I posted thread bait today, and I have regrets.
See, here’s the thing: I stand by the “hot take,” which isn’t at all, really, given that a lot of people feel the same, but I framed it that way and it worked. Easily the most-seen and discussed post I’ve had on there in a long while. Which is, truly, depressing and that’s where I have regrets. It’s a stupid hot take to have, by the way, that Blade Runner isn’t a great movie, and by that I mean in the sense that really matters most: does it tell its story well?
It doesn’t. In fact, much of the time, it’s quite boring. Boring because it’s bad, which is a shame because it truly is an exceptional film in every other way. Genius, even. With a shit story. And not concept! Either Dick’s (because I’ve read the novella) or what Ridley and Co decided to change it into. Which makes it even MORE frustrating, because ya boy looooooves a good noir. This ain’t it, kiddos. Style over substance. Not in, and frustrated about it. And here’s the part that was bait-y and got all that engagement: Ridley and Co knew it. It’s why there’s so many cuts of the damn thing.
Sigh.
Social media isn’t the place for such things. Social media isn’t the place for MOST things. I’ve known that for a long time, but I’m really starting to feel it most acutely lately. Like, I was excited about threads. I missed Twitter. And don’t get me wrong, Threads has been great for me so far. Very positive. This whole shebang was entirely my fault…but it was sobering to see how easy it was to drop a post like that and watch it get aggregated. I hate that it worked. To be clear: we’re not talking legit “viral” here. Nothing crazy. A few dozen. But, that’s 50x more than my normal, positive, random stuff gets…and that just has me wondering what the goddamn point is. It’s a cesspool. All of it. Do I really want to be a part of that? I don’t think so. Doesn’t make me feel good. Doesn’t make anyone else feel good.
We’ll see.