This, honestly, is the perfect critique of Doug Walker's work in general. Unfortunately It's at it's best when he's saying some of the cruelest things, like calling him the internet's version of...
This, honestly, is the perfect critique of Doug Walker's work in general. Unfortunately It's at it's best when he's saying some of the cruelest things, like calling him the internet's version of Tommy Wiseau.
The thing that makes Channel Awesome so enduring, and why they keep getting viewers after all of this time, is because the Walker Brothers have a very 'internet' understanding of films as art. They seem to represent the lowest common denominator in terms of how they understand the films they represent. So when they are reviewing pop culture pieces like Disney films, Ghostbusters, or the Super Mario movie, they're in their element; they'll say what most people want them to say and make jokes about the things that people knew were silly already. But when a film slips into that 'artistic' zone, where representations become abstract (where "the wall" is a pretty much perfect example), they can't really grasp at what the filmmakers are trying to say. So in effect, the Nostalgia Critic doesn't criticize movies, he reads the popular understanding of these movies.
I've watched far more episodes of The Nostaliga Critic than I'd care to admit, but if you've seen a lot of his work none of this should be surprising. Personally speaking I had learned this years ago when I saw the episode they made on The Wiz, since he was basically completely unable to understand why things were different from how they were in the 50's Wizard of Oz, and instead decided to yell about his problems with the choreography.
Ultimately, I agree with Dan when he talks about who Doug Walker is. Paraphraising, he wants to be a filmmaker but he doesn't have the creativity to make anything new, and he doesn't have the depth to understand how films work, nor does he have the drive to do the work it requires.
And so he's perpetually stuck in YouTube land.
Before anyone says anything about this, though, I should also emphasize that I don't think that any of this is actually a bad thing. It doesn't really matter that the Nostalgia Critic doesn't actually have good criticism. His fans - at least most of them - already know that they shouldn't be looking to him for decent film criticism. Doug Walker is an entertainer at heart, and in spite of his shortcomings he is very successful. Like every entertainer, you have to meet them at their level in order to get the full effect.
Didn't really know which topic to post this on, as it cross-cuts quite a number of subject domains. If someone feels strongly it should move please do so. Listening to Dan dissect both the...
Didn't really know which topic to post this on, as it cross-cuts quite a number of subject domains. If someone feels strongly it should move please do so.
Listening to Dan dissect both the "review" video and the original material itself leaves me with an understanding that it's been far too long since I looked/listened to The Wall in any form. Long enough that the last time I did I was probably only picked up a slim amount of the material, and through the lens of a HS student. Which is to say, I should go re-watch/listen.
I try to keep out of reviews of reviews and keep to the Beginner's Guide ideal of the artist is not the art and the critic is at risk of violating that, but if you wanted to suppose that Doug...
I try to keep out of reviews of reviews and keep to the Beginner's Guide ideal of the artist is not the art and the critic is at risk of violating that, but if you wanted to suppose that Doug Walker reviewed a movie, didn't get it, and brought his baggage into his recreation, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. He had a shtick and it worked well for him, but anything that had something to say that he couldn't intuitively get got the South Park treatment more often than not.
The idea that Doug appropriated Pink's pep rally to air his own grievances about cancel culture is probably something you could have gone more in depth with if you really wanted to dig through the Change the Channel history, or really explore the conceit of "cancelling (my/people's) speech is just as bad as the Nazis." I understand if that's not something you would want to invite into your home and the Alt Right Playbook does a pretty good job of covering that area.
I watched this recently as Folding Ideas appeared on my feed. I honestly had no clue NC did a video on Pink Floyd as I stopped watching him years ago when there was skits in every review. The...
I watched this recently as Folding Ideas appeared on my feed. I honestly had no clue NC did a video on Pink Floyd as I stopped watching him years ago when there was skits in every review. The whole #ChangeTheChannel was a nail in the coffin for me.
I think Dan does a great job at breaking down not only The Wall, but dissecting what has been so bad that many people complained (and as it turned out, many people on YouTube did dunk on NC's version of The Wall). I think what separates Dan from the others is that he directly knows people who worked for Doug Walker, so he can get a better gauge at what is going on behind the scenes. Others seem reactonary in comparison (which isn't bad, I mean I've found them all very entertaining).
If I'm being honest, I don't think Doug Walker was actually watching the film when reviewing it for critique, just minimally skimming it with his mind set on it being pandering/pretentious given a few comments online and with the intent to sell a cover album too. I mean, how can you sell an album "spoofing" The Wall if all you give it is high praise?
It's also clear from The Wall that Doug Walker has essentially given up on creativity. Many people have commented on the poor production values, but long time viewers will know that these are pretty much the same production values/setup Doug Walker had since he bought back his Nostalgia Critic character.
This video ending with Dan with a Hat with the bad greenscreen/clipping and the fingerguns pushed this video into my mind's hall of excellence with HBomberguy's debunking of the Sarkeesian Effect videos.
This Nostalgia Critic remake feels like it was given to Doug as an assignment he needed to complete in order to graduate. He hit a runtime requirement and checked some boxes, but refused to put...
This Nostalgia Critic remake feels like it was given to Doug as an assignment he needed to complete in order to graduate. He hit a runtime requirement and checked some boxes, but refused to put more than 30 seconds into his thesis. The script must have been written as a stream of consciousness from that 30 second seed with no will to turn back and rethink it.
To be honest I don’t think it deserves such a well spoken meta review. Some mysterious drive compelled Doug to see this to completion. Trying to figure that out is the only interesting thing you can do.
This, honestly, is the perfect critique of Doug Walker's work in general. Unfortunately It's at it's best when he's saying some of the cruelest things, like calling him the internet's version of Tommy Wiseau.
The thing that makes Channel Awesome so enduring, and why they keep getting viewers after all of this time, is because the Walker Brothers have a very 'internet' understanding of films as art. They seem to represent the lowest common denominator in terms of how they understand the films they represent. So when they are reviewing pop culture pieces like Disney films, Ghostbusters, or the Super Mario movie, they're in their element; they'll say what most people want them to say and make jokes about the things that people knew were silly already. But when a film slips into that 'artistic' zone, where representations become abstract (where "the wall" is a pretty much perfect example), they can't really grasp at what the filmmakers are trying to say. So in effect, the Nostalgia Critic doesn't criticize movies, he reads the popular understanding of these movies.
I've watched far more episodes of The Nostaliga Critic than I'd care to admit, but if you've seen a lot of his work none of this should be surprising. Personally speaking I had learned this years ago when I saw the episode they made on The Wiz, since he was basically completely unable to understand why things were different from how they were in the 50's Wizard of Oz, and instead decided to yell about his problems with the choreography.
Ultimately, I agree with Dan when he talks about who Doug Walker is. Paraphraising, he wants to be a filmmaker but he doesn't have the creativity to make anything new, and he doesn't have the depth to understand how films work, nor does he have the drive to do the work it requires.
And so he's perpetually stuck in YouTube land.
Before anyone says anything about this, though, I should also emphasize that I don't think that any of this is actually a bad thing. It doesn't really matter that the Nostalgia Critic doesn't actually have good criticism. His fans - at least most of them - already know that they shouldn't be looking to him for decent film criticism. Doug Walker is an entertainer at heart, and in spite of his shortcomings he is very successful. Like every entertainer, you have to meet them at their level in order to get the full effect.
Didn't really know which topic to post this on, as it cross-cuts quite a number of subject domains. If someone feels strongly it should move please do so.
Listening to Dan dissect both the "review" video and the original material itself leaves me with an understanding that it's been far too long since I looked/listened to The Wall in any form. Long enough that the last time I did I was probably only picked up a slim amount of the material, and through the lens of a HS student. Which is to say, I should go re-watch/listen.
I try to keep out of reviews of reviews and keep to the Beginner's Guide ideal of the artist is not the art and the critic is at risk of violating that, but if you wanted to suppose that Doug Walker reviewed a movie, didn't get it, and brought his baggage into his recreation, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. He had a shtick and it worked well for him, but anything that had something to say that he couldn't intuitively get got the South Park treatment more often than not.
The idea that Doug appropriated Pink's pep rally to air his own grievances about cancel culture is probably something you could have gone more in depth with if you really wanted to dig through the Change the Channel history, or really explore the conceit of "cancelling (my/people's) speech is just as bad as the Nazis." I understand if that's not something you would want to invite into your home and the Alt Right Playbook does a pretty good job of covering that area.
I watched this recently as Folding Ideas appeared on my feed. I honestly had no clue NC did a video on Pink Floyd as I stopped watching him years ago when there was skits in every review. The whole #ChangeTheChannel was a nail in the coffin for me.
I think Dan does a great job at breaking down not only The Wall, but dissecting what has been so bad that many people complained (and as it turned out, many people on YouTube did dunk on NC's version of The Wall). I think what separates Dan from the others is that he directly knows people who worked for Doug Walker, so he can get a better gauge at what is going on behind the scenes. Others seem reactonary in comparison (which isn't bad, I mean I've found them all very entertaining).
If I'm being honest, I don't think Doug Walker was actually watching the film when reviewing it for critique, just minimally skimming it with his mind set on it being pandering/pretentious given a few comments online and with the intent to sell a cover album too. I mean, how can you sell an album "spoofing" The Wall if all you give it is high praise?
It's also clear from The Wall that Doug Walker has essentially given up on creativity. Many people have commented on the poor production values, but long time viewers will know that these are pretty much the same production values/setup Doug Walker had since he bought back his Nostalgia Critic character.
This video ending with Dan with a Hat with the bad greenscreen/clipping and the fingerguns pushed this video into my mind's hall of excellence with HBomberguy's debunking of the Sarkeesian Effect videos.
This Nostalgia Critic remake feels like it was given to Doug as an assignment he needed to complete in order to graduate. He hit a runtime requirement and checked some boxes, but refused to put more than 30 seconds into his thesis. The script must have been written as a stream of consciousness from that 30 second seed with no will to turn back and rethink it.
To be honest I don’t think it deserves such a well spoken meta review. Some mysterious drive compelled Doug to see this to completion. Trying to figure that out is the only interesting thing you can do.