According To Research, Bad Movies Attract Smart People
Why enjoying terrible movies makes you more intelligent than most.
My housemate, Mac, is smart.
The first he scored on his recent essay entitled ‘Industrialisation and the Proletariat in the Soviet Union from 1945–1978’ doesn’t make him smart. The all-round A*’s he gained at A-level don’t make him smart either. Even being in the top 2% in the UK for intelligence doesn’t make him smart.
Mac is smart because his favourite film is the 1985, high-budget, low on logic, action masterpiece: Commando.
In the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Arnold Schwarzenegger — only his name is John — and he is an ex-special forces operative whose super-powers allow him to affect the precision of incoming, enemy fire, thus rendering himself bulletproof. His sidekick is an air hostess whose Stockholm Syndrome gets so severe after he kidnaps her, that she willingly helps him murder people. Oh, and it’s all done in the name of getting his daughter back after she’s taken by a Colombian drugs baron or a Russian militia, or a Colombian drugs baron who has connections to a Russian militia and wants someone freed from a prison or a dictator overthrown. It’s plot by numbers and incredibly dumb, but Mac wouldn’t have it any other way.
A study published last year in the journal Poetics has linked the enjoyment of bad movies to higher intelligence. Who knew that your love of the Fast and Furious franchise stemmed from your hidden genius? It’s time to dump The Godfather and embrace The Room; donate your copy of Shawshank to a local charity shop and purchase Suicide Squad immediately. Stupid is the new smart.
Co-author of the study, Dr. Keyvan Sarkhosh said:
We are dealing here with an audience with above-average education, which one could describe as ‘cultural omnivores’. Such viewers are interested in a broad spectrum of art and media across the traditional boundaries of high and popular culture.
So it’s the viewer’s skills of analysis paired with their desire to seek out rubbish from any genre, year or form that makes them culturally omnivorous. Sarkhosh says, “To such viewers, trash films appear as an interesting and welcome deviation from the mainstream fare”. Blockbuster flops just aren’t good enough for these screen junkies.
Therefore, it’s not a lack of awareness about what makes a good film that explains Mac’s devotion to Commando or The Toxic Avenger. It’s the fun he finds in watching them with an ironic eye. Bad dialogue, bad actors, weak plots, nonsensical scenes and exaggerated violence all excite and fascinate the cultural omnivore in him.
The study found that a “delight in cheapness” was also common among the viewers of trash movies; it seems that expensive sets and dazzling CGI can never replace good old-fashioned charm. Patrick Swayze’s B-movie classic, Roadhouse is charming. Adam Sandler’s cancerous career move, Jack and Jill is not. Arnie and the other Belushi in Red Heat get a thumbs up from Mac. Hugh Jackman’s ball-bag neck in Movie 43 gets a thumbs down and a middle finger.
The study itself, ‘Enjoying trash films: Underlying features, viewing stances, and experiential response dimensions’ has been the subject of tons of online articles and forum boards. The connoisseurs of crap cinema are revelling in their new found status as cultural omnivores and why would you not? It sounds cool. Academic even.
So, the next time someone sneers at you for enjoying Troll 2’s ‘They’re eating her!’ scene, tell them you’re smarter than they are. Me and Mac will back you up.
