Anyone else tired of all these yuppie films out now?

[RadioRaheem84]

Good God, too many yuppie ass films out there.

Just saw the trailer for This is 40 and my eyes immediately started rolling.

It was ridiculous. Judd Apatow has been leading the stream of bad yuppie comedies and faux indie dramas.

It's like Hollywood is just making movies about their rich friends whining about their problems and break ups.

Celeste and Jesse Forever is another utterly insufferable dramedy.

On the one had you can say, just don't go see these films but they're really saturating the market and the Apatow/Segal/Rogen/Hill cartel are just making it difficult other filmmakers to stray.

[Lynx]

I'm tired of baby boomers dominating the news and the world in general. They refuse to go quietly.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Hollywood has been solidly bullshit for a good while now. The Speilberg/Lucas blockbuster killed American film for the most part.

I'm tired of baby boomers dominating the news and the world in general. They refuse to go quietly.

Seriously. I can not wait until they die. I've heard enough about how the hippies changed everything and how back in the '60s stuff was real.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Oh god, yes. I fucking hate "dramadys". :rolleyes:

"Oh yeah, let's create a movie with plenty of dumb low-brow humor, but let's also inject some sickeningly saccharine sentimentality into it as well!" Die in a fire, Judd Apatow. You really went downhill after Anchorman, your finest work IMO.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Is this the same as mumblecore? I've only seen one or two movies of that genre but they really are insufferable. I not sure what it would take to feel sympathy for upper middle class white people, but those films haven't discovered it yet.

[The Douche]

I'd rather watch a Judd Apatow movie than Juno.

[RadioRaheem84]

Juno is another variant of the same thing only Diablo Cody gifts prolea the ability to talk like and be just as insufferable as yuppies.

Hollywood loves this stuff. I am in LA right now and I cannot tell you how many people on the Westside of this town act like the people in the movies; prole or not.

I had always wondered who the hell these people were in the movies. Nobody I ever knew acted like that in Texas, but in West LA life is surely imitating art; badly.

[The Jay]

Juno is another variant of the same thing only Diablo Cody gifts prolea the ability to talk like and be just as insufferable as yuppies.

Hollywood loves this stuff. I am in LA right now and I cannot tell you how many people on the Westside of this town act like the people in the movies; prole or not.

I had always wondered who the hell these people were in the movies. Nobody I ever knew acted like that in Texas, but in West LA life is surely imitating art; badly.


My condolences. If I had to live near Juno-wannabes I would be obligated to move or commit suicide.

[RadioRaheem84]

My condolences. If I had to live near Juno-wannabes I would be obligated to move or commit suicide.

every single yuppie movie you've seen, the people are here.

[L.A.P.]

I watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno (I guess that's supposed to be Kevin Smith's attempt at trying to cash in on the Apatow trend) earlier this summer stoned with my cousin. We were stoned so it was hard to put into words, but we just kept on noting how fake of a social situation this movie is based on - we kept on saying "none of this would happen in real life". I feel like movies like that make science fiction seem more realistic in the sense they have a better understanding of how people function with each other. Films like these just play into some narcissistic fantasy where the main character uses all the other people around him as means to deal with whatever overexaggerated self-absorbed 'issue' he may have. It's a lot like those MTV shows that depict the life of what is supposed to be your typical petty bourgeois angsty-teenager, but it's clear these characters resemble more of people with histrionic and self-destructive personalities.

[RadioRaheem84]

Wow insanely good analysis, xx1994xx.

Yes, there was always something narcissistic and insufferable about the people in these movies.

It's like they just make movies to show off, project their feelings, troubles and viewpoints to the world.

The Apatow crew is the worst at this and all others are following this trend.

[The Douche]

If you had the ability to complain about the banality of your life to millions, would you not do it?

I guess I'm a bit of a cretin, I don't really "get" art, not painting, not photography, not film, not novels or short stories, only music really speaks to me, and the only music that does is, well, very base.

[RadioRaheem84]

But these movies are shaping people and other art mediums.

Try to get something green lighted that isn't that faux improv crap where they ramble on about the meaning of a certain word.

Jonah Hill's stuff is the worst.

[cynicles]

Vapid, shallow, worthless crap. It's that way with most mainstream art now. Punk bands aren't as good as they used to be either, "oooo look at me! I said something sexists and took a mild and shallow swipe and people's social sensibilities that will garner me a weeks worth of cheap meaningless attention! I'm so radical and punk!" Please! Sing about something that genuinely upsets the normal then we can talk. The list goes on and on, I think it's just capitalisms dominance of art, it's degenerating it.

[The Douche]

Vapid, shallow, worthless crap. It's that way with most mainstream art now. Punk bands aren't as good as they used to be either, "oooo look at me! I said something sexists and took a mild and shallow swipe and people's social sensibilities that will garner me a weeks worth of cheap meaningless attention! I'm so radical and punk!" Please! Sing about something that genuinely upsets the normal then we can talk. The list goes on and on, I think it's just capitalisms dominance of art, it's degenerating it.

Well, I mean, capital dominates everything, its a totality, but I dunno how silly/lowest common denominator comedy necessarily reflects capital's dominance, other than in the way that it is very safe and non-offensive.

[RadioRaheem84]

Well, I mean, capital dominates everything, its a totality, but I dunno how silly/lowest common denominator comedy necessarily reflects capital's dominance, other than in the way that it is very safe and non-offensive.

No way, it definitely changes the dynamic of things. Most if those faux indie dramatist have a ton of product placement and create little trends.

It's non-reactionary but certainly liberal yuppiness at it's core spawning a whole bunch of yipsters (yuppie hipsters) and "cool" nerds.

Come to LA and see how much of an impact it has on a sizable subsection of the city. Prius owners galore. A lot of them aren't even liberal but some annoying hybrid of liberal progressive and libertarian.

They hate socialism and radicalism as much as right wingers.

[cynicles]

You can smell it on them, that plastic chemically created culture of hipsterdom with a dash of bourgeious spices. They're the climax of all capitalisms efforts at absorbing true subcultures over the decades repackaged. Progressive on social issues, highly reactionary on everything else. I would go so far as to say they are more anti-socialist then many republicans. Republicans are driven often by emotions, if you can strip that away though you can have some actual success. These guys are driven by pure privilege and class.

[The Douche]

No way, it definitely changes the dynamic of things. Most if those faux indie dramatist have a ton of product placement and create little trends.

It's non-reactionary but certainly liberal yuppiness at it's core spawning a whole bunch of yipsters (yuppie hipsters) and "cool" nerds.

Come to LA and see how much of an impact it has on a sizable subsection of the city. Prius owners galore. A lot of them aren't even liberal but some annoying hybrid of liberal progressive and libertarian.

They hate socialism and radicalism as much as right wingers.

I don't even see how people like Paul Rudd or Seth Rogan are faux-indie. The other dudes from knocked up, especially the Canadian one, yeah, I can kind of see that.

When I think faux-indie I think Juno and Scott pilgrim and that shit. Apatow is more like dude-bro to me, the kind of people who laugh at indie.

[L.A.P.]

Wow insanely good analysis, xx1994xx.

Yes, there was always something narcissistic and insufferable about the people in these movies.

It's like they just make movies to show off, project their feelings, troubles and viewpoints to the world.

The Apatow crew is the worst at this and all others are following this trend.

Yes, that's the society of the spectacle my friend. We've become incredibly contemplative and socially isolated people, so a film where the resolution is the protagonist projecting his ego onto the blank slate that is the 'woman he loves' (as if she is mirror to see his ideal-ego in) and becomes bourgeois is the type of shit we will be getting from Hollywood for a while until they find something else to recuperate (as Apatow films and such are a complete recuperation of indie films that explore social relationships).


When I think faux-indie I think Juno and Scott pilgrim and that shit.

meh, I liked Scott Pilgrim. It was just an entertaining film paying homage to video game culture while self-consciously mocking the social setting of movies Cera is usually casted in, which in turn references the demographics of video game players.

[The Douche]

The fuck is more "faux indie" than cera and video games, though?

[mew]

yeah i don't think hipster culture is some great thing worth saving, but there is really nothing more terrible and cynical than 'corporate' faux-indie... 'garden state' is one big example.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Haha... I have no idea what any of you are talking about :tt2:

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Haha yeah I had to google some of this stuff. I thought we were talking about movies filled with sad white people who don't get to be as decadent and thoughtless as their parents led them to believe they would be able to.

I always thought of anchorman and Jonah hill movies as stoner flicks. West LA sounds awful though, my condolences.

[L.A.P.]

The fuck is more "faux indie" than cera and video games, though?

Well Slumdog Millionaire was supposed to be an indie film with its 15 million dollar budget and all (lol). I thought that was a fucking terrible movie, basically the dude gets rewarded by the bourgeoisie with 1 million bucks for all the fucked up shit that happened in his life and made sure the girl saw him in the spectacle. Probably the most overrated movie I've ever seen.

[The Douche]

Well Slumdog Millionaire was supposed to be an indie film with its 15 million dollar budget and all (lol). I thought that was a fucking terrible movie, basically the dude gets rewarded by the bourgeoisie with 1 million bucks for all the fucked up shit that happened in his life and made sure the girl saw him in the spectacle. Probably the most overrated movie I've ever seen.

Wait, are we saying "indie" as in independent film, or indie as in, "indie rock"?

[Yuppie Grinder]

Reading/watching Scott Pilgrim has been scientifically proven to significantly worsen acne and social aptitude around girls.

[RadioRaheem84]

I'm talking about films like Wanderlust, This is 40, 500 Days of Summer and Celeste and Jesse Forever.

Also the rom coma and raunchy coms.

The whole Apatow Crew and their spawns.

[L.A.P.]

500 Days of Summer

dude, I'll fight someone on 500 Days of Summer. Apatow can't touch 500 Days of Summer

[RadioRaheem84]

dude, I'll fight someone on 500 Days of Summer. Apatow can't touch 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer, really? That movie was pretty good for a being a faux indie dramedy replete with cliches. The whole movie seemed like one of those electric car commercials for Prius.

[ComingUpForAir]

So true, West La is full of blowhards --

[ComingUpForAir]

I don''t mean to pry, but I live in LA now and I'm trying out the entertainment industry because honestly im not sure what else to do right now and I have to move out of Orange County where I'm from -- I'm just wondering what you do in LA? I mean for a living? I understand if that's too private and you're suspicious.. I jut wonder what a lot of marxist do for work because I strongly agree with what's being said in this thread but I have a hard time finding work that would allow me to not be a hypocrite in some sense.

[L.A.P.]

500 Days of Summer, really? That movie was pretty good for a being a faux indie dramedy replete with cliches. The whole movie seemed like one of those electric car commercials for Prius.

Not gonna lie, when I saw previews for this film I thought it was the stupidest fucking thing. I commented how it looked like pretty much what you're tyring to convey to me about the 'priuses, sweater vests, etc' but then I actually watched it.... I don't know, maybe it's just my petty bourgeois young heart-broken male sensibilities, but I don't think (500) Days of Summer is on the same level of stupidity I attribute to an Apatow film like Forgetting Sara Marshall which pretty much has the same basic plot. I mean, despite the underlying ideology, every film/art trend can spit out a few gems, look at Triumph of the Will.

[Ele'ill]

What about The Myth of Fingerprints, Lost and Delirious and Seven and a Match

[cynicles]

I insist much of Hollywood be purged during the revolution, especially apatow.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Ha well cultural production has really been the domain of the petty-bourgeois since at least the middle 19th century (before then it was mostly idol aristocrats which is why so many 19th century works are about the woeful sadness of being a useless aristocrat in changing times).

But I think it's worse since the 1990s basically because the working class has be culturally marginalized in many ways. In fact, I'd guess that the most working class people on TV shows in the 90s and early 2000s were being arrested on COPS or mocked on Daytime Talk shows. So in the early 90s there was Simpsons and Rosanne and a series of "afro-centric" sitcoms - but a lot of this has totally disappeared and so remaining sit-coms are more explicitly about yuppies: "the office/30 rock/Freinds (where they are unemployed but have a football stadium-sized apartment in Manhattan but they all aspire to be professionals of some kind and became them through the course of the show's 200 year run).

I think this has begun to change though TV "working class" usually means a kind of blue-collar version of a shuck and jive routine. I haven't seen that Kat Dennings show (because I rarely watch TV when it's on TV and when I do... it's probably not a sitcom unless it begins with "Simp" and ends with "Sons") but it seems like in the past few years there have been more shows about TV characters who are striving or struggling.

But shit had to get that bad for that to even happen and most workers when represented on TV are "Archie Bunkers" but I guess it's something that there were two shows about Nurses (rather the Doctors) a couple years ago as well as one about female waitresses. Though honestly, I wish Roseanne was making that show with John Goodman that the studios turned down for being too "economically confrontational" rather than running for President. I still think it's more common for cultural producers (again petty-bourgeois in position and often in family background - whereas there were a lot of film writers back in the day that were children of working class and even radical immigrant workers) to mock the rich before they dare show a nuanced and compelling representation of working class life in the US.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Actually I like a many of the Apatow movies and I think it's kinda strange to single him out for favoring the stories of yuppies when you can turn on the TV or go to the movies and every character is a Doctor, Lawyer, Cop, or Artist (Stephen King books bug me on this count... he's written about more professional writers as protagonists than actually exist in the US!).

At least even these professionals seem to actually have jobs and they show them having conflicts with superiors and being one paycheck away from loosing their relatively cushy lives and so on. Most movies people have "Homer-Simpson-Jobs" that they show up at only to forward the plot and they have no other connection to it - unless they are a cop or doctor in which case their profession IS who they are as a person in most movies.

Hell, "40 year old Virgin" is a service worker... true his "happy ending" is becoming a small businessman, but again at least there are characters who have a relateable job rather than working at some "newspaper" or "ad agency" or all the other fake-jobs they have characters from RomComs do. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is about yuppies - and the conflict between successful and unsuccessful ones in the entertainment industry. But the other half of the characters and the ones we are supposed to relate more to (aside from the main character) all work in a Hotel and it's treated as a real thing where they might get in trouble for saying the wrong thing to a customer or there's tension between their position as a worker and their ability to interact with people as regular folks.

Anyway I think people respond to these movies because compared to the soft-focus fantasy rom-coms, many of them deal with more prickly situations; the sex jokes and situations don't seem like they were written in fear of abstinence-only right-wingers. My main problem with these movies has been less the yuppiness of them and more the kind of male-centric nature of them. While they have broken from the male-stereotypes common in many of these movies, they have mostly only used a very stock kind of "joy-kill" female character in most of these movies up until Bridesmaids. Sometimes this "joy-kill" was presented as positive as in 40 year old Virgin while it's also been shown as negative and "shrew-ish". So I think these aspects of these movies are very negative and sexist.

[Aristophenes McTwitch]

There really are to many yuppie films out yeah? I hate it it's like no other American viewpoint aside from the yuppie one

[The Douche]

Ha well cultural production has really been the domain of the petty-bourgeois since at least the middle 19th century (before then it was mostly idol aristocrats which is why so many 19th century works are about the woeful sadness of being a useless aristocrat in changing times).

But I think it's worse since the 1990s basically because the working class has be culturally marginalized in many ways. In fact, I'd guess that the most working class people on TV shows in the 90s and early 2000s were being arrested on COPS or mocked on Daytime Talk shows. So in the early 90s there was Simpsons and Rosanne and a series of "afro-centric" sitcoms - but a lot of this has totally disappeared and so remaining sit-coms are more explicitly about yuppies: "the office/30 rock/Freinds (where they are unemployed but have a football stadium-sized apartment in Manhattan but they all aspire to be professionals of some kind and became them through the course of the show's 200 year run).

I think this has begun to change though TV "working class" usually means a kind of blue-collar version of a shuck and jive routine. I haven't seen that Kat Dennings show (because I rarely watch TV when it's on TV and when I do... it's probably not a sitcom unless it begins with "Simp" and ends with "Sons") but it seems like in the past few years there have been more shows about TV characters who are striving or struggling.

But shit had to get that bad for that to even happen and most workers when represented on TV are "Archie Bunkers" but I guess it's something that there were two shows about Nurses (rather the Doctors) a couple years ago as well as one about female waitresses. Though honestly, I wish Roseanne was making that show with John Goodman that the studios turned down for being too "economically confrontational" rather than running for President. I still think it's more common for cultural producers (again petty-bourgeois in position and often in family background - whereas there were a lot of film writers back in the day that were children of working class and even radical immigrant workers) to mock the rich before they dare show a nuanced and compelling representation of working class life in the US.

On working class tv:
-Family Guy
-Workaholics
-Early episodes of Weeds sort of (I haven't kept watching it, though it eventually becomes more about her being on the run than struggling to support her family)
-Breaking Bad

I don't see how you put the office in the yuppie domain? Its focused on a mid-level paper supply company in a small/medium town in suburban Pennsylvania. I haven't been watching it lately, but Michael Scott, the boss, was a bumbling (but loveable) fool who needed the help of his workers in order to be successful (both inside the work place and outside). And there is a lot of baggage about the "nice boss" and with the Darrell character about "making it" cause you worked hard enough, but Darrell is clearly supposed to be a positive representation of the blue collar worker.


And regarding 500 Days of Summer. I think people interpret that movie wrong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not supposed to be some heart broken victim of unrequited love. He's a self-centered sociopathic jerk who blames other people in his life for his mental/emotional/whatever condition. He invents, in his mind, who the Zooey character is, ignoring who she really is, and he projects all this stuff on her that she clearly never asked for or indicated that she wanted, and then he proceeds to constantly paint himself as a victim of her's through the movie. He can't be ok with himself and he tries to find approval through others, he's not a positive character that we're supposed to identify with in a good way.

[RadioRaheem84]

Some Apatow movies show working class people, but it's usually loveable slackers who are stuck in their lives by choice.

Pineapple Express was a funny movie to me, as was Knocked Up, but they seem to be about kids who grew up in upper middle class homes and chose to lead a stoner/slacker life and are reveling in it.

They aren't really about people who grew up in working class homes and are literally stuck. They need to make a movie about people who went to college, did everything society told them to do but are still stuck at a low paying menial job. I mean a total swipe at the economy even it's subtle, underhanded and not wholly related to the plot.

[RadioRaheem84]

The Douche, I think we're talking about Network Tv.

Cable is another ball game and offers more. The Brit Office series might be more in tune to what you mean, but The US Office version is literally more lovable loser stuff. Pitying the workers. Again, more by choice.



And regarding 500 Days of Summer. I think people interpret that movie wrong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not supposed to be some heart broken victim of unrequited love. He's a self-centered sociopathic jerk who blames other people in his life for his mental/emotional/whatever condition. He invents, in his mind, who the Zooey character is, ignoring who she really is, and he projects all this stuff on her that she clearly never asked for or indicated that she wanted, and then he proceeds to constantly paint himself as a victim of her's through the movie. He can't be ok with himself and he tries to find approval through others, he's not a positive character that we're supposed to identify with in a good way.


Yes, but he is the standard for most of these yuppie rom coms. They're literally borderline socio-paths. They think that apathetic care free lifestyle where they're romping about how great their lives are or how miserable when the slightest thing goes wrong (usually not economically), is extremely narcissistic.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I don't see how you put the office in the yuppie domain?

How? It's easy - I haven't seen it :blushing:. I guess I was going more off the commercials. The only show that you mentioned that I've seen is Family Guy - downloading shows has disconnected me from regular TV trends.

[The Douche]

Some Apatow movies show working class people, but it's usually loveable slackers who are stuck in their lives by choice.

Pineapple Express was a funny movie to me, as was Knocked Up, but they seem to be about kids who grew up in upper middle class homes and chose to lead a stoner/slacker life and are reveling in it.

They aren't really about people who grew up in working class homes and are literally stuck. They need to make a movie about people who went to college, did everything society told them to do but are still stuck at a low paying menial job. I mean a total swipe at the economy even it's subtle, underhanded and not wholly related to the plot.

Dude, like, for real. I don't wanna see that, I live through it everyday. And when I go pay $20 for me and my girlfriend to go to the movies on our day off, I'm not trying to be reminded of what waits for me outside of the theatre.

[The Douche]

How? It's easy - I haven't seen it :blushing:. I guess I was going more off the commercials. The only show that you mentioned that I've seen is Family Guy - downloading shows has disconnected me from regular TV trends.

I think workaholics sort of nails my generation. Three dudes who are really just man-boys who work at a telemarketing place (well, they don't really do much work) and live to party, drink, and get high on the weekends. There's even the token member of the gang who came from wealth and thinks that one day he'll have wealth of his own.

Plus there was this sweet episode about a strike action at work:

Ru5XsYQS_TE

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character is the "nice guy" that every passive aggressive dweeb turns into when they encounter a girl they can't approach directly for whatever reason. If I do X amount of things for you and feel miserable without you for Y amount of time, you are legally required to sleep with me. This applies to like 40% of the male population under the age of 30.

[RadioRaheem84]

Dude, like, for real. I don't wanna see that, I live through it everyday. And when I go pay $20 for me and my girlfriend to go to the movies on our day off, I'm not trying to be reminded of what waits for me outside of the theatre.

Are you a contrarian by trade?

That excuse is what marketing execs use when good writers come up with ideas that are relevant.

There will always be "escapism" at the your local cineplex for you to feel lobotomized for two hours. So there is room for more shows like "The Wire" or John Sayles movies.

[RadioRaheem84]

I think workaholics sort of nails my generation. Three dudes who are really just man-boys who work at a telemarketing place (well, they don't really do much work) and live to party, drink, and get high on the weekends. There's even the token member of the gang who came from wealth and thinks that one day he'll have wealth of his own.

Plus there was this sweet episode about a strike action at work:

Ru5XsYQS_TE

So our generation is a bunch of annoying, irritating, boobish workers who just want to tell management to "suck" it for the hell of it?

This seems more like a mockery of workers and the strike action than anything else.

Comrade, have your tastes, but why almost defend the obvious class snobbery of some writers in Hollywood?

[Raúl Duke]

I thought this thread was about certain types (or most, or all) mumblecore movie that depicts young adults in well-off family living their banal, boring "hip" life in locations like Manhatten (e.g. Lena Dunham's work, mostly referring to Tiny Furniture) and those BS Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult) movies.

Maybe I'm just projecting...because I hate the shit I described above.
Also didn't like 500 days of summer or eternal sunshine for the spotless mind.

I found Scott Pilgrim to be entertaining, but the female lead, besides being a trope character, had imo the least amount of character development even for a manic pixie girl trope.

Also about the workaholics...I actually know people here in Ft.Myers who kinda fit very well the description of those characters (work at call center, party, not much momentum, young) and I'm doubtful it's a simplistic "mockery of workers" Part of the charm of the show (which I don't watch) I guess may have to do because there are actual people out there who can relate to it.

[The Douche]

So our generation is a bunch of annoying, irritating, boobish workers who just want to tell management to "suck" it for the hell of it?

This seems more like a mockery of workers and the strike action than anything else.

Comrade, have your tastes, but why almost defend the obvious class snobbery of some writers in Hollywood?

You're not wholly wrong, especially if you watch the whole episode, but I think it is an accurate portrayal of workers around my age, but because it is accurate, it is not the most pleasant thing, but it still lends hope (and certainly a smile). I can't really construct a proper response from my phone.

[RadioRaheem84]

I think this is also fueled by the lack of consciousness most writers have.

They just write about their experiences and their experiences are just really dumb and trivial. Or at least how they make it out to be.

I had an idea for a show about two guys hustling their way through LA, coming up with the most ridiculous and hilarious schemes. But amidst all the comedy there is a realism about how they did everything they were supposed to do; go to college, get a job, and pay their taxes. But this isn't a show where they choose to go into hustling, like most shows do. They are forced to go into it to make ends meet.

So it's dramedy HBO style but with more laughs to offset the stark realism. It's always Sunny in Philly meets The Wire.

How many would love to see a show like that?

[Lynx]

I believe I saw something similar with Cedric the Entertainer :confused:

[RadioRaheem84]

I believe I saw something similar with Cedric the Entertainer :confused:

A dramedy of It's Always Sunny and The Wire mix, with Cedric the Entertainer?:confused:

[La Guaneña]

Have you guys watched Community? It's a show about a group of friends that meets in a community college study group. Even though the show focuses a lot on their stereotypes I still find the caracter's stories interesting. One of them is a nearly 40-year old single mom, another one is a HS football player that got injured in a drinking game and fucked up his career.

sBCE9oIuN24

They also fill the show with references from famous movies and TV shows, and it's pretty cool.

[Manic Impressive]

When were films not made about yuppies? You look back at the films of the 50's and 60's and some of the very best are about young urban professionals. Certainly people with an above average income and middle class mentality.
Is the premise of this thread longing for something that never was?

[L.A.P.]

And regarding 500 Days of Summer. I think people interpret that movie wrong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not supposed to be some heart broken victim of unrequited love. He's a self-centered sociopathic jerk who blames other people in his life for his mental/emotional/whatever condition. He invents, in his mind, who the Zooey character is, ignoring who she really is, and he projects all this stuff on her that she clearly never asked for or indicated that she wanted, and then he proceeds to constantly paint himself as a victim of her's through the movie. He can't be ok with himself and he tries to find approval through others, he's not a positive character that we're supposed to identify with in a good way.

Yeah, that's a pretty rock solid explanation of the movie, can't help but agree with that. I still liked it though.

[RadioRaheem84]

When were films not made about yuppies? You look back at the films of the 50's and 60's and some of the very best are about young urban professionals. Certainly people with an above average income and middle class mentality.
Is the premise of this thread longing for something that never was?

The 70s saw a change in that. From Sidney Lumet to even Cheech and Chong films about two stoners from the barrios showcased police corruption, the long lines at the gas pumps, going to the welfare office and none of it was by choice. It was about two dudes hustling their way through recession ridden LA.

I've seen movies in the 70s that were outright provocative about questioning the system.

Movies today seem reactionary by comparison. To be fair, the 70s also spawned reactionary actions films like Dirty Harry and Death Wish.

[Rocky Rococo]

I'm tired of baby boomers dominating the news and the world in general. They refuse to go quietly.

Yes, them damn Baby Boomers, all white, suburban and upper-middle-class. i know it's true because i saw it on TV!

[Pretty Flaco]

its always sunny is philly is better than workaholics could ever dream to be

[Manic Impressive]

The 70s saw a change in that. From Sidney Lumet to even Cheech and Chong films about two stoners from the barrios showcased police corruption, the long lines at the gas pumps, going to the welfare office and none of it was by choice. It was about two dudes hustling their way through recession ridden LA.

I've seen movies in the 70s that were outright provocative about questioning the system.

Movies today seem reactionary by comparison. To be fair, the 70s also spawned reactionary actions films like Dirty Harry and Death Wish.
The 70's actually seem to be the exception rather than the rule. But you're right the 70's produced the most sympathetic working class films where the main protagonist was struggling against an oppressive system or against financial hardship.
What pisses me off more than films about yuppies. Is yuppies making films about working class people and getting it completely wrong. Films like Green Street.

[maskerade]

Community may be the best TV show ever made, in my opinion. The former showrunner, Dan Harmon, said in an interview that he is 'well to the left of Chomsky', and the character Britta is meant to be a caricature of how he thought politically when he was younger (though she has developed out of this mold throughout the show). The character often says 'revolutionary' things that are quite misguided and often alienating - something which cynical leftists surely can identify with.

On topic though, I have to say that I find some of these movies mentioned to be quite funny and enjoyable - they're very straight forward and don't require much thinking, and as they don't require much thinking, I don't think too much about them.

[m1omfg]

I like art, books, films, music. Does that make me a yuppie or whatever? In my opinion people should be allowed to like what they want not what is "proley than thou". The most common criticism of the old communist regime I hear here in Slovakia is that it banned many movies, novels, music for little reason at all. This culture police shit is pretentious and fucked up, yeah so many films are banal and silly, like life isn't banal and absurd. I don't like what you call "yuppie films" (I'm more into fantasy and science fiction), but I don't give a fuck about what people watch, read or listen to. I don't want to listen to some "proley" punk songs about social misery and alienation when I fucking see it every day, I don't want to watch 1950s Stalinist films about guys singing to tractors either.

Also, I wouldn't say that most "yuppie characters" are sociopathic. Sociopathy is a lot more serious disorder than most people think and it pretty much means not feeling most emotions or having any conscience at all http://io9.com/5933869/stop-calling-sherlock-a-sociopath-thanks-a-psychologist .

Garden variety selfishness is not sociopathy. Being an insufferable smartass is not sociopathy - most sociopaths, unlike the popular stereotype, have an average or below average IQ. Being a cold sarcastic asshole is not sociopathy. Here I quote a story from one of the comments that displays how terryfing and alien an actual sociopath can be:



I served in Iraq with a psychopath. I'm no psychologist, but his mental problems were obvious to those he didn't care to hide them from (i.e. the people who didn't have the power to do anything about it). He was a strikingly cruel, narcissistic, grandiose, the source of endless lies, and in every other way a terrible human . Once the higher ups finally realized what he was, he couldn't leave the base for the last 3 months of our year long deployment. So while we went out on missions, for the last 3 months he just sat on the base watching DVDs of '24' all day. Once we got back, they kicked him out. They tried to avoid awarding him an honorable discharge, but since his superiors had always just been writing him up boilerplate good 3-month reviews, we didn't have the documentation to support a less-than-honorable discharge.
He stole from other soldiers, made up reports/stories about how terrible his soldiers were and how he always saved the day, put himself in for a silver star with a completely falsified story, maintained amazing elaborate lies about his life that I only found out were lies many years later (which blew my mind, btw; I only now realize that almost everything I knew about him was a lie), back in the states he would just flat out tell waitresses they were ugly apropos of nothing, never apologized or took responsibility for any mistake, etc. Heck, in a car if there was someone in the backseat, he would push the front seat back as far as possible and lay it back just to assert dominance over whoever was in the back seat. He lied to reporters in Iraq all the time. I've read completely false news stories that was just him bullshitting a reporter. The list goes on...
I am just glad I never served on his team. The two guys under him walked around with defeated stares and were treated terribly by the higher ups because of the lies this psychopath told about them in his daily reports. For a long time, no one believed us lower enlisted about how messed up this guy was. Thankfully a civilian translator saw what was going on and threw a fit and that finally got the higher ups to take a look into what was going on (well, that and the guy putting himself in for a silver star with a completely made up story). I suppose it is a testament to how good of a liar he was that he lasted so long with all of us lower enlisted trying to convince our higher ups that something was seriously wrong with the guy. But he knew who to be buddy-buddy with and convincing our higher ups of what was going on involved us having to convince them that one of their close friends was a lying, crazy, psychopath.
Back then he also had a 10-15 year old son by marriage, I can only imagine what hell that kid's childhood was. I am sure he's fully grown now, thankfully.



I forgot to mention that he was super proud of the fact that Amnesty International had a file on him. Although, that was probably a lie to0. There was a wikipedia entry on him for a while using quotes from the news stories from the reporters he bullshitted (probably created by him). I got a call from a 'Rolling Stones' reporter (or maybe 'Spin'?) once who was doing a story kinda focused on him, but the reporter was smart enough to drop him as a source/focus after talking to me. I tried putting the reporter in touch with the soldiers who had worked directly under the guy, but they were still in the army and couldn't get permission to talk to the reporter. I can understand why the army didn't want anyone talking about him.
*I should also say this is all just my own view of the guy and since my life's work was not studying the guy, a detail here-or-there might be wrong. It's been many years since all this happened and they guys who worked directly for him would be in a better position to describe him. I don't want to risk being libelous, so consider this a disclaimer that everything I've posted is a personal opinion.


Lord Voldemort is surprisingly probably the most accurate psychopath/sociopath ever shown on film. "Yuppie film" protagonists are not sociopaths, not even Dexter Morgan is.

[Manic Impressive]

I like art, books, films, music. Does that make me a yuppie or whatever? In my opinion people should be allowed to like what they want not what is "proley than thou". The most common criticism of the old communist regime I hear here in Slovakia is that it banned many movies, novels, music for little reason at all. This culture police shit is pretentious and fucked up, yeah so many films are banal and silly, like life isn't banal and absurd. I don't like what you call "yuppie films" (I'm more into fantasy and science fiction), but I don't give a fuck about what people watch, read or listen to. I don't want to listen to some "proley" punk songs about social misery and alienation when I fucking see it every day, I don't want to watch 1950s Stalinist films about guys singing to tractors either.

I think the problem is films which are supposed to represent reality, don't. Instead they represent a bourgeois idealized version of what reality is supposed to be like. Just like the singing Stalinist farmers, in today's society we have sex and the city. Narrative's which are made to make people aspire to bourgeois ideals.

[m1omfg]

True that, but I don't think most "yuppie" hipster comedies pretend to give an accurate view of reality.

[The Douche]

its always sunny is philly is better than workaholics could ever dream to be

But the question was about TV shows which represent the working class. I love Always Sunny, but its about small business owners, not proles. So I didn't bring it up.

[Ele'ill]

But the question was about TV shows which represent the working class. I love Always Sunny, but its about small business owners, not proles. So I didn't bring it up.

I hate always sunny. Tried to watch it and just no, fuck all three of them.

[Jesus Saves Gretzky Scores]

Vapid, shallow, worthless crap. It's that way with most mainstream art now. Punk bands aren't as good as they used to be either, "oooo look at me! I said something sexists and took a mild and shallow swipe and people's social sensibilities that will garner me a weeks worth of cheap meaningless attention! I'm so radical and punk!" Please! Sing about something that genuinely upsets the normal then we can talk. The list goes on and on, I think it's just capitalisms dominance of art, it's degenerating it.

We need more Propagandhi's.

[RadioRaheem84]

True that, but I don't think most "yuppie" hipster comedies pretend to give an accurate view of reality.

Some do, some don't. This is 40, Wunderlust, and 500 Days of Summer are yuppie as hell.

[Prometeo liberado]

I am in LA right now and I cannot tell you how many people on the Westside of this town act like the people in the movies; prole or not. RadioRaheem84


because it's an insufferable shit hole. Rafiq
There's a dead heat right now on who's more bitter about L.A./Cali around here. Radio or Rafiq. I take it neither have ever spent much time in Pittsburgh.:(

[bcbm]

Vapid, shallow, worthless crap. It's that way with most mainstream art now. Punk bands aren't as good as they used to be either, "oooo look at me! I said something sexists and took a mild and shallow swipe and people's social sensibilities that will garner me a weeks worth of cheap meaningless attention! I'm so radical and punk!" Please! Sing about something that genuinely upsets the normal then we can talk.

nothing can upset 'the normal' anymore, it has all been done and nobody gives a shit except religious loons and other zealots.


The list goes on and on, I think it's just capitalisms dominance of art, it's degenerating it.

i think the opposite is true if anything, there is more and greater variety of art created than ever before and a lot of it is quite good even if the 'mainstream' of most art forms is garbage.

[MarxSchmarx]

So what are any of you going to do about it?

[bcbm]

the only thing i can do, whine on the internet and then go watch good foreign movies you have never heard of

[The Douche]

the only thing i can do, whine on the internet and then go watch good foreign movies you have never heard of

Child please. You just rented act of valor.

[RadioRaheem84]

There's a dead heat right now on who's more bitter about L.A./Cali around here. Radio or Rafiq. I take it neither have ever spent much time in Pittsburgh.:(

No way, I love LA. Most vibrant and eclectic city I've ever been to!

I just have reservations about West LA.

[L.A.P.]

I know I'm kind of necro-bumping this topic, but in regards to the nature of these faux indie films. In all honesty, people have been watching narcissistic tragedies to confirm their own egos since early antiquity.