Don't Hate the Player
- Mike Fisher
- Mar 6, 2024
- 5 min read
- Phil Connors
Being in education has me occasionally thinking of the type of student I might have been to teach. I was in a French Immersion cohort from Grade 1 to 12 which meant that most people in the class were high achieving. I also had relatives and friends' parents as teachers occasionally, so I was aware that my class had a reputation for asking difficult questions and being overly inquisitive. Although, now that I’ve worked in education I know that it’s common to say that so parents think their kids are smart - and that those qualities can be amazing or annoying depending on delivery. I feel like I might have been a bit of a know it all, as I’ve always been keen to share what I know. I suppose that’s a prerequisite for someone to go into education, and while I do my best not to be a pretentious ass about it, I understand that when I’m really excited, I love to blurt out what I know and see who cares.
This may also explain my interest in prediction. I love pools where you are trying to pick winners (regardless of my background knowledge), I am equally disappointed and impressed when there is a twist in a movie/story that I don’t see coming and I suppose you could like my interest in the social sciences with my preoccupation of trying to see if we as people can be predictable. Through all of these processes I enjoy balancing research, observation and instinct as I actively believe they all have a role. However, all of this interest and thought doesn’t mean I am without my biases. I think we all have things that drive us in different directions and while I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to ensure that when I teach, my biases are guarded by having done my due research on alternatives to my personal perspective, perhaps the most damning biases are the ones we don’t fully account for.
This is a much more elaborate and serious lead up to a very non-serious exercise. As detailed in a recent podcast I came up with a game recently to try and predict the 2024 movie year. I looked at some of the similar games out there, and decided that I wanted to blend commercial success with artistic recognition. The specifics I will leave the podcast itself, but in a nutshell, I wanted to see if both elements of success could be somewhat balanced so that movies that get both are the most important - but there was value in ones that only fit one of the two categories as well. Alec Fest agreed to engage in this exercise with me, and so I felt the right thing to do was give him the first pick. This is because (and we both agreed on this), there was only really one choice for first pick (Dune 2) and the rest were more up to debate. Again, I’ll leave the actual picks for the podcast, at least for the most part, but what became very apparent to me when I was re-listening to the recording in order to edit our conversation was the generational gap between us might have had more of a factor than I imagined. Alec is a University student and I’m not any more. In fact, it’s been quite a while since I have been. So even though I came up with the rules, I’m 90% sure Alec schooled me at my own game. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been into a bit of a retro reading period right now, but a potential reason why became quite clear to me early in the editing process.
I didn’t start University until the turn of the millennium, so I was not in Uni during the 90’s - but I was in Middle and High School. So when “a child of the 90’s” comes up in conversation or writing, I immediately identify. I also share the opinion of Chuck Klostermann when he explains that culturally, the 90’s started when Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit was released and ended when two planes flew into the Two Towers. The year’s don’t match, but it makes sense regardless. What this means is that there are cultural values that are somewhat imprinted on me that escape occasionally and without warning. One of these values in particular may have cost me our bet and has me facing some pretty tough odds in our prediction contest.
Selling out used to be the cardinal sin of popular culture. Now, it’s seen as business savvy. If you don’t agree, watch Reality Bites now and compare it to when you watched it in the 90’s (or if you didn’t…. Imagine you did). Back when it came out, Ethan Hawke was an unmotivated thinker who was too good for the system. Now, he’s a good looking ass who didn’t deserve to make Ben Stiller feel like a dork. But more importantly, Winona Rider’s choice to ditch Stiller for Hawke was a smart move in 94, but now only reflects a life where poor decisions were better than smart ones. Being “right” morally meant you assumed all corporations were evil and to side with them would cost you your soul. Now we know that most corporations are evil, but instead of assuming you can live without them, you should try and change them. I’m trying to ensure my tone isn’t condescending as it’s not just “young people these days” that are ok with corporations having more of a hold on things - as people my age are MORE than happy with their iPhones as well.
To link this back to my silly game, I didn’t fully understand my motivations as I was making my picks, but I was trying to be a know it all and pick what might be an Oscar or Letterbox'd darling movie instead of making some of the safer picks. (Then I overreacted and took Mufasa….. I have no deeper understanding of why at this time). I had movies that I knew would score at least some points (again… using the metrics that I created) but I consistently passed on those movies and took ones that might not even come out or are from directors that I don’t even like that much. Alec was taken back by this and it influenced his picks for a few rounds, then he figured out that it wasn’t a winning strategy and took Despicable Me 4. This sounds like I’m making fun of the pick - but I’m not. That movie likely won’t win too many “Best Pictures” but it will make a billion dollars. So when that movie gets points and Juror Number 2 premiers to noone, I think Alec will appreciate his pick.
This wasn’t all due to my generational biases. When I made I pick I would reference an article or podcast I had consumed where they went over filmmakers and their projects while Alec would tell me that media around a movie on TikTok had already blown up. Both of these are sources to get information, but considering the bet, I should be have been more interested in movies that people will actually see, versus ones that I can pompously argue might be “better”. Ultimately I learned the the biases we don’t see coming can really impact us in ways we don’t always take the time to consider. And moreover, if you come up with the rules of a game - you should make sure you understand them.
Content consumed prior to writing this article:
The Town: 24 Draft, Trial by Content: The Big Movie Draft, The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman, 60 Songs That Explain the 90’s by Rob Harvilla (the book - and surely some of his podcasts by the same name).
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