Rank A Dawn Part 1

[LucasM]

Spoiler

[[EDIT, just prior to posting:]] As usual, WAY more than I intended to write.  I really need to set more functional limits on 'what is worth my energy to express'.

What do you consider a "complaining riff"? I just watched the first 15 minutes again and while there were a couple of digs at the title and the fact the mom is barely in the series I really didn't feel like they were complaining the whole time.  Just trying to see what you and the other posters are seeing.

I rewatched it last night.  And because there are occasionally laugh-out-loud lines interspersed among the complaining, I'd actually bump it to maybe a 4 or 5 (if the poll allowed me to change my vote).  And it is possible I wasn't functioning as well the day I first saw it so what complaining there is was so overwhelming in its intensity [very little of their complaining seemed to be done in anything but a near-yell] so it made it seem like there is more sheer numbers of those comments than there is.

It is more the type of complaining, it's presence interspersed through most of the film, and it's intensity that are irritating.  Because you're right, it isn't that they are complaining the whole time, it is that the complaints that they DO make are so intense, and do not fit the genre and content of the film, so they make MK&B look ignorant and incompetent at reading people for interpersonal reactions, or realizing what it is that they are watching, more than their complaints pointing out flaws in the movie.

This series is aimed at young teenagers.  It is a love story, not a horror story.  Yet MK&B complain that it is spending too much time on the romantic aspects, too much time on 'angsty-teen stuff', and too much time on emotional reactions, and not enough on (basically) horror tropes.

That is like them riffing 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' and MK&B complaining there are too many horses, 10-gallon hats, six-shooters, and that the scenes are 'dusty', and that there aren't enough space ships and robots present.

For the love-story aspect, to young teen girls, the climax of the entire Twilight story is Bella's wedding to Edward.  Yet MK&B spent a lot of very agitated time complaining that it (and other 'romance' elements) were taking too long, saying it was done to drag out the story to two films, instead of recognizing the obvious: that it was the core of the series.  Again, that is like them riffing 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' and complaining that the 10-minute gunfight at the end was dragged out to fill time on-screen, rather than it being designed to be the dramatic climax of the film.

They complain (later in the riffing) that no-one is 'doing' anything (emoting, reacting).  For example, when Bella hears Edward say that "that thing" will be "gotten rid of", they yell that she's just standing there.  But if anyone is watching and has any clue how to read emotions, one can see that Kristen Stewart's face is changing, subtly gradually going from shock [at the mere words and idea] to stunned horror [presumably at the realization of what might be inside her, or what might be necessary to 'get rid of it'].  Because it is not 'over the top' expressions, MK&B act like there's nothing there... and yet, if Stewart was more expressive, from past riffings it is clear that they'd make fun of it being bad acting because it was too intense and obvious.  In other words: from what they've shown in other riffings, it is clear they would react in anger if it was done either way.  If there's no possibility for an actor or a scene to be 'successful' to them, then making fun of it shows the ignorance and basically bitchy/complaining nature of the riffer.  It has no actual reflection on the film, and therefore, it is irritating instead of potentially funny.

[Do I think Kristen Stewart is a 'good' actress?  No.  Her acting in the bit of 'Zathura' I saw once is certainly on par with the worst acting I've ever seen.  But her acting - for this story, for this age audience - is adequate, and she conveys what is needed for the scenes she is in.]


Complaining and bitching about things takes no mental effort whatsoever for most people.  If I wanted to, I could bitch at things not being the way I might want them, instead, I choose to do something about them.  If it is a movie, I turn it off.  If I'm feeling clever I can make funny comments about whatever to lighten its impact.  But bitching and complaining about things makes enduring them worse, not better.  I don't need to commiserate with angry people to feel better about something.  I do something to feel better.  I don't need to get confirmation from someone else that something I don't like isn't 'good'.  I am perfectly competent and capable of deciding for myself if something is worth watching, or has value, or if it does not.

Hopefully that helps clarify my ideas on this, and why the complaining is so irritating.

For an example of what type of comments I thought were funny, I particularly remember laughing during the wedding, where the riff was meant to be something the confused priest was saying, "for some reason my Bible just burst into flames."  That was clever, and unexpected, and related directly to the story that was being told.  So I found it funny.

Spoilered for Length.

I can see where you are coming from. I guess I just don't mind those kinds of Riffs.  Thanks for your explanation!

You're welcome.    Thank you for the graciousness of your response.

[I couldn't put my finger on it when I wrote it, but I actually think that that rather lengthy post of mine was doing exactly what I expressed in one of its paragraphs: there was something that was irritating or bothering me, so, instead of just complain that it happens, I wrote out why it seemed to me to be a problem.  Do I think MK&B will even see what I wrote?  Not likely.  But it might be possible that - since it has now been clearly expressed and the idea is 'out there' - the idea might just get back to them that making their riffing "genre-appropriate" would help make the riff-tracks funnier, if they want to keep a larger number of people coming back for automatic purchases of future riffings.]

[BathTub]

Had a really good time, I guess it makes sense that at this point in the series there is a lot of running jokes.