Snakes on a Plane

No, I haven't seen it yet. I hear that it's campy fun, a movie thats enjoyable when you just let go and don't take things seriously. Which I can appreciate.

My problem is the buzz around it, I wasn't near the beginning, so I'm not some elitist going "oh i knew about it months ago, blah blah blah." I first read a few things about it and laughed, and then saw as the buzz built, with interviews and an article in TIME magazine, and then everyone I know telling me about it.

Everyone seemed to kind of jump on after a certain point, when the buzz reached its peak. I don't know if its a naive or at least not very nuanced way to look at things, but when a lot of people start slobbering (for lack of a larger vocabulary) over something to the point where the mob expresses that the movie can do no wrong, I get skeptical. I'm suspicious.

I think the type of mentality scares me. I'm not giving much credit to the people involved, because on a more important issue they might not be so easily swayed, or at least they seemed to be easily swayed and caught up in the moment with this movie.

The amount of people that actually saw the movie didn't really live up to the hype surrounding it, or at least thats what the headlines say. But I have to wonder how much hype there really was in the rest of America, not just the people who use the internet daily, like myself. The buzz was huge within the group of people who jump between blogs, movie sites, and online comics, enough so that 1.7 million people saw it that weekend (estimation). But my parents who don't browse the internet that often, and I take them as an average american baby boomer, they had no clue until I told them or they read something, and that wasn't enought to peak their interest.

So what lesson is there to be learned from Snakes on a Plane? Well number one the internet and its buzz'worthy items are probably still not mainstream enough to move people en' masse, at least not for a movie about snakes on a plane.

"Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations:

I think people were more excited about the marketing than the actual movie. New Line did not set out to create this Internet buzz. That's actually a marketer's dream, but when marketing translates into awareness but does not inspire people to get out from behind their computers and into the theater, that's a problem. " (quoted from Flickfilosopher.com's own take on snakes on a plane, she's a critic who I read alot, check her out)

A second and more interesting point to me is the power that the internet can have for feedback for films. It's been touched on, recently I saw a video clip with Zach Braff and Kevin Smith discussing this together. And thats what's interesting about Snakes on a Plane. The movie most likely improved with the audience feedback. Instead of kind of a lazy PG 13 to violence and sexuality, for a movie like snakes, it was wise to just push to the R-rating and give people what they want. (yah yah, "lazy violence and sexuality", but if you're going to do it anyway, might as well have people getting naked and bit in the junk, classy.)

So all in all, I'll have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, that on something important they might be a little more discerning about topics.

And yes, I will see the movie eventually, and no, this discussion is by no means a complete one.