[Note: I know the following is dangerously close to self-parody. But I do think the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon is interesting.]

1. Remember how we all made Mahir, the Kiss man, famous? Some people spread the link out of a mean sense of superiority. (Mahir used his moment of celebrity to try to engage people across cultures, so now who’s the foolish one, eh?) But we also spread it because we could. We — all of us, each of us, none of us famous — could make an unknown human famous. It changed our relationship to celebrity, the continued existence of Paris Hilton not to the contrary.

With Snakes on a Plane, we’re flexing our muscles in a new way. We’re not insisting that JarJar be killed in the sequel, although we did write the movie’s most quotable line. But that’s cool only because it means with SoaP we’re messing with the audience’s relationship to the movie, and not just – as with Rocky Horror – during the time when the movie unspools in the theater. Rather, with SoaP the audience has taken over the meaning of the movie. This is very different from being asked to design Indiana Jones’ new outfit or write witticisms for the next James Bond movie. We, without being asked, have insisted on what this movie means to us.

What does it mean to us? Well, we’re refusing to let the movie be marketed to us as B movies — think Anaconda — are, as if we’re idiots who really think such movies are anything more than a retelling of the same plot over and over and over. With SoaP we’re saying that we know exactly what sort of movie it is, and we’re capable of enjoying it for the very qualities that make it a B movie. Don’t think we’re really surprised when a snake bites the guy on the nuts, as I assume happens, even if we jump because of the clever editing. We all knew someone would get bitten in the crotch, and we’ve always been conspirators in the success of B movies. Now we’re making that clear by reveling in our power, just as we did with Mahir.

I don’t think this is a turning point in how movies are made. The SoaP phenomenon has gotten much of its juice from the fact that this is the first time. Hollywood I’m sure is already trying to figure out how to repeat the success. But that’s like Hollywood plotting to find the next Mahir. Nah, Hollywood will continue, and we’ll find the next project we want to commandeer because, after all…[cue portentious music] aren’t we all the snakes on the plane?

2. Samuel L. Jackson. [Tags: snakes_on_a_plane SoaP movies pretentious_writing]

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