Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

The Forgotten Big Brother

Tags: Blog-a-thon, Piper

I’m a sucker for a good Blog-A-Thon. I love the variety that you get and the satisfaction that comes from knowing that people are at least taking your viewpoint into consideration. Today, Piper at LAZY EYE THEATRE starts his Bizarro Blog-A-Thon.

First off, I made my own custom banner for the occasion. Yes, Bizarro isn’t using Bizarro-speak, but this particular comic cover originally had Bizarro speaking very normally. Trust me, I know my Superman. I’ll contribute to the Blog-A-Thon later, but a disappointing thought came to mind when I reflected on all the Blog-A-Thons that have been happening.

If you’ll remember, what’s accepted as the first Film Blog-A-Thon was Girish’s Showgirls Blog Orgy. Basically, people all watched Showgirls and on a certain date, posted their thoughts on it, or aspects of it. Cool, right? But let me ask you: since that initial Blog-A-Thon, how many ’Thons have you seen solely devoted to one film? There’s an exception or two here and there, but it seems that almost every Blog-A-Thon focuses on a theme or on the work of a particular filmmaker. We’ve got Shakespeare, we’ve got Billy Wilder, we’ve got Kurosawa. Yet for me, there’s something so much more special about knowing that all these people are watching the very same film. Sure, we’re not all watching it at the same time, but it feels like it. It feels like everyone’s synchronized their watches and is participating in a mass screening of just one film. Then we all get to discuss it afterwards.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love thematic Blog-A-Thons, but I think we’re neglecting a very special kind in the process. It’s sad, because this is how things started out, and it seems to be almost completely abandoned. Maybe I’ll try to help the Single Film Blog-A-Thon make a comeback. I don’t get much traffic, but perhaps I’ll consider hosting a 400 Blows Blog-A-Thon, or a Blue Velvet one (two movies that most people love but that I don’t), where we merely re-evaluate our views on a particular “classic.”

But is it just me? Am I the only one yearning for a Single Film Blog-A-Thon?