Comments on: Christmas Stockings Explain the Theatre’s Appeal http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/2009/12/16/stockings/ Awesome Reviews of Movies, Music, and TV Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:53:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Collin H http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/2009/12/16/stockings/comment-page-1/#comment-7406 Collin H Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:45:45 +0000 http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/?p=2561#comment-7406 Very insightful Mark! Well done! I would have never even thought to apply that quote to abstract concepts like "justice". I think your analysis expands to media far beyond the theater though. The same idea applies just as easily to film, television, books, video games, and anything else that tells a story. Obviously to the people who know me well, the first thing I thought of when reading the quote is how close it was coming to explaining why I collect action figures. It isn't that I play with them; it's what the figure represents to me. Sure, Gremlins 2 is one of my favorite movies of all time, but putting a Brain Gremlin toy on my shelf reduces that entire hour and half of laughter and effects into a single point in space that I immediately associate with a larger, more meaningful experience. To me, that quote is a powerful observation about one of the ways my brain works under the hood. PS ~ To Joe Dante: Gremlins 3 needs to happen. We need a good sharp satire of the state of the world today. And Zach Galligan needs a comeback. Very insightful Mark! Well done! I would have never even thought to apply that quote to abstract concepts like “justice”. I think your analysis expands to media far beyond the theater though. The same idea applies just as easily to film, television, books, video games, and anything else that tells a story.

Obviously to the people who know me well, the first thing I thought of when reading the quote is how close it was coming to explaining why I collect action figures. It isn’t that I play with them; it’s what the figure represents to me. Sure, Gremlins 2 is one of my favorite movies of all time, but putting a Brain Gremlin toy on my shelf reduces that entire hour and half of laughter and effects into a single point in space that I immediately associate with a larger, more meaningful experience.

To me, that quote is a powerful observation about one of the ways my brain works under the hood.

PS ~ To Joe Dante: Gremlins 3 needs to happen. We need a good sharp satire of the state of the world today. And Zach Galligan needs a comeback.

]]> By: N http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/2009/12/16/stockings/comment-page-1/#comment-7405 N Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:27:56 +0000 http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/?p=2561#comment-7405 Don't have much to say other than I really, really enjoyed reading this entry. And, word. (Also, completely unrelated: You probably are already aware, but just in case you aren't, I must direct your attention to this impending awesomeness: http://www.amazon.com/Downtown-Church-Patty-Griffin)/dp/B0029F2G7E/) Don’t have much to say other than I really, really enjoyed reading this entry. And, word.

(Also, completely unrelated: You probably are already aware, but just in case you aren’t, I must direct your attention to this impending awesomeness: http://www.amazon.com/Downtown-Church-Patty-Griffin)/dp/B0029F2G7E/)

]]> By: Bradley Cherna http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/2009/12/16/stockings/comment-page-1/#comment-7404 Bradley Cherna Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:42:23 +0000 http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/?p=2561#comment-7404 Just had to respond, pardon if I'm being a silly undergrad, but that quote had me thinking on similar terms. Now, I should write my senior thesis next semester on Synecdoche, NY and Thornton Wilder, and the distinction between miniaturization and completeness. Hah. I would add, that there is something more than taste, when you witness a theatrical ... See Moreevent and doubt the methodology of distillation employed by the artists. That process of miniaturization is, perhaps, only the work of a master. Masterpieces seem to me to be miniaturizations of the times in which they were written, hinting at the completeness of that time. Even Wilder, who sought to portray the "universal," seems to me to, in The Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town, miniaturize the times he wrote in. Lesser works tend to violate the completeness of time as experienced by their creators as well as by their future audiences. Perhaps this doesn't work, though, because it doesn't do anything to explain issues of relevance. You SHOULD spin off into a hundred different directions, just leave the Christmas stockings behind, cause I've never had one (a stocking, that is). Just had to respond, pardon if I’m being a silly undergrad, but that quote had me thinking on similar terms. Now, I should write my senior thesis next semester on Synecdoche, NY and Thornton Wilder, and the distinction between miniaturization and completeness. Hah. I would add, that there is something more than taste, when you witness a theatrical … See Moreevent and doubt the methodology of distillation employed by the artists. That process of miniaturization is, perhaps, only the work of a master. Masterpieces seem to me to be miniaturizations of the times in which they were written, hinting at the completeness of that time. Even Wilder, who sought to portray the “universal,” seems to me to, in The Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town, miniaturize the times he wrote in. Lesser works tend to violate the completeness of time as experienced by their creators as well as by their future audiences. Perhaps this doesn’t work, though, because it doesn’t do anything to explain issues of relevance. You SHOULD spin off into a hundred different directions, just leave the Christmas stockings behind, cause I’ve never had one (a stocking, that is).

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