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.

Comments

[Barrett]

Amen. I thought the quirkiest part of the Hirschorn piece was the piece itself - it divvied "quirk" into haphazard piles of good and bad (why the hatred for TAL?). More importantly, it made me ask, How many dogs has Hirschorn kicked today? He picks on canceled TV shows and low-grossing films. I hope he's happy watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.

[JK Stewart]

Arrested Development as subtle?

Bratty and slow-witted is more like it.

Nor would I compliement Wes Anderson subtle. His intelli-ham is a poor apology for his naked Salinger cribbings.

[lindsay]

It should also be noted that this is the guy who brought us "woman craps her pants on national TV" (Whatever Flava Flav show that was.) Mencken was right when he said nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people -- but it's an astute observation, not a career mission statement.

[krucoff]

Funny, cause when I first saw the piece I thought, "Aw shit, Lindsay is gonna have something to say about this. With the programs listed, she's the quirk poster girl!"

[Uncle Grambo]

That guy also brought us the truly delightful viewing experiences that are "The Pick-Up Artist" and "Acceptable TV", not to mention EPing the probs the best mini-series/documentary that's been on TV this century, "The Drug Years," so let's not get hasty. Yes, he's my boss, but that's not why I'm defending him. It's for this reason -- I don't think he was saying he thinks the world would be worse off if more people watched "30 Rock" than watch "Two And A Half Men", I think it was more of a cultural observation that quirk is everywhere and, just like anything else, some of it is good, some of it not so much.

[Jason]

Awesome, Lindsay. I'd add: "Who is he kidding, saying KNOCKED UP isn't quirky?" Uhm...Paul Rudd much?

[Matt T]

"quirk is everywhere"

If it was everywhere, wouldn't it stop being quirk? Doesn't "quirky" by definition mean out of the ordinary, which sort of means not at all everywhere?

[Worker #3116]

I'm kind of confused on why these things have to be mutually exclusive. 30 Rock is great, but Flavor of Love is also great. And they're both made to sell advertising, so some of the moral outrage is a little facetious.

But also: "those of us with higher standards" is hilarious and groaningly elitist, Blogger. There's lots of fuckng retarded people who like Arrested Development.

TEMPEST IN A BLOGPOT. NOT SO MUCH A FLAME WAR AS A FLAME SISSY-SLAPFIGHT.

[dukiebiddle]

Although I might take exception with some of the examples he sited (do I suck for thoroughly enjoying The Royal Tennenbaums, TAL and Arrested Development?), I do have some sympathy for his central argument - that “quirk” (or has he defines quirk) has become the voice of the decade for supposed “quality” entertainment/humor/etc. - and can sometimes be mistaken for quality simply by being quirky; not unlike how you one can pepper bad, empty fiction/entertainment/etc. with ambiguity and pretend that ambiguity is actually depth. Perhaps that can partially explain where Anderson went wrong with The Life Aquatic, or why The Flight of the Conchords is a giant, steaming pile of overrated dog crap (sorry).

[dukiebiddle]

oops. "cited" I'm a retard.

[bg5000]

So since Wild Hogs made more money at the box office than Royal Tenenbaums, Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State combined, wouldn't it be more accurate to say we're actually drowning in homophobic, motorcycle road trip movies?

[greg.org]

I wish/wonder if the problem he's not getting isn't quirk but "quirk," a flavorless, inauthentic spice that studio and TV suits want to sprinkle more of onto whatever project crosses their desk.

It's less Wes Anderson and more that Mac guy [please don't kill me if John Hodgman gets hit by some shrapnel, I'm actually thinking of the other guy].

[Jeff Barnosky]

Well, I guess I'm very tangentially one of the offenders of quirk by contributing to McSweeney's website. Damn me with my quirky hipsterism, being all superior. I'm guessing this guy is really just trying to demand straight realism in everything and pointing not at quirk, but at failed (in his opinion) art that tries to do something other than a direct representation of reality. I'm guessing he loves "Tell me you
love me"