Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Your Rules?

What are your rules for movie watching, tv viewing, blog reading, and culture consumption?

"Twenty-three years ago, cartoonist Alison Bechdel had one of her female characters cite a simple rule: She'd only go to see a movie if it had:

1. At least two female characters, who ...
2. talk to each other about...
3. something besides a man.

It became known as The Bechdel Rule...

With that said, we asked Deggans and Morales to come up with rules of their own:

The Deggans Rule
(from Eric Deggans, The St. Petersburg Times)
1. At least two nonwhite characters in the main cast ...
2. in a show that's not about race.

The Morales Rule (from Natalie Morales, ABC Family's The Middleman)
1. Nobody calls anybody Papi.
2. No dancing to salsa music.
3. No gratuitous Spanish.

So what are your yardsticks? And what shows do you think measure up?"

This is fun stuff from NPR. But surely you have your own rules? And surely you'd dare share here?

5 comments:

Nathan Stitt said...

when it comes to movies and tv I won't watch anything that has canned jokes or really poorly written scripts or acting. that rules out most sitcoms and many chick-flicks. with blogs, i usually avoid them if the author is argumentative or doesn't allow comments.

not sure what is meant by 'culture consumption' but if you enlighten me i can come up with something.

J. K. Gayle said...

Thanks for sharing, Nathan. Culture consumption is "going to the movies, attending theatrical or music popular performances; visiting historic sites, conservation areas or nature parks; going to a public gallery or arts museum; listening to music; watching videos; reading books or magazines; or using a library" according to these Canadian researcher of Canadian culture consumers. But wouldn't you say blog reading and blogging in general is also a consumption of a culture? I think lots of the stuff digital natives do with the gadgets and networks makes for more of the same as well. (Come to think of it, I do have some blog comment rules. I'll stop for now lest I break one).

Anonymous said...

Movies--pretty much they have to be free for me to watch them. And even then, I might not finish watching a movie. It's too much action, too intense, too fast, skipping too much (I wonder if it's and ISFJ thing where I need way too many details that can't be filled in in a 2 hour slot, or if it's because I grew up without a TV and never acquired the right kind of skills for watching/understanding movies. I drive co-watchers crazy with questions. My favorite movie was Ruby Bridges, which is pretty slow moving, but a story which had fascinated me since I read the children's picture book by the same title.

TV--no standards for what I watch, because I just don't watch it. There's too much tension in my life to get caught up in compressed tension on TV, whether it be a sitcom or game show or reality TV or whatever.

Blogging--Whatever catches my attention. I like to read things that make me think and do so in polite and kind ways. I'm happy to think outside my box, but not if I feel like anybody who thinks differently than the author is stupid.

Culture consumption--Free is always nice. And also anything that connects to people or places I'm connected to in real life. I love connections, and I love being exposed to new cultural things that connect me to known people. Hmmmm, but now that I say that, the truth is, I just like learning and seeing new things, especially things that evoke deep emotions.

And as I'm writing this, I realize this is why I like museums and the like better than movies and TV--I can feel at my own pace. The feelings don't overload me and jump all over the place faster than I can process them when I'm looking at a book of photographs, walking through a museum or reading a magazine or book.

Since you mentioned blog comment rules at the end of your post, I'm wondering if I've just broken some by such a wordy response!

Nathan Stitt said...

Well for culture consumption I watch plays occasionally with my wife. I like museums but there aren't many near us here. There are probably a few internet cultures I participate in, with the most recent being the biblioblogs.

J. K. Gayle said...

Eclexia, One of my rules is to try to respond to great comments, like yours! (Don't know how I missed your stopping by earlier this month). Thank you, always, for your candor, for your freedom, for your expressiveness, for your consideration of me and others! Thanks for sharing.

Nathan, Thanks for sharing.

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Have yall seen the blogger 10 commandments flying around? What do you think of them?