The trend in entertainment writing

Published on October 4, 2004 By Angloesque In Entertainment

"Desperate Housewives, the new ABC prime-time soap (Sundays, 9 p.m. ET), bites into the shiny red apple of American suburbia and finds a worm inside." --slate.msn.com

I clicked on the review for "Desperate Housewives," wondering what their writer thought. At first I encountered that pretty metaphor above, but by the end of the article, I still wasn't sure whether the reviewer thought it was good or bad or just an opportunity for her to write pretty paragraphs and get paid for it.

What is it with popular magazine articles that are metaphorical, chock full of similies and trendy words like "bling," and entirely too low on content? If I wanted pretty fluff, there's some bad freshman poetry from my students I ould read. If I wanted to read nifty word choices, I'd be reading poetry. In fact I DO read poetry. But if I want to know something, I can't get it from a trendy magazine (Cosmo, Maxim, Claire, People, any bride's magazine) or basically anything marketed to the 21-40 age range. Sorry, but I have an IQ that's a bit higher than that

There needs to be a magazine for intelligent people my age that isn't all politics--no Newsweek or Time. Maybe more like the New Yorker, but younger. Something with substance and style.

Comments

Dusk411

on Oct 04, 2004

I remember first reading Seventeen Magazine. While it had its cool buzzwords, it did attempt to write some actual content (this way back in the early 90s). I considered YM to be the shallow, bratty teenzine then and it was: it focused on popularity and favored it.

Around 1999-2000 or so, it become much more flashy. The "School Zone" which showed different kids from high schools all over the country as themselves was gone. The quality of their ficition had gone downhill (keep in mind this mag once published Sylvia Plath) Fashion, celebrities, and makeup got more pages, unfortunately. In this day, Plath would be rejected.

It seems as though US magazines have adopted the tabloid style, but for the worse.

foreverserenity

on Oct 05, 2004

I've given up on reviewers when it comes to movies and TV shows that I like because I find them biased most of the times. Either that or they have no clue to what they're talking about. Seriously, most times their comments are so far off or nonsensical that I just get disgusted with it. So, it's in one ear and out the other where they are concerned. I'm an avid magazine reader, I read a wide assortment, from newsworlthy and intellectual to fun and fashion. And I must confess to a like for INSTYLE too. So I guess it depends on what you like to read. I totally enjoyed Desperate Housewives, as you did, so ignore those idiots cause it does sound as if it was just another one of those "...opportunity for her to write pretty paragraphs and get paid for it."

BlueDev

on Oct 05, 2004

I agree that most entertainment writing is complete dross. At least the mainstream writing. Mine probably is as well, but I haven't let that stop me!

The music I listen to isn't ever going to find a review in Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Blender, or whatever other P.O.S. magazine you can find. So instead I search the net for interesting, indie metal sites. Their reviewers are not only already fans of the genre (or at least understand it), but they also write about the music. Their reviews are much more useful. Both a boon and a bane of the internet, any monkey can get a sight or blog and type. That produces a lot of crap, but if you look hard you can find some really good stuff there as well.

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