by Wilson Holzhaeuser
Comparisons are fun and often useful. Superhero movies are like westerns. Star Wars is like The Hidden Fortress. J.J. Abrams is like a vacuum.[1] These kinds of parallels can enrich both works, revealing connections otherwise concealed. Dramatic function can crystallize when repeated in a different context. All works are connected in some way and we would be remiss to deny that.
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I do not know Greta Gerwig, but I feel like I do. I know she’s from Sacramento. I know she acted in her Catholic high school theater productions which inspired her to pursue the arts in college. I know she moved to New York to study at Barnard, not Columbia, but didn’t quite make it as a playwright in school. I know that her 20’s were a little unguided and she may have felt like she was falling behind her peers as she was finding her path in life. She grew up largely working class and may have felt insecure about that sometimes.
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What makes a movie weird?
We attach that label to so many films so often that it can often mean anything - from disturbing to whimsical to challenging to off putting. Some use it as simply a synonym for “bad” when they aren’t quite sure how to articulate what they dislike while others embrace anything superficially strange, holding up that strangeness as an accomplishment. If the term is going to be useful all of these readings cannot be correct. The word must hold content. What we need to do is determine what that content may be.
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