Editor’s Blog: New Features! Twilight Fans! Date Rape!

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 12, 2009

It’s been a while since we’ve done a Weekly Editor’s Blog which begs the question of whether we can keep calling it “weekly.” Since no one actually cares, the answer is yes. Plus, we worked too hard coming up with that name just to let it go. I’m sure you can’t blame us.

We’ve got some serious ground to cover this week, so I’ve conveniently jammed the relevant material into three categories that will inevitably be mocked for being puns.

The News

This week is actually a pretty exciting week in the menial little inner workings of the site. Due to its wild popularity, we’ll be moving Landon Palmer’s Culture Warrior column to Mondays (reset your DVR), and we’re introducing three – count ‘em – three new columns.

• Turned On, Tuned In – Every Monday, Bethany Perryman reports on what’s turning her on this week. A sex column for the entertainment junkie. We’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but since no one that works for FSR has ever had sex, we figured we’d turn to a name that’s been written on bathroom walls from El Paso to Maine.
• The Worst Movie Ever – If there’s anything we like more than bashing terrible movies, it’s chocolate pie. Since we can’t publish chocolate pie on the internet, this will have to do. Every Tuesday, we’ll be taking another look at that week’s worst movie ever. Check it out, or you might accidentally watch something that will force you to gauge your eyes out.
• Movies We Love – We couldn’t be Rejects without bringing some balance to the force. After bashing the worst of the worst, we’ll be celebrating the stuff that made us fall in love with the big screen in the first place.

Exciting column switches, exciting brand new features, and exciting new logos. Plus, Neil has an exciting meeting with a specialist to finally check out that growth.

The Fad

It turns out that the new cultural trend is to physically attack anyone who doesn’t share your taste in movies. Apparently Twilight fan girls are throwing out verbal threats, tossing acid and leaving horse heads in the beds of detractors of the series. I’m hoping none of them have read my review of the film.

Some of you have latched onto the fad in order to launch F-bombs and empty death threats because Robert Fure didn’t like Observe and Report.

To counteract this new attitude that stems solely from fans being completely insecure in their own artistic tastes that they feel the need to insult and threaten anyone who disagrees – I’d encourage everyone to go check out Fure’s review and leave a comment telling him what a great job he’s doing and how handsome he is. Also, go hug a puppy.

But seriously, if anyone else disses Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, I swear I will choke them.

The Ugly

Speaking of Observe and Report and nonsense – there have been a lot of editorials around the internet discussing the finer points of date rape and its humor value. Major blogs have done roundups, feminist sites have given video-middle-fingers to Seth Rogen, and for some reason, no one has bootlegged the scene and set it to Meatloaf’s “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” Get on it, YouTube.

We’ve stayed out of the debate pool so far because, let’s face it, no one has offered any good arguments on either side so far. Some people are outraged that date rape is being displayed in a “comedy”. Some people realize that the context of the scene matters. Some people are outraged that the scene wasn’t rape-y enough.

Personally, I don’t really care where you come down on the argument. Is it rape? Is it not rape? Should date rape be shown in film by the “hero?” Does the context even matter?

These questions don’t matter because the right answer is — Tugg Speedman should have never gone full retard.

Tune in next week when we may or my not write another edition of the Weekly Editor’s Blog. Will we? Won’t we? Not knowing is half the fun!

Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius