Manifestoes spring up in lots of places once you start exploring film history. The Surrealists, the Situationists, the Dogma 95 group all have the statements of principles. In fact, there is a key moment in one of the most important films in film studies, Citizen Kane in which Orson Welles gives a statement of principles for his newspaper. Joseph Cotten keeps the document and it has some dramatic importance at the end of the film (that’s probably the only part of Kane that can be kept spoiler-free at the point). So we are getting into the manifesto game ourselves and we here at GoodTrash Media want to give you the dear listener and reader a guide to what we are trying to do here and a few promises that we hope to keep.
Accessible Yet Academic
The flagship podcast of our media network has always been about bringing film studies to popcorn films. We occasionally break that rule with Anti-Trash marathons and special host picks, but the point has always been to bring the weight of film scholarship to bear on films that are not Citizen Kane. We would rather talk about Ghostbusters or Gremlins. Film studies is supposed to make watching movies more fun and typically helps a person enjoy a difficult film through the process of understanding it more deeply. We wholeheartedly believe the same is true of mainstream films! That’s why we keep up with what’s just coming out in theaters with our show, Back to the Movies. We believe you can be thoughtful about mindless entertainments and it will actually make them more entertaining!
We are also educational in our mission. We want folks to learn the basics of film theory, but we don’t want them to feel like they are doing work in the classroom. We promise to bring some heady theory to bear from Freud, Hegel, Deleuze and Marx but we also promise to always keep it fun. Mostly with the jokes… That’s why we do shows like The Film Syllabus and The Cast Who Knew Too Much. We want to introduce our audience to some of the important art films as well as the mainstream ones, but we want to always keep it fun no matter the subject.
We have the name GoodTrash thanks to this great quote from Pauline Kael:
Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them…Trash has given us an appetite for art.
We are here to increase your appetite.
We Love It When People Love Movies
Cinephilia or the love of movies is our disease and we truly are enjoying our symptom! That’s a Lacan/Freud joke, kids. Anyhow we are going to be advocates for more and more movie watching for our audience. We want to help you find movies you wouldn’t ordinarily find. We will champion local films and filmmakers. We will curate selection from every national cinema because it’s important to recognize that there’s a lot of fun to be had outside of Hollywood. And we most importantly believe that the love of film can bring people together and we can learn how to be more human in the process. That’s why we offer shows like The People’s History of Film. We are here to help people love movies and people who already love movies, to love them even more.
Movies Are About the Conversation
Listen folks, all of us at The GoodTrash Media network are already friends and would be talking about movies together with or without the website and podcasts. We are here to talk with you about movies and keep the conversation going. We really want feedback and though we all have jobs and busy lives, we are committed to responding to your feedback to keep the conversation going! Movies are so much more than 90 minutes and a bucket of popcorn; they are a starting point for a conversation where we all can learn to be better people!
You can keep the conversation going with me in the comments below or at my twitter account or on letterboxd.
Dustin Sells is studying for a PhD in Screen Studies at Oklahoma State University. Sometimes he gets some sleep. Check out Dustin’s most recently viewed films on Letterboxd @DustinSells or follow him on Twitter @dustin_sells or follow him on Twitter
