On Quirk
Michael Hirschorn doesn't like "quirk". He has some good points (Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, and You and Me and Everyone We Know tried too hard to be quirky and ended up annoying, but it's still good that they were made) but from what I can gather, he just doesn't like things that are too subtle for stupid people to get and that don't make a ton of money. (This American Life, Flight of the Conchords, Arrested Development, Wes Anderson movies other than Rushmore.) As if intelligent, subtle humor wasn't already in enough jeopardy, let's kick it some more! It's not like what he calls "quirk" is taking over our culture at a time with the best show on TV (the extremely quirky "30 Rock") is in danger of cancellation while exploitative reality shows and "Two and a Half Men" thrive.
A plea to Mr. Hirschorn: thanks for giving the world Celebrity Fit Club and I Love New York, and celebreality shows in general. But can you leave the already-depressed people who work their asses off to entertain those of us with higher standards alone? We're already hard enough to please, and they're already hearing a constant refrain of "dumb it down, dumb it down, only a few people will get this". Some of us happen to prefer things that only a few people get. Sometimes those things are the only things that make us believe pop culture has anything to offer us. What you call "quirk", we call "originality", and while there will probably never be a huge market for it, we need more of it, not less.
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