{"id":700781,"date":"2025-11-24T20:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/a-plea-for-less-analysis\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:40:30","slug":"a-plea-for-less-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/a-plea-for-less-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Plea for Less Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThis column was conceived not so much as an assignment but as a desperate cry for help to my editors. Please. I\u2019m begging you. Don\u2019t make me write a think piece on One Battle After Another<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tActually, forget the Battle. I\u2019m waging a war.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis time of year \u2014 and this year in particular \u2014 we are getting film think pieces. Binders and binders full of film think pieces. They tell us whether Paul Thomas Anderson may or may not adhere to a particular sociopolitical agenda. (I swear we had these same conversations about James Gunn and Superman <\/em>a few months ago.) How Luca Guadagnino\u2019s After the Hunt<\/em> is a provocative postmodern, post-#MeToo, post-T\u00e1r<\/em> look at victimization culture that\u2019s right on time \u2014 or is it way too late? That Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s A House of Dynamite <\/em>is the nuclear weapons-funding policy document we\u2019ve been waiting for or a cautionary tale about the perils of an elliptical ending. I can\u2019t keep track anymore, and I don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe are drowning in think pieces. I\u2019m here to say: Stop with the think pieces. Maybe you feel the same but have been afraid to admit it? That\u2019s OK. We\u2019re in a safe space.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be clear, I\u2019m not referring to traditional reviews or a smart text-based conversation or reflection. I\u2019m singling out pundits who try to torture a single movie into great meaning, hoping it will make them the next Susan Sontag or Thomas Friedman.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you admired Guillermo del Toro\u2019s humane spin on Frankenstein<\/em> \u2014 the general<\/a> Rotten Tomatoes consensus \u2014 then this ruminator will make sure you also know that the work shines a light on the horror genre\u2019s increasing tendency to equate disability with depravity. Die My Love,<\/em> per the think-piecers, is a reason to assess the entire evolution of motherhood.<\/p>\n

\n\tSigh.<\/p>\n

\n\tFriends, here is my fancy public plea: For the love of the Oscar gods \u2014 the only gods we all truly agree on \u2014 let\u2019s step away from the keyboard and stop twisting every movie into an Auntie Anne\u2019s pretzel. Or, as Peter Falk told precocious Fred Savage in The Princess Bride<\/em>, \u201cYes, you\u2019re very smart \u2026 shut up.\u201d Sure, I realize the irony of a take arguing against takes. Whatever. I\u2019m too over it to care. I\u2019m on a mission to halt a practice that\u2019s exhausting and unnecessary and at times self-aggrandizing and results in scant cultural consequence.<\/p>\n

\n\tMost damning of all (imagine Morgan Freeman\u2019s voice narrating this next phrase), the think piece methodically chips away at the joy that comes with seeing a film for the first time. Which most readers of these pieces will not yet have done when they read such disquisitions.<\/p>\n

\n\tCall it the big picture of the big picture. All that crowing about going to the movies<\/a> for the communal experience is overrated. What we\u2019re truly doing in the dark is forming our independent opinions about art. The commentary onslaught dilutes that. And the impact of the movie. I exited Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere <\/em>mulling a whole other aspect of the Boss\u2019 personal life. And then was bombarded with impassioned blather about the upside of nontoxic masculinity.<\/p>\n

\n\tI get it, during these fraught political times, everything has Major Significance, requiring Major Pronouncements. And it\u2019s so easy to publish a take, whether you write for an outlet or just your social media<\/a> friends. Only the strong-willed can resist. But resist we must.<\/p>\n

\n\tLook, this isn\u2019t a lament against intellectualism. I like insightful analysis as much as the next film fanatic. By all means, shoot me your ambiguous-ending theory. But there\u2019s a line between analysis and holier-than-thou bloviation.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd these pieces aren\u2019t a weeklong or monthlong or even autumn-long affair. I\u2019m typing this sentence during the World Series. By the time Conan O\u2019Brien takes the Oscar stage on March 15, we\u2019ll be close to Opening Day. Squeezing every last drop of analysis from a best picture contender during this time span will not magically sway anyone\u2019s position, including an Oscar voter. (Hello, that\u2019s what studio whisper campaigns are for.) Last year, I was mixed on Anora<\/em> even after it morphed from a skewed Cinderella story to, um, a loving tribute to the sex-work industry. Trust me when I say that the only thing an extended litigation accomplishes is a desire to move the ceremony to January.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo this awards season, let\u2019s allow a movie to just breathe and be, at least for a little while. Let\u2019s watch Bugonia<\/em> and offer one essay fewer on the disparity of class and power. Cry in Hamnet<\/em> with just a couple fewer meditations on grief in a post-pandemic society. Watch Battle<\/em> and think a little less about political parallels and a little more about the hilarious scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio can\u2019t recall a crucial password from his revolutionary days to locate his daughter. I recently saw the movie for a second time, and I still can\u2019t name the password. I just remember laughing, without a need for a 3,000-word treatise.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut if anyone wants to write a long medical story on ways to circumvent middle-aged memory loss, I\u2019m cool with it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story app<\/a>eared in the Nov. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This column was conceived not so much as an assignment but as a desperate cry for help to my editors. Please. I\u2019m begging you. Don\u2019t make me write a think piece on One Battle After Another. Actually, forget the Battle. I\u2019m waging a war. This time of year \u2014 and this year in particular \u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-mediaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}