The wheels of popkultur turn strangely. The Independent Film Channel, in their infinite wisdom, have given Rollins, the former frontman for the most agressively awful band of all time, his own show called ... I kid you not ... Henry's Film Corner. See, he reviews movies and interviews filmmakers.
The little IFC website is oddly fascinating. There's video clips: Henry rants, and the camera jump cuts about every 700 milliseconds to make sure we know how exciting it is. It's kind of fun.
There was a presidential election. And I didn't get the result I wanted!If I was sixteen I'd probably think that this burly ranting crazy man had the Courage to, y'know, Tell It Like It Is.
But the website features a two part interview with Daryll Hannah. Okay, it's funny. He tells her ...
Many years ago, I was in this band, Black Flag. We would play the most dire holes all over the world. Very depressing.... and okay, there's a weird thrill in hearing him say that. "You know me as a movie critic, but when I was a kid I had a rock 'n' roll band." Then he says ...
I would put your name on the guest list ...... and even if this funny story is true, there's something heartbreaking about seeing even ragin' Rollins neatly productized and participating in the media hype cycle. Yeah, I know that Rollins has always been in showbiz. I'd like to retain some fragment of my romantic ideas about the possibility of radical antinomian showbiz: Rollins, Andy Kauffman, the Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson. But the corrosive power of celebrity-driven media culture is apparently so mighty that it can melt even Rollins' granite heart.
Rollins may have been above the fray at one time, but not Marilyn Manson. Love or hate the music, MM is a master at packaging and marketing his wares to appeal to teens. Everything is carefully calculated to scare the parents and thus make teens buy-buy-buy. The guy is a genius.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to tivo Henry's show, though I wonder if I can actually bear to watch...
Oh, yeah, my point exactly: Manson is deep deep deep in showbiz, but bending it to his purposes, gods bless him. I had thought that Rollins was always working a fundamentally similar project, but I fear that that becoming the cute ranting film critic doesn't actually accomplishes any real ends of his beyond making a living.
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