Politics: Show or Tell.
To fans of bad movies, there is a simple maxim to use: if the characters have to talk about how good someone is, it's because the budget wasn't there to get someone who was actually good.
For instance: Should you (the audience) be swooping around a party celebrating a gallery opening, either following a character or just as an invisible camera, and the conversations are all about the catering or who is sleeping with whom, then the director is confident art will speak for itself. If, on the other hand, all the conversations are about what a brilliant new painter/sculptor the artist is, it's a desperate attempt to brainwash you through repetition so you'll think you're looking at a wonderful piece of art.
Now, why should this golden rule spring to mind, on the same day that the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who have been combating nuclear proliferation for their entire existence and had been saying before the invasion of Iraq that said nation did not have any weapons of mass distruction?
Ahem.
It's probably because of a speech that Encyclopedia George made the day before, listing 10 terrorist plots to attack America that had been foiled since 9-11. It reminded me of the checklist he rattled through of the aid that was "being sent to the victims of Katrina" a few days after its landfall: he had all the appearance of the dreadfully insecure worker, desperate to stay hired during job review day, but not sure if he's done enough to guarantee it. The folks who know they've done a good job say "I've done a good job", then let others find out for themselves. Here's a hint, George: you have flunkies, let them do their work.
After five years, you'd think he'd at least know how to look presidential. But then, you'd think he'd have grown into his ears by now, too; so maybe some things just aren't ever going to happen.
For instance: Should you (the audience) be swooping around a party celebrating a gallery opening, either following a character or just as an invisible camera, and the conversations are all about the catering or who is sleeping with whom, then the director is confident art will speak for itself. If, on the other hand, all the conversations are about what a brilliant new painter/sculptor the artist is, it's a desperate attempt to brainwash you through repetition so you'll think you're looking at a wonderful piece of art.
Now, why should this golden rule spring to mind, on the same day that the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who have been combating nuclear proliferation for their entire existence and had been saying before the invasion of Iraq that said nation did not have any weapons of mass distruction?
Ahem.
It's probably because of a speech that Encyclopedia George made the day before, listing 10 terrorist plots to attack America that had been foiled since 9-11. It reminded me of the checklist he rattled through of the aid that was "being sent to the victims of Katrina" a few days after its landfall: he had all the appearance of the dreadfully insecure worker, desperate to stay hired during job review day, but not sure if he's done enough to guarantee it. The folks who know they've done a good job say "I've done a good job", then let others find out for themselves. Here's a hint, George: you have flunkies, let them do their work.
After five years, you'd think he'd at least know how to look presidential. But then, you'd think he'd have grown into his ears by now, too; so maybe some things just aren't ever going to happen.
Labels: Politics
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