The Internet Age: The Courtesy Apocalypse

The end has come, folks. The sign is nigh.

I'm not talking about the end of the world. I'm talking about the rapid deterioration of manners, courtesy, and politeness. The internet has turned humankind into a bunch of trash-talking, mud-slinging, discourteous, rude, personal-attacking-of-people-we've-never-met, theoretical zombies. Only instead of eating each other's flesh, we attack and devour opinions, likes, dislikes, political views, religious views, personal appearance, orientation...the list goes on. And we don't have to look very far to find it. It's as close as YouTube, Facebook, Google, various blogs...

Yes, the internet is a wonderful thing. But it also proves that, given the opportunity to hide behind a screen name or a URL, people can be absolutely poisonous. It's as though the internet has given them the right to no mental filter. If you think it, you can type it.

I'm not saying that the right to free speech should be restricted. And I'm not saying that people shouldn't be open and honest with their feelings. I just don't think it's necessary to say something about EVERYTHING, especially if one strongly dislikes it. I mean, no, I don't like Justin Bieber in the slightest, but I don't go on to YouTube and tell everyone who likes him in as profane of language as possible, that they're all idiots. Even though it's not a choice that I would make myself, and I'm not inclined to his music, I don't see what's wrong with respecting the opinions of those that do like him. It's as simple as, don't like something, stay away from it. Don't try to ruin it for the people who actually like it, because then they'll just get defensive and voila, now we have an internet brawl.

Sure, words are just words. They don't leave black eyes or a lasting physical effect. But Human Decency demands that we have some respect for others, even if we think they are downright looney. As I've said in previous posts, I don't exactly feel great when I read things posted by friends that are explicitly against my beliefs, especially when the things they post have a confrontational, "let's make this personal" flavor. Example: a facebook friend posted a meme that read "If you think Obama is a good president then you should leave America," or something to that effect. Like somehow implying that any political beliefs contrary to theirs automatically makes anyone who differs in opinion not good enough to live in America. Or that because someone likes Obama, they must hate America and must be exiled.

Somehow, that just screams of unfairness to me. Equally unfair was one of that person's comments on said meme, "I have no interest in being friends with anyone that supports Obama."

America was founded on the idea that differing opinions could flourish, right? As a free country, people are entitled to think for themselves here. Part of thinking for themselves involves associating and learning from people with different opinions.

Yet, different opinions does not have to generate rudeness. After seeing The Dark Knight Rises today, I went online and read a few movie reviews, some positive, some really negative, calling the movie a bombastic, operatic, clunky mess.

The reviewer and I disagree. I'm not going to persecute him for it or let it ruin my day or the movie. But man, some people got really defensive about the Dark Knight Rises, threatening the reviewer, calling him names, saying he was too old to appreciate the movie...not one person wrote a comment that just plainly read "agree to disagree." And then, as if one attacking group wasn't enough, people started criticizing the criticizers of the reviewer, saying that they were nerds that needed lives, that they had no taste, that THEY were idiots, just this veritable jungle of unkindness. I found the same thing on some pictures taken at the Dark Knight Premiere criticizing Anne Hathaway's appearance/haircut, saying she looked "like a mental patient," and that she basically looked ugly. Some people were complimentary, some people defended her, which--again, sparked a comment war.

I don't go looking for these fights, but man, are they hard to avoid. It seems like nearly everyone on the internet has an agenda to hate, criticize, hurt, and tear each other to shreds. At least arguments in the past, even heated ones, have used some degree of logic. Not to say that we have absolutely perfect role models from the past, and that everyone in ye olden days was courteous, I just think they had a better grasp on it, and they could apply it in their daily lives. They knew when to draw the line.

Even worse than comment vitriol, though, is anonymous vitriol. I stumbled upon a blog (which shall remain nameless) that basically bashes on any woman who doesn't weigh in at a low 100lbs or less. Anyone who has a different body shape from very thin is ridiculed for not having their thighs touch or for having bigger breasts or a larger bum in the very harshest of language. They just have an absolute unwillingness to see any beauty in all bodies; the only beautiful people are the thin ones who have bones protruding or tiny legs. People who are curvy are deemed "overweight" and if people aspire to have bodies that are curvy, it is because the majority of women are overweight, apparently, and it's a sad reflection on society if people want to have a curvy body, because in their minds, curviness=obesity which represents overconsumption.

Thin is beautiful. Curvy is beautiful. Fit is beautiful. Healthy is beautiful. Why, oh, why does it have to be so black and white? Why does it have to be one way and not the other? Why aren't we allowed to celebrate our own bodies instead of constantly trying to fit into a designated size? If you want to be thin, be thin--but why is it necessary to inspire yourself to be thin by dragging down anyone who isn't a 00?

This anonymous blogger took a lot of vitriol for the vitriol that she spewed out over one post. I'm not defending her, but I still don't think that the way to fight incivility is incivility.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just too literary-minded/old fashioned for the internet age. Maybe I'm stuck in a time where people not only had opinions, they knew how to share them in ways that didn't threaten or hurt others' feelings.

So, folks, let's bring courtesy back. Let's start a manners revolution. Cut down on the hate, for crying out loud. Respect others' opinions. Try to learn something from them instead of doing your best to be rude and take people down just because they think differently from you.

Yet another Batman movie Review: Dark Knight...RISE!

I adore Batman as much as I adore Sherlock. That is to say, passionately. I inherited this fondness for the darkest and most dysfunctional of all superheroes in the womb. My dad would play the soundtrack for one of Tim Burton's Batman movies, which apparently made me dance and get way stoked for how much more awesome Batman would be once I was born.

So I've always been a Batman girl. From the womb-music, to the dancing to "Na na na na na na na na BATMAN!" in the tub at a year old, to my blatant, passionate love for Nolan's Batman, Batman has been my superhero. Or, if you're fussy, hero with super gadgets.

People can get so technical about the classifications for "superhero."

So I've been stoked for the Dark Knight Rises since I first got wind of it. Catwoman? Bane, the Bat Breaker? All I knew was this movie was going to be one hell of a movie.

Can you say what I've been waiting for since 2010?  I can! 

Tonight (7/19), courtesy of a friend, I was able to attend a super-early showing free. I enjoyed the movie, even if it did feel a bit long at parts, but for me the trilogy peaked with Heath Ledger's haunting performance as the Joker. Bane was a plenty creepy villain, but he didn't have the dimensionality and the unpredictability that Heath's Joker did. Plus, he was sort of hard to understand...that face mask gave Tom Hardy's ultra-sexy voice the tinny resolution of a Transformer and made his pronunciation worse than that of Bale's famously growly Batman.

 Somehow, most of the time, I can understand Batman. But Bane? Understanding him proved to be much harder.

I remember walking out of The Dark Knight for the first time, mind blown, and thinking, "That will be a hard act to follow. I don't care if Nolan is directing. How on earth is he ever going to top that?"

As much as I loved Rises, I really don't think he did surpass The Dark Knight. I definitely think he made every effort, and it really was a close call. It just didn't enrapture and haunt me the way the Dark Knight did. Which, really and in all honesty, probably has something to do with this guy:

I mean, I was so inspired by his performance that I wrote a Batman fanfic novel (it's never going to see the light of day, but still).

Before I get beaten up or threatened, I really did like Rises. A lot. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and surprised me with a few really killer plot twists (I'm usually really good at seeing things coming, but this time I got blindsided once or twice, which was surprising but enjoyable). Anne Hathaway was fun as Catwoman, and she definitely stretched herself as an actor. I enjoyed watching her; and she is one of the number one people in this very dark and heavy movie who has comedic lines. Basically, she brings much needed-light to a movie that is relatively laugh-less.

What's that, naysayers? Anne Hathaway rocked it? DARN RIGHT SHE DID.

 As my number one celebrity look-alike (according to most) I was rooting for her to own the role, and I think she did. I can't really compare it fairly to Michelle Pfeiffer's alleged "Holy Grail" Catwoman performance as I've not seen all of that particular movie (we only owned it on laser disc, and then our laser disc player died, so I never got to finish it and then school took over); but I thought Anne did really really well. Nolan usually makes pretty smart decisions where casting is concerned (Heath Ledger as the Joker being the paramount example) so I trust him.

And although Bane as a character wasn't super ultra life changing or breath-stopping, Tom Hardy is a phenomenal actor. He was the forger in Inception, and he is the only Heathcliff I will ever remotely admire. I really despise Heathcliff as a character, and although I like Wuthering Heights because it's a classic, I am sincerely annoyed by 95% of all the characters. The protagonists (if they can be called that) are entirely selfish people bent on going out in a big fire-y blast and destroying everyone they can in order to get what they want: each other. Tom Hardy actually made that selfish, passionate intensity sexy rather than annoying.

I also liked the social commentary about the distribution of wealth. I enjoyed seeing fine performances by some of my favorite actors; Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Cain, featuring, of course, Liam Neeson as Ras.

I don't want to include any spoilers, so I'm not going to say too much about plot, except that it was amazing! And, boy, was it hard for me to watch Christian Bale as Bruce in the black depression that the beginning of the movie finds him in. It just sort of broke my heart. I guess that's kind of the point; but he just looked so completely sad, sorta broken and run down physically, and by no means fit to step back into that cape.

And Alfred? Man. Did I ever feel bad for the guy. I just love Alfred. I wish he had been more present in this movie.

In fact, I love Bruce's Holy Trinity of father figures in all of the movies. He may not have a living biological dad, but he has Morgan Freeman (Lucius), Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon) and Michael Cain (Alfred). Not too shabby for a guy who got orphaned at the age of 8 or so.

I think there was a certain level of class shown by Nolan in respecting Heath's memory. The Joker isn't mentioned at all in Rises, and I thought it was fitting. I honestly wish that Heath hadn't died so that maybe the Joker could have made an appearance/co-starred in Rises. As much as I love my man Tom Hardy (any actor that can make me like/feel attraction to Heathcliff is a darn good actor), Bane just didn't capture my very imagination the way the Joker did, with his foggy history and mercurial, crazy, evil insanity.

Rises may not have left me completely entranced and hypnotized like The Dark Knight did, but it was a very fitting and  emotional ending to the Trilogy, and it was still a brilliant movie. It's NOLAN for Heaven's sake. I choked up, (ok, I cried) I laughed, I went along for the ride and it was still totally and completely worth every minute of the time I spent seeing it. I'll be watching it again in theatres for sure.


And now, I will deal with a  new Nolan-Batman movie-less future the same way I do with a new Harry Potter-less future: hope, complete and total denial, and an annual revisiting of all the characters and stories I love. Peace, Love, and Batman Forever.

I wrote this review on the night of the 20th before I had heard anything about the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. My definite thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected by this violence.