Cloverfield and freedom of speech...

Well, Kalmar have been and done it. Well, at least two thirds of us have done it anyway. Yup, that's right. We went to see Cloverfield. With no truly pressing concerns about the band, we took some much needed Rn'R. We've even decided on a logo. Here it is!











Now, you would have had to have been living under a rock for the last couple of months not to know at least something about Cloverfield, not least to say its rather brilliant marketing campaign. Relying on techniques not used for quite some time, they created an incredible sense of mystery and hype around the film, and the posters were a powerful lesson in iconism; The things that Cloverfield will be remembered for the posters depicting either a headless statue of liberty, or the head of the statue of liberty lying in the street. Instead of blowing its load in the trailers and showing us all of the best bits ahead of actually seeing the film, it let us wonder, speculate and generate massive word of mouth about it by saying almost nothing.
When it comes down to it, Cloverfield is actually a monster film; You know, monster attacks city and we track the movements of a group of protagonists and we witness their very human struggle for survival. Where it differs is the almost Gonzo nature of the storytelling, by relying on the Blair Witch model of dramatic tension by having it all captured on a camcorder. It's a well told story, with likeable characters who you actually care about, especially when anything happens to them. The Monster is perfect, if not aesthetically (my only criticism is that the monster is quite obviously a CGI creation); It's not something that can be reasoned with, it's an unstoppable berserker, it has no reason to be there apart from destroy things and when it's needed, is a perfect Deus Ex Machina.
As soon as I saw the trailers and heard the buzz, I also knew that this film was going to be the most fashionable thing at the box office to hate, a) because it was doing something different, b) because it was incredibly successful, and c) lots of people thought it was quite good. If there's one thing the internet has taught me, it's that people hate success, hate fresh and forward thinking, and if it's popular, it has to suck. In Cloverfield's case, I'm glad that that many people are actually wrong about it.

In other news, the controversy in 2005 surrounding the printing of cartoons that depicted the prophet Muhammed by Danish newspapers has been stirred up again by their decision to reprint them today. This follows the arrest of three men who had been plotting to kill the artists, and seems to be a direct response. Sweden, Holland and Spain have also printed the cartoons. When the cartoons were originally published, the Cardiff University newspaper Gair Rhydd also published them. Following widespread protest from muslim students, the offending issue was removed from circulation and furthermore, security was posted from opening to closing of the main Union building, where their offices are based, in case of violent reprisal. How ironic that Gair Rhydd as far as my understanding of Welsh goes actually means free word. I'm writing about this particular issue because it angers me as much now as it did then that people could possibly fear for their lives exercising rights protected in law to free speech. I find it contemptible that people feel that religion should be above ridicule, especially when considering that you only have to look at the selfsame religious conservatives calling for mutual respect and their actions to see that they have no respect for any opinion that differs from their own. Religion is not above being satirised, and it should be, and as frequently as possible, especially if it's a religion that tries to take a womans choice away from her as to what she can do with her body regarding abortion like fundy christians do... especially if it's a religion that advocates the blowing up of innocent people for a holy war (and I don't care WHAT your holy book says... kill innocent people, and if it exists, you're going to hell. Simple as that) like fundy muslims do... especially if you try to teach creationism as SCIENCE when it is quite clearly religious hokum like fundy christians do, but most of all, ESPECIALLY if you try to censor what everyone else says and thinks about your faith like both sets of fundies do.
I'm afraid the UK has freedom of speech laws and acts. The right to and write or draw whatever we feel like is protected by UK law, and by European law. That means, by law, you have no right to censor what I say draw or write. You may not like it, you may find it insulting to your faith, but I have every right to say it, and by trying to stop me you are trying to break the law.
Put it this way, if I have to hear or hear about an ultra religious islamic cleric telling young minds to go and blow up innocents in the name of Allah, or hear or hear about Christians telling gay men and women that they are going to hell because of something that is quite frankly none of their business and far less damaging than the sexual abuse they heap upon their altar boys, then you WILL listen to me laugh like a drain at your fervent belief in a belief system that is nonsensical and contradictory.

Mutual respect? Stop threatening to kill people for speaking their minds, then we'll talk about mutual respect.