Dents In The Armour

T.K. McNeil

Often, something is deemed either ‘good’ or it is ‘bad’ in terms of criticism. Occasionally the term ‘mediocre’ will come up but not very much and while meant to be essentially neutral still sounds insulting. Sometime in the the 1980’s a notion came up, specifically in relation to movies, of being “so bad it’s good”. Distinct from spoofs, which are trying to be stupid and bad as a means of humour, “so bad it’s good” refers to efforts that are meant in all seriousness but end up through various personal, creative and/or budget limitations looking comical. At times being mistaken for intentional parodies. It is not really possible to pinpoint exactly when this notion came about or who was the first to use the term but the general sense of it emerged around the 1981 film Evil Dead. Conceived and intended a basic but honest Horror film, the special-effects ended up looking so fake and cheesy and the acting so hammy and goofy, many in the cast being amateurs guided by a first-time director, that audiences took it as a Comedy. Though he was initially somewhat upset by his attempt at a scary movie being seen as joke, it did so well that filmmaker Sam Raimi intentionally worked humour into the next two films in the series Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. Films that, along with John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London, helped to start the Horror-Comedy sub-genre audiences know now. Two other examples of movies so awful they still manage to work are Troll 2 and Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. Meant as a Horror and a Romantic-Drama respectively, both of these films failed so spectacularly in their chosen genres they work as particularly venomous parodies of them and have still managed to garner long-term, international audiences. There have even been films made about them. A documentary in the case of Troll 2 and what amounts to a biopic of Wiseau called The Disaster Artist based on a non-fiction book of the same name.

If something can be so bad it is good, effectively switching genres without really meaning to, is it also possible for something to be so good it is bad? A film that is so well written, so perfectly acted, so effectively told that it ends up not leaving much of an impression. Not because it is not innovative or interesting but because it is so perfect and polished that the audience cannot really engage with it because it does not reflect their reality.

There is nothing wrong with the film Sebastiane on a technical level. The acting is good, the locations authentic, the cinematography lush and beautiful, the lines are even delivered in Latin with English subtitles as befitting the setting in ancient Rome. The problem is not one of execution but intent. Sebastiane is very much a ‘Gay Film’.

Directed by the legendary British Filmmaker Derek Jarman during his mid-‘70’s rebellious phase, no punches are pulled in either irreverence or eroticism and the film was mostly aimed at a gay audience or an anti-gay audience. As the reviewer Kyle Kallgren pointed out, those who are not gay men, straight women, or homophobic and thereby neither offended nor aroused by the imagery, are likely to simply be bored by the film. It is a similar case with a film like The Majestic, Jim Carrey’s first serious attempt at Drama. Everything works as well as anyone can expect. It is not flawed enough to be criticized as a bad movie. Though it is also not good enough to be as inspirational as it would clearly like to be, because the audience cannot identify with it or relate it to their own lives.

One of the greatest strengths of the T.V. Series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which still enjoys a large and loyal fan-base 15 years after its cancellation, was its willingness to take risks and ability to do a lot with a little. It never shied away from making the characters look silly or realistically flawed and stretched a T.V. budget to try and fit feature film level ambitions. Sometimes there were cracks and stumbles but this does not seem to have hampered the overall effect and may have even endeared some. There were several instances of comedy and mixes of genre, both successful and not so much, that often ended up making the characters look silly but also all the more human and relatable. No small task when 90% of the primary characters have some sort of mystical of supernatural aspect to them. This is, after all, the the series that did an hour-long mini-Musical, “Once More With Feeling” (6.7). A project which almost no one was sure about, even the show’s creator Joss Whedon, conceding that he might “stink up the universe” in the attempt. The episode turned out to be one of the most beloved of the series, going on to inspire stage productions based on it, as well as movie theatre-based sing-along parties.

Nobody, with the possible exception of Uwe Boll, wants to make bad work. Even those who set out to be silly and poke fun want to do it well. Trying to be too perfect however, can come with a different set of problems, possibly disengaging with the audience if it comes across as too perfect. There is is something to be said for escapism but even Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia have their fair share of human foibles mixed in. Rather than reaching for perfection, it is probably better for creators to do the best they can while also being able to laugh at themselves and not afraid to have a few dents in their armour.