Fogey disses

[imomus]

I saw Art School Confidential last night. Although I snorted with amusement at a lot of the jokes, I was somewhat annoyed by the film. First of all, by its dyspeptic misanthropy, its "moronic cynicism". The film is posited on the idea that everybody in the world it portrays is a delusional asshole. And yet this isn't a film driven by character. It's a film driven by situational punchlines, by a neat and silly plot about a serial killer, and by an underlying philosophy of life which wallows in misanthropy. Whenever these needs conflict with the need to keep characters consistent or plausible, plot, punchline and people-hatred win and character consistency is discarded.

Fictions which diss a microworld can range from the inspired ("Nathan Barley") to the clunky (Altman's "Pret-a-Porter"), but their biggest weakness is -- paradox! -- the naivete of their cynicism. There's necessarily a certain datedness and ignorance to them. Even if the directors and writers of these "diss fictions" once went to art school, or were once in the fashion world, or were once hipsters (and even that isn't a given), they've since been "cured" of the delusions prevalent in these worlds, and are now able to satirize them from their new nest in the more populist film or television business. That means they're outsiders to the worlds they're satirizing, no longer able to enter the forcefield of fantasy which sustains these bubble worlds, unable to explain the particular appeal, the magic which makes people give their lives to something for the most part unremunerative. Their fingers are far from the pulse, so it's hardly surprising they so often portray the patient as dead.

And so, in "Art School Confidential" (ASC), we see the disillusionment without the "illusionment" -- the enchantment which lures people into these worlds in the first place. Max Minghella plays Jerome, a young man who "wants to be Picasso". And that sets the tone. Sure, Picasso's name is still on the lips of hedge fund managers, especially when a painting of his sells for $95 million. But Picasso means very little to the art students of 2006. We're just not living in that cultural era. We're also not living in the era in which art students "experiment" by recreating Yves Klein's actionist art from the 1960s, dipping their naked bodies in paint and hurling themselves against canvasses (a sight gag you can see in the trailer).

Wikipedia tells us that scriptwriter Daniel Clowes went to art school in the 1970s at Pratt in Brooklyn, which is presumably the model for the school we see in the film (but where's the process art? The conceptual art?). He "unsuccessfully attempted to find work in New York as an illustrator" after gaining his BFA, and then found success with comics, one of which (the one which provides the basis for this film) settled scores with the world of art which had, apparently, rejected him. Comics as a form are less "elitist", less mystificatory, less marginal, less enchanted, more narrative than art. As Clowes has demonstrated, the narrative and comedy elements in comics can lead you to Hollywood. There you can betray the high little world of art, using the power of the low big world of film. Hurrah! Scores settled, etc! Revenge is sweet!

And yet there's an oddly fusty atmosphere in this film. Zwigoff (and yes, I saw "Ghost World" too, and "Crumb") shares with David Lynch a certain 1950s fixation; with Lynch, even if you're ostensibly in the present, you're in a permanent 1940s, 1950s of the soul. Zwigoff formerly made a documentary about Robert Crumb, and seems to share Crumb's out-of-time fogey-ish style. I suspect that Clowes shares it too; his drawing style, for instance, is oddly retro. In this film we're far from the 21st century. The jokes at art's expense could almost come from Tony Hancock's 1960 film "The Rebel". One of the girls Jerome dates in ASC is a highly-wrought "beatnik girl". Not even a Goth, but a beatnik! In The Rebel (according to Screen Online's blurb) "there is a kind of lazy shorthand at work that conflates artists with Paris, existentialism, angry young men, beatniks and beat poets", but at least, in 1960, that "lazy shorthand" was only a couple of years out of date. Here it's four or five decades wide of the mark.

Now, sure, the film's title is a wink in the direction of "High School Confidential" (1958), so this may well be 80s-style retro pomo rather than simply being out of date. A salute to the art of the past, a repackaging of media cliches about media cliches. Yet it's odd how much of the style of the American subculture does have this retro pomo feel, this clinging to the mid-decades of the 20th century, and this implicit betrayal of the 21st century, contemporaneity or hipness. I picked up the same thing in "Lost in Translation", which satirizes the modernity of Toyko (and also hipsters), juxtaposing it against a peculiarly old-fashioned American "unlikely couple" who want to "break out of this place". You can also see it in the retro sets and atmosphere of "The Life Aquatic".

So why has the American alternative world become a sort of bile-fuelled fogey, hating on everything and everyone? Is it comforting to both reject the modern world, tarring everyone as an asshole, and evoke a long-vanished world of beatniks, berets and Picasso, a world in which you understood art well enough to laugh it out of the living room? Alas, the only thing 21st century about "Art School Confidential" may be that famous emotional tone colour picked up by American Environics: the "atomized, rage-filled outlook" summed up here by Jimmy, an alcoholic old failed artist and (possibly) murderer, and summed up in the film's recurring motto and leitmotif: "The entire human race should be wiped off the earth".

Comments

[cutup.livejournal.com]

Not having seen Art School Confidential yet, I can't critique it. I have read a lot of Clowes' work, however, and he certainly has more to offer than moronic cynicism. Based on my memory of "Ghost World", (the book and the movie, and the differences between the two), I'm guessing that Art School Confidential is ultimately Zwigoff's vision, not Clowes. My favorite Clowes work, "David Boring," has such a giddy sense of wonder to it that I don't think it's fair to lump Clowes generically in the "moronic cynicism" camp. Especially since the majority of his work has been in comics, not film.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Ultimately I'm blaming America, and Clowes only insofar as he's symptomatic of its misanthropy. I agree with this account (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/confidential.html) of the film. From Canadians, interestingly enough!

[elleohelle.livejournal.com]

Despite my rather disgusting experience in a painting class, I think I'll avoid that movie. The preview makes it look awful. Did you like Ghost World? The characters in that movie are a lot more fleshed out.

[cutup.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't have great expectations for the film. It has that look of "writing about writing," or wallowing in your own success that so many artists seem prone to. Watch out for it, Momus! It lurks on every corner, waiting to get you.

Your "moronic cynicism" entry remains one of my favorites.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I quite liked Ghost World. It doesn't seem to have left much of an impression, to be honest. I really liked Crumb, though.

[antebellumcafe.livejournal.com]

I saw the previews and I'm almost embarrased to say I want to see it. I loved "Ghost World" (movie).
The thing I noticed about "Art School Confidential" is that it is being marketed to both art geeks and the type of crowd that goes to see every other type of teen movie ot there ("American Pie", "Scary Movie"", etc).

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, it has "art" in the title, but it's in no way an art movie. It is quite funny, though. I enjoyed some of the jokes.

disillusionment without the "illusionment"

[seanthesean.livejournal.com]

i'm not the biggest fan of clowes' work, mostly because he embodies the more pathetic aspects of generation x & he doesn't like barbarians. however, the whole bile regurgitating attitude very much reflects his generation & their attitudes. they took the baby boomers elitism & turned it into animosity towards the other. from faggots to farmers, generation x is always hating somebody. a great deal of this has to do with the "hard sell" mentality of america & especially of the sixties, where the line is that they solved everything. i had teachers in the 80s who believed that racism had been solved. there were boomer parents who said things like, "i thought we had gotten past this." so, it's a bit like you've bought "the world's greatest car" & it falls apart in two days, but everyone is still telling you it's the world's greatest car. anyhow, disillusionment without the "illusionment" is a great idea. i have to suffer through cynical six year olds on occassion, & i just have to throttle them, "what do you have to be cynical about!?" adults can be cynical, sure, but six years olds, no. finally, in that canadian review, i found this to be interesting... "The movie’s message is very pre-Enlightenment". I think only non-Americans or isolated American liberals can even begin to think in this way.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

We should be careful to guard against the modernist, mechanicist tendency to pit "retro" against" "new". "Relevance" is a feather that linear-minded people wield like a cudgel; they often use it to bludgeon things they deem unfashionable, or simply don't like. I'd prefer living in a more fluid frame of mind.

Amemba this? (http://www.frieze.com/feature_single.asp?f=1058)

[glassplastic.livejournal.com]

I do find it hard to get into any kind of art form that makes fun of smaller subcultures, not matter how ripe they may be for humor. I felt the same way about the goth kids episode of South Park. It was funny, but I couldn't help but think, "Well, what's the point? Goth kids aren't going to change. And everyone else already things they're stupid." On the other hand, The Hipster Handbook was pretty funny and spot on (though my local weeklies rip off article hating on hipsters was not).

On the other hand, as a former art school student, I know that no one comes out of an art school without a lot of resentment toward it. I think it's part of the set up. Nothing is worse than finding out that a good teacher isn't really that talented, and that the talented teachers won't be there long because they end up doing thier art somewhere else, or that your really paid all the money to make one or two connections. Plus, you're either with students who are talentless but make good grades because they turn things in on time, or simply that one isn't allowed to pursue certain avenues because the head of a department isn't into it anymore. Then, of course, there's the terrible feeling right after graduation when you realize that as frustrating as it was, paying someone to care about your art for four years is much better than seeing that no gives a shit about your art. I'm just saying, despite any good or bad qualities of the film or it's datedness, it's a strange situation to be in, filled with many contradictions. of course, though, i'm glad i went.

And it just gets worse when you realize none of your favorite artists, writers, or film-makers went to art school, let alone any college.

Plus, if anyone else is like me, they apply to art school for the promise of the arty lifestyle, which hopefully you grow out of. Though I guess that can be said about any kind college.

another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[glassplastic.livejournal.com]

An odd thing I got out of Lost In Translation was the feeling it was spoofing American Culture. Every shot of the city filled with all kinds of technology and marketing and everything being over the top and colorful remined me, well, of New York, and our own techno-culture.

Re: another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's tempting to say that Tokyo itself is what spoofs America. But I don't think that's true. Tokyo spoofs Paris a lot, from the Tokyo tower to its tong-and-surgical-glove bakeries. But even "spoof" isn't right. Tokyo is a town that's too positive, too good-hearted and sincere, to parody anything. There's a lot of sci-fi fantasy in Tokyo, but it's not a spoof of sci-fi.

[tarandfeathrhim.livejournal.com]

Apparently you are not alone in your judgement:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/art_school_confidential/

Sounds like a pretty lazy movie.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

(I attended a liberal arts college, so I've nothing invested in the movie--other than recognizing the usual array of hang-ups and prejudices I see in art school grads/casualties, poor things. Takes them years to unlearn that pap.)

Re: another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[bardofawen.livejournal.com]

I'm rather curious as to what you thought of Lost in Translation.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Here are the Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/artschoolconfidential?q=art%20school%20confidential) scores. Hoberman in the Voice liked it.

Re: another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Follow the link in the text!

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

equally mediocre, though perhaps more acceptably so given its niche market, is the alt-porn sensation, "Art School Sluts". i cannot give it a glowing recommendation for writing or acting, but i can tell you that yours truly is an extra in a classroom scene. wow!

Re: another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[bardofawen.livejournal.com]

*blink*

I definitely will. As soon as I get my eyes checked....

[maybeimdead.livejournal.com]

I rather enjoyed the movie. Perhaps because I'm not an artist I'm unaffected by the negative portrayals, as opposed to say...hmmm ... portrayals of Asian-American men in Hollywood movies. Are you engaging in the identity politics on behalf of artists?? How American.

[honeychurch.livejournal.com]

I saw the film on Friday, and while it's lacking in some ways - by no means stellar - I did enjoy it. I want to address (nitpick?) one point you make, because I think you may be glossing unfairly.

You write: Max Minghella plays Jerome, a young man who "wants to be Picasso". And that sets the tone. Sure, Picasso's name is still on the lips of hedge fund managers, especially when a painting of his sells for $95 million. But Picasso means very little to the art students of 2006.

The film agrees. Jerome ends up feeling embarassed for his adoration of the now "old-fashioned" Picasso. While there could have been a lot more depth to the treatment, there is some consideration of the conflict that exists between wanting to be a professional artist (able to support oneself through one's art) and not wanting to be a sellout - and whether becoming successful and leaving your roots behind you automatically makes you a sellout (is financial success a betrayal of the "high little world of art"?).

I'll agree that the film feels a little dated in parts - I feel like a lot of the alternative film world is still trying to catch up to the 21st century. The late nineties were its heyday, and there's a sense of difficulty in knowing where to go from there. I know I feel like every new indie film is something I've seen before. It seems less as though it's "some bile-fueled fogey", and more like an aging Gen X-er who can't bear to give up his poster of Janeane Garafalo. Further, in trying to process what's been going on in the US as far as the social and cultural are concerned, it becomes very difficult to avoid resorting to boring platitudes of one form or another, and perhaps this older brand of cynicism seems easier.

[iamcoreyd.livejournal.com]

Watch, the same people that loved I Heart Huckabees are going to be raving about this movie. Gag.

[desant012.livejournal.com]

Iiiii agreeee. There are regular strains of humanity that remain pretty constant, with society changing only slightly ... and even when it does change, it does so in recognizeable models. Not to doubt the unique wonders of life or anything like that.

But people for some reason like to take positions of power with cultural capital, and it's always through the destruction of the past. Like architecture in NYC (I'm no architect-guru, so bear with this): Neo-Classical buildings are destroyed, clearing the way for the new ... now Brutalism is being destroyed. What are we left with? Nothing. Everything is destroyed with that mindset, and we get no lasting culture out of it ... a few individuals get some bitter ego-kicks, tough!

[trufflesniffer.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I agree about Lost in Translation fitting within this schema. Though the film undoubtedly posited something 'old' (the intimacy and fragility of individual human relationships) with something 'new' (the buzzing sprawling sleepless faceless impersonal enormity of the (post)modern conurbation, which appear to be following an inexorable logic of endless consumption and growth), I don't think either of these elements fit exactly within a particular decade or epoch.

My feeling was that Lost in Translation used Tokyo as device for characterising that which appeared distant and alien about Modernity in general - and thus it became a cartoonish distillation of something Americans don't like about themselves, and the world they've been at the forefront of creating, rather than a particularly 'anti-Tokyo' satire.

Personally speaking, I picked up strong tones of juxtaposition, malaise, and melancholy from the film, with a hint of ill-focussed nostalgia, but not really any cynicism or bile. (protective or otherwise)

Re: another random thought on a movie you mentioned . . .

[henryperri.livejournal.com]

I would extend that connection to say that Japan is like an isolated France. Both are "feminine" countries, and both serve as evidence that the feminine model only really works when your country is culturally and ethnically homogenized due to physical isolation.

I would also give partial credit to Japan's political culture. Even though Marxy rails against it so often, I think the political passiveness of the Japanese citzenry is in good part responsible for keeping the machine running fairly smoothly. The youth in France, on the other hand, go out into the streets to whine about being fired from jobs that they will never have because unemployment is so high under their borderline-socialist model of government.