#armond white

[nicklloydnow]

“What is it about King’s writing that appeals to so many people? Clearly, King’s readers — many of whom seem to get hooked on him when they are adolescents — don’t care that the sentences he writes or the scenes he constructs are dull. There must be something in the narrative arc, or in the nature of King’s characters, that these readers can’t resist. My sense is that King appeals to the aggrieved adolescent, or the aggrieved nerdy adolescent, or the aggrieved nerdy adult, who believes that people can be divided into bad and good (the latter would, of course, include the aggrieved adolescent or adult), a reader who would rather not consider the proposition that we are all, each of us, nice good people awash in problems and entirely capable of evil. King coddles his readers, all nice, good, ordinary, likeable people (just like the heroes of his books), though this doesn’t completely explain why these readers are so tolerant of the bloat in these novels, why they will let King go on for a couple hundred pages about some matter that has no vital connection to the subject of the book.

(…)

Why, I wondered again, do some people in the literary business regard this extremely successful writer of genre fiction as a first-rate writer of literary fiction, a “major” contributor to American literary culture? How is it possible that a novel as bloated and mediocre as 11/22/63 is can be deemed by the New York Times Book Review as one of the five best books of fiction of the year? Do we fear being labeled “elitist” or “liberal” if we don’t reward commercial success in other ways (as if an enormous advance and a river of royalties are not reward enough)? Or do we believe that commercial success on the King scale signifies, almost by definition, quality, the way a 20,000 square-foot house supposedly signifies to passersby that the owners must be important?

(…)

By bestowing rewards on writing that is not all that good, has not the literary establishment lowered standards and pushed even further to the margins writing that is actually good and beautiful? If you ask me whether it is worth your while to read Stephen King instead of (or even in addition to) scores of other better contemporary writers you may have never read (and should hurry up and read before you die), I would say no, unless you are maybe fifteen and have made it clear to your teachers and everybody else that you aren’t going to touch that literary “David Copperfield kind of crap” with a ten-foot pole.”

“Director Daphné Baiwir gathers these guys — more than 20, it’s a convocation — and clips from their handiwork to build a monument to King’s importance. Few of these testimonies address King’s literary quality, only his cultural impact (from Cujo and Stand by Me to Needful Things, which spawned the non-King streaming series Stranger Things). Baiwir correctly begins with irony: King’s literary reputation comes from movie adaptations. “It all started with Carrie,” says Mick Garris (the TV adept who directed small-screen versions of Bag of Bones, Desperation, Sleepwalkers, The Stand, and The Shining). “The book was not well known until [Brian] De Palma’s movie came out. The movie blew me away. It was so great.” Frank Darabont concurs: “It was the movie that really brought a lot of attention to Steve’s work.”

(…)

King’s popularity straddles both film and literature and has done so for a long time. (Scott Hicks raves, “He’s like the Charles Dickens of the 20th and 21st century.”) This could be the basis for a good argument in favor of democratic art — folklore made by Maine’s most famous author — although Baiwir’s opening sequence foolishly imitates a film set in “King world,” where backwoods eccentrics drink “American Grain” whiskey, referring, I guess, to William Carlos Williams’s In the American Grain. It’s a stretch, and Baiwir’s strained pretense eventually snaps. No one at the convocation remembers Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, William Faulkner, or Flannery O’Connor. Instead, the most worshipful filmmakers indulge King’s own real-world politics — especially when paying tribute to The Dead Zone and Children of the Corn.

Encomiums start with “he loved common people, folksy people, he’s got that down pat.” They go on: “He doesn’t condescend to middle America, and I think that’s very important. In many ways he’s a man of the people.” But they fall for King’s junkiness: Ignoring how the warring duo of Misery resembles a feminist-revenge version of Robert Aldrich’s mature, complex What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? It gets worse when The Dead Zone appeals to their current political paranoia: “Nations go insane.” They equate King’s anti-religious fantasies (It, The Stand) to George Romero’s racial zombie allegory in Night of the Living Dead. The fanboys make typical Hollywood-liberal partisan analogies, decrying Donald Trump’s populism, then hysterically anoint King as a political visionary: “Like Bob Dylan, [he] is a dreamer of America. He contains the entirety of it and sort of dreams in the language of the chaos of America.” Garris warns, “When you apply fear — paranoia, aggression happens. The veneer of civilization gets ripped away very quickly.” He praises The Stand as “a counter myth to the Rapture.” Tod Williams crowns King “prophet of the apocalypse.”

It’s silly, yet appalling, that schlockmeister King, always threatening to be taken seriously, should be seriously regarded by unserious, unthinking people. King on Screen platforms naïve fanboys who embellish their own childish superstitions.”

[thejewofkansas]

The Weekly Gravy #149

Major thanks to the Wayback Machine for helping me retrieve this image, which is still one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen posted by an ostensibly serious critic. I only got around to seeing two films this week, so I thought I’d start this column with some film-related thoughts. (I’d have put these at the end, but this way there’s a chance they’ll get read.) Oh, and I still support the WGA…

[jmunneytumbler]

To Read or Not to Read?

To Read or Not to Read?

November 28, 2021-November 29, 2021 – I was reading a book that I was excited to use for class or some similar purpose. But then I saw who the author was: Armond White. So now I wasn’t too sure that it would have ideas that I would be okay with. But I was still excited to use it, so I was going to flip through it to make sure.

[ranrandraws]

underrated character , where is the fanart

[vinylattes]

You... you're gay, right? Yes, I'm gay. No, my father was gay. I think. He, he had sex with men. That's a telltale sign.

THE WHITE LOTUS (2021) 1.03 (Mysterious Monkeys)

[tampire]

Bill and Frank are moustached in their past Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus lives.

[thebubblesoutlet]

one thing about the white lotus is that every season gotta have a fruity hotel manager

[animentality]

white lotus killed its one gay character by having the world's straightest man run him through with a kitchen knife after he shit in his suitcase.

it was only right for the next season to have a lesbian character who suffers relatively little trauma and gets two new girlboss besties for friends who're gonna help her get a girlfriend.

gotta fight the bad juju.

[hillbillyhipster84]

Armond and Trelawny crossover.

Josiah!! Don’t go in the Pineapple Room!!!

[turkwriter]

Me watching The Last of Us episode 3, my body wracked by sobbing, speaking through my tears: I watched that guy shit in a suitcase once.

[gleichschenklig]

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

The Characters of 2023

It’s time to talk about…The Characters™️. They shall be graded on a scale of “get behind me” to “I’m getting behind you”

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Belinda (The White Lotus)

The only unambiguously decent person at the resort (who stayed longer than an episode, sorry Lani) and just the absolute best who deserved better. GIVE HER HER OWN WELLNESS CENTER GODDAMMIT. Scale: GET BEHIND ME

Ellie Williams (The Last Of Us)

Precious, hilarious and ferocious.

SCALE: While I could technically get behind her, I’ll have her get behind me in order to spare her trauma.

Misty Quigley (Yellowjackets)

She has never done anything wrong in her entire life (she has committed multiple murders and was a horrible person even before the plane crashed). But it’s fine, we love her anyways.

SCALE: I’m getting behind her 100%.

TOP 10

10. Quinni Gallagher-Jones (Heartbreak High)

Deserves better, the sweetest, I love her so much.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME

9. Peter Gordon (The Power Of The Dog)

The second that Tumblr discovers this movie (highly recommend by the way) it’s all over. I need people to join me in understanding the power of Peter Gordon.

SCALE: I’m getting behind him. Easy.

8. Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Absolutely tragic, could have been saved by listening to Preacher’s Daughter, has the best theme. Of course I love her.

SCALE: GET. BEHIND. ME.

7. Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)

Fictional husband. Absolute king. Get this man a cup of coffee immediately.

SCALE: He’s an FBI agent, so I should probably get behind him.

6. Armond (The White Lotus)

An icon, a legend, and the moment. No one is doing it like him, and no one will ever do it like him again.

SCALE: Honestly we’re probably on the same level. We’ll fight Shane together.

5. Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Served (both literally and figuratively) at unprecedented levels. Absolutely horrendous in the most amazing way. I am a stan forever.

SCALE: Probably getting behind her.

4. India Stoker (Stoker)

She has the best fashion sense and was always true to herself (even if true to herself meant…well, the movie). Love her.

SCALE: I’m getting behind her.

3. Laura Lee (Yellowjackets)

The human embodiment of Sun Bleached Flies. Sweet sweet girl, was not built to survive Yellowjackets and deserved better.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME. DON’T GO ON THE PLANE.

2. Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon)

Come season 2, everyone has their (genuinely awful) character that they will be defending to the death. She is mine. Do not come to me with Alicent slander; I will justify it.

SCALE: Young her needs to get behind me, older her and I are probably on the same level.

Helaena Targaryen

Who else? Love absolutely everything about her. I’m dreading Season 2, but in my mind she’s away from King’s Landing, happy and safe with her babies. She is The Character.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME, I WILL BE SEEING THE REST OF THE CAST IN COURT

[100hearteyes]

Albie being duped by the "wounded bird" type he's attracted to (and reiterating that he wants to respect women but then ogling that woman at the airport, just like his dad and granddad) and Portia being fucked over and increasingly disenchanted by the "caveman" who's "totally ignorant of the discourse" that she craved, and that adventure she so wanted to go on, and then the two of them coming back together in the end and regretting the real-life enactment of their warped, deluded fantasies is one of the many great things about The White Lotus.

A very unpleasant TV show about very unpleasant people. It's so fascinating though. And so good. Definitely binge worthy.

[gustavoturner]

[gracerings]

my favorite criticism i’ve seen people make about the white lotus is that the gays are always fucked up people. girl that’s literally the selling point

[vinylattes]

#the two genders by murray bartlett: soft gay bitch & chaotic gay bitch

MURRAY BARTLETT as FRANK & ARMOND in The Last of Us (2023-) & The White Lotus (2021-)