Twees're Good (except they're not)

[Sectionfive]

Vintage filter on iphone photos

 

[baboon2004]

Wasn't Juno soundtracked by the Moldy Peaches, who had been famous in NME land several years before? I blame I'm Sticking With You by the VU.

I like some twee stuff quite a lot, have to say. I think B&S are awesome, for the reasons Slothrop gives. Just a brilliant aesthetic.

@gumdrops, I thought for a minute (not having seen the ad) that that would be the Luna (Dean Wareham from Glaaxie 5000 version, and was about to disagree vehemently. Listening to it now, dont' hate it (but not watching the screen) . Ok, watching the ad now, filth.

I really like Susana and the Magic(al?) Orchestra's version of Crazy Crazy Nights. Tweeness extraordinaire. Actually, it's way better than that (listening now).

 

[Trillhouse]

if you think juno is a terrible film (which it is - it tries way too hard to be cool/blithe) or wore its rock cred way too heavily, you need to watch 500 days of summer, which is basically like one long advert for someones itunes 80s indie rock playlist, and even more twee.

Yes a quite awful movie. If Juno was twee packaged for punk rock chicks. Then 500 days was twee for yuppies. gross.

 

[Corpsey]

she likes the Godfather 3 (but not as much as Juno)

Is Wes Anderson twee? Or is he more quirky? Or is quirky just another word for twee?

 

[e/y]

the worst offender prob has to be...

this, surely?

edit: bah, didn't see Corpsey's post

 

[computer_rock]

she likes the Godfather 3 (but not as much as Juno)

Is Wes Anderson twee? Or is he more quirky? Or is quirky just another word for twee?

i think twee and quirky/wacky are actually a bit different. napoleon dynamite epitomises the godawful end of andersonesque cinema. purposefully leaving in dodgy takes in which equipment is visible and generally being completely anachronistic is so pomo it makes me feel ill.

 

[pattycakes_]

i see your zooey and raise you a pomplamoose

god i want to punch this cunt's face in so much

her sidekick too.

 

[Trillhouse]

I'd say this is an example of quirky/wacky, rather than twee. Either way it's still incredible annoying.

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[baboon2004]

i hate wes anderson so much. i'd put him in the 'wantonly quirky' camp though. along with some of the coen brothers' most execrable films (some of their stuff is good)

napoleon dynamite was fucking awful wasn't it? dismal 'kooky' shite.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i hate wes anderson so much. i'd put him in the 'wantonly quirky' camp though. along with some of the coen brothers' most execrable films (some of their stuff is good)

seconded. though miranda july is up there too.

 

[john eden]

I can see why this stuff gets used in adverts - emotional, yet unthreatening...

I'm more interested in why people produce it, or like it. Is it a reaction to lad culture, maybe? Certainly the tweeness of people like The Smiths was, but it was balanced with other things.

Funny that a lot of the C86 indie shoegazers blazed a path for Oasis.

Some of it seems quite aggressively twee to me. It bellows that it is more emotionally sensitive than everyone else.

And the toys and hairbands and sweets with bands like Talulah Gosh, it's all a bit like people are refusing to engage with puberty...

 

[pattycakes_]

it's all a bit like people are refusing to engage with puberty...

nail on the head

 

[Esp]

Ed Sheeran seems to channel a lot of this stuff, he's like the distilled embodiment of a decade of saccharinely folksy phone adverts. Stuff like this is meant to be hilarious apparently:

 

[baboon2004]

I thought the line about fetishising tea/biscuits/cake from the other thread was spot on. And knitting. And passive aggression.

 

[computer_rock]

I thought the line about fetishising tea/biscuits/cake from the other thread was spot on. And knitting. And passive aggression.

And handmade tape cassettes/packaging. Especially when combined with a critical attitude to digital/internet culture, when it is probably that very culture that accounts for half your fanbase. (not not fun i'm looking at you)

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

so its basically fetishising everything ancient.

i like handmade tape covers lol.

 

[computer_rock]

so its basically fetishising everything ancient.

i like handmade tape covers lol.

Yea I don't really have a problem with them. I think i'm just still a bit fucked off with the thing amanda brown wrote in the wire.

Overall it does seem to be largely defined as a certain type of nostalgia. the mawkish sentimental kind. Is there another kind? i don't know?

 

[Slothrop]

And handmade tape cassettes/packaging.

Wha? Think we're getting a bit broad here, I mean I've got quite a few noise tapes with handmade packaging, for starters...

 

[baboon2004]

to add: obsession with 'vintage' stuff, obv esp clothes and accessories, because it's vintage, and not because you happened to just like it.

this can be widened considerably, in that fetishising things for what they supposedly represent, and what they supposedly 'say about' you, is problematic across the board. Rather than simply liking things, or at least trying to (fetish is hard to avoid completely, but it's trying that's the point). This is the problem I have with hipsterism, as it's based almost entirely upon replacing genuine passion for things and aliveness, with fetish (in the broad sense), basing one's own decisions increasingly around the opinions/approbation of others, and deadness.

Which is to say: I like tea and cake (actually I prefer coffee, but whatever), but I don't mistake it for a 'lifestyle' (whatever that means anyway).

 

[e/y]

am curious, what did Amanda Brown write? still haven't found a place around where I live that sells the Wire...