Oh, Clive. You're so so pretty. Why can't you just shut your pie hole and get me a gin-n-fizz?

That's a good boy.

well, considering that television execs have taken "creative editing of people having emotional meltdowns and screaming at each other" and call it "reality television," I guess the concept that somehow the "art" produced in movies is somehow hyper-real.

I don't know. I want more UNREALITY in my entertainment. I want pretty people doing amusing things that have happy endings. Or I want goofy people doing funny things that make me laugh. Or I want brave-seeming people doing heroic things that make me want to cheer. 'Cos sometimes, old-fashioned reality sucks hard enough without us also being subjected to some kind of new-fangled "movie reality"

It's not even the fact that the film purports to be "real" that got me. It's the forwarded idea that none of these social ills are actually real to anyone until somebody comes along and makes a movie about them.

I imagine mass immigration is quite real to, you know, IMMIGRANTS.

"By talking about things that are really worrying us now makes it a much more relevant film than it might have been."

As I recall, Woodrow Wilson said much the same thing about Birth of a Nation.

Oi! Man, that article was mind-numbing, and not just from his quotes.

/sarcasm ON

An apocalyptic movie involving the possible extinction of humanity due to infertility, accelerated by despair, social breakdown, and war? How original! Be still my beating heart!

/sarcasm OFF

I've read a huge amount of science fiction, and offhand, I can think of at least 3 books or stories with very similar scenarios....one of which I believe that I read 30 years ago. God knows why I remember that, but reading that silly article brought it to mind.

Why yes, the sarcasm was intentional. Why do you ask?

By the by, just how real is "mass infertility"? Aren't we constantly being told that the world is overcrowded by the doomsayers? According to Paul Ehrlich, the human race should have had to resort to eating each other to survive by now.

If my incredible mental powers are serving me well, I think he just said in that second quote, "Making movies about things that are relevant to people makes them relevant to people."

According to Paul Ehrlich, the human race should have had to resort to eating each other to survive by now.

With McDonald restaurants so common, we might as well practice cannibalism.

I'm sorry, but reality just isn't real enough for me. Could I have more relevant reality, please?

(sigh)

I'll stick with "Reality is for people who can't handle drugs."

Heh. I remember that sign from the dorm!

I, for one, welcome our immigrant overlords... Who else is gonna pay for my welfare, er, I mean, Social Security and Medicare entitlements...

Meh. Reality is for people who can't handle epic adventure stories. I'd rather see him try to kill Matt Damon again.