Unfrosted _ a movie about Pop Tarts

[KorvinStarmast]

Within the last year, the man who basically invented the Pop Tart passed away. We had a pop tart morning at the office to commemorate this 1960's era breakfast food that has lasted a while.

Jerry Seinfeld is directing Unfrosted, a fictional movie about the origin of the Pop Tart. Jerry, having now gotten into the movie business, has a few things of interest to say about it.

Jerry Seinfeld Says the ‘Movie Business Is Over' and ‘Film Doesn't Occupy the Pinnacle in the Cultural Hierarchy' Anymore: ‘Disorientation Replaced' It

Story by Zack Sharf • 22h • 3 min read © Variety

Jerry Seinfeld is finally a movie director with the upcoming premiere of his feature directorial debut "Unfrosted." Backed by Netflix, the star-studded comedy is a fictional account of the creation of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries.

In a new interview with GQ magazine, Seinfeld reflected on his experience of jumping into moviemaking for the first time so late in his career.

"It was totally new to me. I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work," Seinfeld said. "They're so dead serious! They don't have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea."

Asked to elaborate on a more serious note, Seinfeld continued:

"Film doesn't occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we're walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see."
So what, if anything, has replaced film?
"Depression? Malaise? I would say confusion. Disorientation replaced the movie business," he answered. "Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What's going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?'"

"I've done enough stuff that I have my own thing, which is more valuable than it's ever been," Seinfeld noted about his career outside the more-confused film industry.
"Stand-up is like you're a cabinetmaker, and everybody needs a guy who's good with wood…There's trees everywhere, but to make a nice table, it's not so easy.
So, the metaphor is that if you have good craft and craftsmanship, you're kind of impervious to the whims of the industry."

"Audiences are now flocking to stand-up because it's something you can't fake," he added. "It's like platform diving. You could say you're a platform diver, but in two seconds we can see if you are or you aren't. That's what people like about stand-up. They can trust it. Everything else is fake."

The part in the indent is what caught my eye.

What do you all think. Is he on to something?

[Ionathus]

"It was totally new to me. I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work," Seinfeld said. "They're so dead serious! They don't have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea."

This part is absolutely bonkers. If I'm understanding him correctly, he's saying, in order:

1. I've never worked in film.
2. I have massive respect for people who work in film.
3. Film people are deluded about the death of their artform.

What a zero-to-sixty quote. Taking his quote at face value, it seems like a textbook case of being brand new to an artform or field of study and deciding you've seen enough to make broad, sweeping judgments about it.

Keep in mind I'm not defending movies from the Big, Scary Seinfeld. I don't have a horse in this race -- I even kind of agree with him about their decrease in cultural relevance (for certain cases). But he still strikes me as unnecessarily aggressive about a thing he doesn't know very well.

The part in the indent is what caught my eye.

What do you all think. Is he on to something?

His comments about people in show business feeling adrift or overwhelmed feel genuine and I'll put stock in those. His philosophical musings about "Depression, malaise, and disorientation" don't feel very insightful though.

Somebody noticed a cultural trend and is trying to apply a moral judgment or philosophy to it. Same story, different day.

-----

Incidentally: I do think that movies aren't the widespread social activity they used to be. Streaming was already affecting that (e.g. not trying to see it in theatres since it'll be out on streaming soon enough), and social distancing dealt it another big blow.

Which is a shame, because some of my favorite watch experiences have been in theatres. Dune Part II and Everything, Everywhere, All At Once were both phenomenal to watch as part of a crowd -- the former for the sheer awe, the latter for the laughter and communal chaos. I remember other popular watches similarly -- you felt like you were part of an event. Live theatre is even better at this. Seeing Hadestown in a sold out theatre was a spectacular experience, enhanced by the people onstage being real people alongside the people around me in the audience. The energy is totally different and well worth it.

[Darth Credence]

No, he's not.

Not even getting into how his own narcissism drives this, it is observably false.

He says that film is no longer the pinnacle, and somehow claims that stand-up comedy is. And he says that this can be seen because people used to all see the good movies, and talk about them, and quote them. I'd argue that it was never about the movies being "good", but about movies being popular, which isn't the same. But, yes, people used to always talk about the big movies, quote them and discuss them ad naseum. Thing is, they still do that.

Let's just talk last year. Anyone remember Barbiheimer? Of course, you do. Everyone talked about both of them. Many people went to double features of the two. Tons of people dressed in pink. There were articles about the hidden depths of Barbie, about whether it was a feminist movie or not. There were articles about how people should think about Oppenheimer, what it tells us about America, about how it was being received in Japan.

Or how about Sound of Freedom? Boy did that movie drive a bunch of conversations that aren't really appropriate here.

Or how about the endless ink spilled about the end of the superhero movie era? If movies were truly on the way out, no one would care that superhero movies in particular may be.

[KorvinStarmast]

I am not sure if I read between the lines on his points correctly, but for some reason the recent actors strike and the issue with AI versus Creatives may be lurking in the background of his observations...and the of course he blows his own horn on stand up because AI can't do that.

And I may be waaaay off the mark in that regard.

I am still going to see his movie: Pop Tarts are a cultural touchstone from my youth.