about how things are.
Some Christians simply lose their minds when you discuss Christianity as a religion, one of many, a framework containing and explaining a collection of beliefs, rather than The Truth. And some intellectuals simply lose their shit when you discuss Joseph Campbell seriously, because they regard him as an overhyped pop culture reductionist cherry-picking stories and presenting them out of context whilst spouting mysticism and misinformation.
#2. Jim Carrey's crazy rubber-faced monkey-dancing routine has drawn a lot of fans who will rent his comedies for family movie night without reading the summary too carefully. Or, at least, they used to, before I Love You Phillip Morris...
Quickie explanation: some people found Ace Ventura's shower-cowering scene funny because it was a character overreacting to realizing he'd kissed a man, and some people found it funny simply because, ha, he kissed a man!
That latter group was not the ideal audience for a gay rom-com. Go figure, eh?
#1. The intersection of angry evangelical Christians foaming at the mouth and angry post-grad intellectuals foaming at the mouth? Joseph Campbell.
Quickie explanation: remember your nerd friend rambling on forever and a day about how Star Wars was based on mythology, blah blah blah, the Hero's Journey? Or your wannabe writer friend who always talks about story structure, blah blah blah, the Hero's Journey? That's all Campbell. He built a career on the idea that all religions and cultures ultimately told the same basic story, and the idea has so permeated our culture that people will often put it forward as an accepted truth about how things are.
Some Christians simply lose their minds when you discuss Christianity as a religion, one of many, a framework containing and explaining a collection of beliefs, rather than The Truth. And some intellectuals simply lose their shit when you discuss Joseph Campbell seriously, because they regard him as an overhyped pop culture reductionist cherry-picking stories and presenting them out of context whilst spouting mysticism and misinformation.
#2. Jim Carrey's crazy rubber-faced monkey-dancing routine has drawn a lot of fans who will rent his comedies for family movie night without reading the summary too carefully. Or, at least, they used to, before I Love You Phillip Morris...
Quickie explanation: some people found Ace Ventura's shower-cowering scene funny because it was a character overreacting to realizing he'd kissed a man, and some people found it funny simply because, ha, he kissed a man!
That latter group was not the ideal audience for a gay rom-com. Go figure, eh?
