It's not that bad.
Last night, I had a bit of a dilemma. I saw Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Now, I bought the tickets, I bought snacks, I still got dinner before hand. And I approached this film with an open mind. I thought that it would be mostly awful, or at least apparently the production of a media hype machine.
Because it is the production of a media hype machine, and it knows it`s the production of a media hype machine-just look at the darn thing, right? It still has the kid`s name in the title. Incidentally, I got home and looked at the title of the final movie I`d reviewed whose review had departed up: Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth. I think it`s just tradition for semi-biographical, semi-dramatic readings/songs`n'dances movies. And when the film ended, I had good word and bad news. Good word is I`m more of a film critic than I thinking I was. I was capable to see a film that I was inclined to hatred and be pleasantly surprised.
Bad word is: it got three and a half stars and now I give to excuse to all of my friends why I apparently liked this movie. I think when Saul Williams let Nike use his song "List of Demands" in a serial of commercials for sneakers. Williams` audience is vocally anti-commercial in every way. His justification was rather long and rambly-the man is a poet, not an essayist-but I got the kernel under the writing. "I do what I want because I don`t get to free myself to my audience. Or at least, I shouldn`t have to." I shouldn`t have to either, but I also consulted my audience last night to entrap them in my logics.
Far from the first pre-fab pop star.
Let`s go through a few facts before I get to the end of this piece. I`m a big fan of pop music. From The Beatles to the Beach Boys, through the Bee Gees and Michael Jackson. After I saw Justin Timberlake perform at SARS-stock, I realized two things. One: his agent was probably fired over putting him on a rock`n'roll bill, where he was booed by the audience. But two: Justin Timberlake is an immaculately professional performer. I don`t like his music, but I don`t get to wish it to see that he cares about what he does and he does it good because he respects his co-workers and respects his audience. He gave that demonstrate his very best, despite playing an AC/DC, Rolling Stones crowd.
Seeing that performance gave me a lot of honour for pop musicians. As I said about Michael Bay, I don`t get to wish their work, but I too don`t give to be a troll. That`s the wit I had watching Justin Bieber performing in Never Say Never. Here`s this kid from Stratford, born to a teen mom, raised by her and her parents, who loves music. Justin may be on the stage at Madison Square Garden because he`s been the front of a massive publicity push coming out of Atlanta, but he would be on any level he could be good now even if he weren`t at MSG. He`s there because he loves music, he loves performing and he loves his fans. And that form of naive kindness is something I can`t help but get behind.
What I saw onscreen was simultaneously a production of marketing-a characteristic length advertisement for Justin Bieber-and a portrayal of a young performer who`s good to his home and right to his fans. It`s a lot of play being a pop star, and I see that not everybody likes the music. But the calling of a pop star who starts that young can just go a few places. You could go Lindsay Lohan or Miley Cyrus. You could go Hilary Duff or Haley Joel Osment. You could go Michael Jackson. There`s a period in Never Say Never when his coach is talk about Madonna at the MTV awards. She talks about Michael Jackson and how "we stole his childhood". And Justin turned to his coach and said "please don`t let that be me." That`s not a big positive tone to hit in an ad for Justin Bieber`s new album-that`s a very dark realization for a kid to have.
Even Conan wants you to allow him alone. Come on, guys.
And we don`t help when we heap scorn on him. I`m not saying I gave the film a good write-up because I`d feel bad. I`m saying that acting like Justin Bieber is the worst thing to ever happen to music ever won`t help anything. We shouldn`t be disturbed about the warm North American custom of pop music. In gain to the Bee Gees, we had countless disco acts. We`ve had pre-fab boy bands since the 60s, with the Monkees. Hell, we had pre-fab punk bands with the Sex Pistols and nobody complained. Pre-fab music where the director is the one directing the artistic direction of the artist is something that`s ever been about and won`t go away. It also isn`t even that bad. When you say that Justin Bieber is the worst thing to pass to music in a century, you`re not only expending your own vitality to rag on him. Your energy is going nowhere, because Bieber will be celebrated and there`s nothing we can actually do about it.
So I gave this movie three and a half stars. Even that is a compromise. If I were to measure this film entirely on how easily it convinced me of its thesis, I`d have to make it four stars. I went in wanting to hate it and came out thinking that eventually, when Bieber breaks free of the publicity machine`s hold on his music, he might be a proficient artist. The movie`s thesis is that he`s a young kid with a genial heart, a lot of gift and a love for music, and I was completely sold. It made me vary my target of thought on something, and it made me reflect on myself. It made me wonder who my duty was towards. Who am I writing for? I asked my audience last night if they thought I was a film critic.
They all said yes. And if I`m a film critic, I get to be capable to observe what I`ve written here. I get to be true with myself and with my audience. I wanted to make you guys a bitingly negative review for fun. That was my mistake. I was there to see a movie, not publish a review. Cos that`s what a real critic does. _ I guess I`ve grown, you guys.
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