Zagat's movie guide
We here at Aula are opiniated. We more or less maintain that our word is gospel, a function, perhaps, of our collective temperament, of certain supreme self-confindence, faith in our intelligence. Some may argue that out epistemology is a variety of cultural fascism (if not mild delusion). But we have no way of enforcing adherence. Niether, for instance, does NYT film critic A.O. Scott, somebody we often disagree with (but reluctantly respect). And therein lies the rub. Who, dear readers, fans, sycophants, would you consider when you watch a movie? Aunt Aula, A.O. Scott or Zagat’s? The folks at Zagat’s have recently introduced a movie guide that ranks “’Finding Nemo’…nothing less than the 19th-finest film of all time, not quite of the quality of ’The Third Man’ but just a wee bit better than ’Dr. Strangelove.’” Understandably, A.O. Scott is not excited by this development: “And who am I to argue? Or, rather, who am I supposed to argue with? If this book enshrines a grand tautology — that the movies a lot of people like tend to be really popular, and vice versa — it also rests on an unacknowledged paradox. Consider the operative words of the title, ’survey’ and ’guide.’ These terms are closely allied in map-making, perhaps, but not necessarily in criticism, if we can apply that name to the consumer-friendly pop sociology on which the Zagat empire is built.” We steadfastly believe that everybody is wrong (scroll to March 28th.) In fact, we’re mulling putting together a movie guide ourselves.
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