B-Movie Night - Mixed Results

[Nemo2342]

.Mofo Rising wrote:
>
> I'll stand by your Hawaiian pizza decision.  I can't stand
> the stuff myself, but every pizza party I've ever been to has
> had Hawaiian in its midst.  As for the rest, I think the
> standard for non-offensive pizza choices, especially for
> kids, is pepperoni and then plain cheese.  (Why?  I don't
> know.  I order deluxe when I can afford it.)

Throughout my school years whenever we would be treated to pizzas we were always given 2 choices: plain cheese, or cheese and pepperoni.  This seemed to satisfy the greatest number of people with the least amount of fuss possible (picking stuff off of a pizza is bad kidwise, because you're never sure you got all of it off your slice).

[Nemo2342]

AndyC wrote:

> By the way, how did this thread come to focus so much on pizza?

Just another fine example of thread drift, IMO ;) That, and most of probably feel more qualified at discussing pizza toppings than discussing how to make an 8th grader watch a bad movie.

[Creepozoid]

Man, kids suck. When I was in youth group they had a movie night and I asked if we could do a bad movie night. The guys running it figured that all b-movies are offensive to women, too scary, and that most people just wouldn't get the idea anyway.

[Fearless Freep]

The guys running it figured that all b-movies are offensive to women, too scary, and that most people just wouldn't get the idea anyway.

Pretty perceptive of them, actually

[Creepozoid]

Fearless Freep wrote:
>
> The guys running it figured that all b-movies are
> offensive to women, too scary, and that most people just
> wouldn't get the idea anyway.
>
> Pretty perceptive of them, actually
>
>

Was that an agreement or disagreement?

[Evan3]

Creepozoid wrote:
>
> Fearless Freep wrote:
> >
> > The guys running it figured that all b-movies are
> > offensive to women, too scary, and that most people just
> > wouldn't get the idea anyway.
> >
> > Pretty perceptive of them, actually?

Hmmm, I seem to see dripping sarcasm on this response, so, isnt that part of what makes B movies so funny, their stance on women, and usually overly dramatic violence. If anything else, most movies feature the church, so church groups should like that.

[Fearless Freep]

No sarcasm, dead on serious.  Most "B" movies are "B" movies in ways that simply make them unappealing to the average viewer.  Most arr going to fall into the 'just don't get it' range, otherwise they wouldn't really be "B" movies. A fair number are going to be too scary for the average viewers taste, a fair number are going to be offensive to women, and men for that matter. When we say "It's so bad it's good" or "it's so bad it's silly and you can laugh at it", most people are  going to say "It's so bad it's just not worth watching"

It's just an aquired taste that most people don't share

I think showing "B" movies to an average group would need to be done with great care in terms of knowing what would be appropriate and enjoyed by all.

[AndyC]

I agree that B-movies need to be introduced carefully, but I disagree with the idea of rejecting things out of hand because "most people don't like that stuff."

I imagine the only reason any of us like the movies we do is because someone either made us watch them, offered them to us or at least made them available to us at some point in our lives.

The problem is the current attitude of just giving people a lot of what we already know most of them like and never thinking that a little variety might be a good thing. That's where we get a TV schedule full of mediocre and virtually identical shows. That's why a lot of really good movie ideas never get past the idea stage and a lot of crappy films get a wide release.

In working with volunteer organizations, you would not believe the number of times I've heard the "people don't like that" argument when I or someone else is trying to pitch an idea. This usually comes from people who can't offer an alternative. This is not just with regard to movies, of course, but all manner of fundraisers and promotions.

Just try it. It won't always be a success, but if you give people some credit once in a while, they might also surprise you.

Children, especially, should be offered different things to try. We are doing them no service by always giving them what we know they like. It doesn't encourage them to grow, or to look at things differently. Schools, churches and youth organizations should be about broadening kids' horizons, something that should begin at home. That doesn't necessarily mean forcing them to do things they don't like, but it does mean sometimes finding out if any of them like something else.

Otherwise, we just get more narrow-minded sheep in the world.

[Dano]

Andy - I mentioned your story to my wife who's an educator.  She suggests that if you do another bad movie night for the kids you try working a game or challenge into it.  Like "who spots the most mistakes" or "who comes up with the cheesiest line."  The whole "Things I Learned From This Movie" format might be ideally suited.

[AndyC]

We did something similar to that. We passed out a sheet with some fun facts on each movie and a list of things to watch for. The kids pretty much ignored it. We also tried teaching them some of the B-Fest games for Plan 9, throwing paper plates when the saucers came on, shouting "day" and "night" during the rapid changes in lighting, etc. The paper plates eventually had to be taken away, because they were always flinging them around, followed by hats, jackets and themselves. The other stuff just didn't catch on.

Thanks for the advice though. Good to know people care.

[Fearless Freep]

I agree that B-movies need to be introduced carefully, but I disagree with the idea of rejecting things out of hand because "most people don't like that stuff."

I didn't mean to imply he was right in rejecting them for those reasons, only that his reasons were preceptive in their own right