Making a film has often been compared to giving birth: the moment of conception is the funnest part, followed by a long period of gestation (i.e. nausea), and culminating in an unimaginably painful delivery (which occasionally involves the cinematic equivalent of a c-section).
But the metaphor doesn't stop there. Because once the baby/film is born, it requires almost constant feeding, sleepless nights, and endless worrying. It is a truism of independent cinema that the birthing (i.e. production) is the easy part. The really hard part is the parenting (i.e. distribution).
But what constitutes good parenting? Should a parent be permissive or strict? Extremely attentive or somewhat detached? There is probably no single right way to parent a child/film. But some parents are clearly negligent, and leave the child unattended for long stretches, while others micromanage the child's every move.
I have been a negligent parent with my first three children (A Little Stiff, I Don't Hate Las Vegas Anymore, and In the Bathtub of the World), and vowed to be a better parent to my youngest child (I Am A Sex Addict). In doing so, I have perhaps fallen into the opposite trap and become too controlling.
But putting one's film out into the world is like deciding what school to send one's child to, and any parent can testify to how stressful and difficult that can be. If I send the kid to public school, he or she will probably get beaten up. But if I send the kid to private school, how will I pay the bills?
I had no choice but to send my child/film to public school. And my child/film is getting beaten up. The bigger kids (films with bigger marketing budgets and stars) can cut in front of my child/film at the cafeteria, or shake my child/film down for his or her lunch money. And the school bullies (the critics) can taunt my child/film with impunity, and if my child/film fights back, then that just makes them even more vicious.
The biggest bully in school (Anthony Lane) wrote a below-the-belt review of my film in the school paper and my child/film challenged him to a fight after school. He pretended not to hear (bullies are notorious cowards - if you challenge them, they will either fight dirty or run home crying), and instead wrote a new, even more below-the-belt review of my film.
So the question is: how to handle bullies? Should one fight back? Or should one let oneself be pummeled and not retaliate, whether from a desire to appear stoic or from fear of later retribution?
Everyone learns how to deal with bullies in his or her own way. But if a film is a child, then it's painful to see one's child coming home from school with a black eye. And it is very tempting to want to teach one's child the art of jiu-jitsu.
posted by Caveh Zahedi at
11:48 PM
