Zine Spotlights #3

Bullshit Movies
Tristan Fidler
$?, available from ??? (See sheepish footnote)
Or read more at bs-movies.blogspot.com

This is a zine for so-bad-it’s-good movie lovers. It consists of ingeniously written synopses of ridiculous action movies like Blind Fury, Ghost Rider and McBain (yes, there’s another McBain besides this one) – movies so bizarre, misogynistic, xenophobic and terribly scripted that their existence blows my mind, really. You’d think these kinds of movies are a thing of the past, but this zine isn’t limited to corny eighties and early nineties films. For example, Taken was released in 2008, and just reading about it in Bullshit Movies and Wikipedia makes me so uneasy that I might just derail this review to talk about its problematic plot. Basically, Liam Neeson’s daughter, against the wishes of her father, travels to Paris and gets kidnapped by Albanian sex traders and is saved by trigger-happy daddy just in time because she’s a ‘highly valuable virgin’ and thus the last girl to be sold. (Meanwhile, her fellow kidnapped and presumably non-virginal friend dies.) WTF? You wouldn’t think that ‘awesomely funny’ and ‘awesomely depressing’ would be next-door neighbours, but they are in Bullshit Movies. This zine also contains pretty cool illustrations of Nicolas Cage, Christopher Walken and other action heroes.

Sheepish footnote: Immediately after writing this review I discovered that not only did the person from whom I borrowed this zine not remember the price of it, but that this zine is probably out of print. But just because you can’t buy this zine doesn’t mean I can’t review it, right? Right?



Not a zine review but a response to ‘The Bubble – zines and constructive criticism’

The October issue of Sticky Institute’s excellent newsletter has some interesting thoughts on the practice of reviewing zines. ‘I enjoy a good discussion about what makes zines great,’ writes Candace. ‘But it pains me that many people I come across only seem to want to discuss the good stuff.’ In her short article, ‘The Bubble – zines and constructive criticism’ (a reference to 30 Rock which I thoroughly appreciated), Candace questions the general resistance of zinesters to criticise other zines, a resistance which seems ‘ironically conservative’ given that zines themselves, often, are all about fostering criticism and debate.

Candace’s thoughts reminded me of when we first decided to talk about zines on this blog. I remember thinking that I’m not sure if I could publicly express negative sentiments about a zine. It was a conscious decision to call these posts ‘Zine Spotlights’ rather than ‘Zine Reviews’ – to create a space for pointing out zines that we thought made good company. My reluctance to write ‘reviews’ also sprang from not knowing very much about zine culture, its unspoken etiquette. Sometimes I still find myself filled with the same nervous ache of the first time I sold my zines, even though they are just frivolous things, nowhere near as serious and heartfelt as many others, nor engaging in the kind of ideological criticism as the aforementioned Bullshit Movies does. I don’t think zines, or any text, should live in a protective bubble. I definitely agree with Candace that problematic elements of a zine deserve discussion. But I guess when zinemakers are reviewing other zinemakers, the vulnerability is just too familiar. Candace is calling for ‘reasonable feedback, aimed at seasoned zinesters’, to which the newsletter’s editor slipped in a parenthetical remark: ‘How do you know who’s a seasoned zinester and who’s a newbie? Should that even be an issue?’

I don’t know if the giving or receiving on feedback should rest on one’s level of expertise as a zinester, but I think that you don’t have to look further than to the individual zine itself to determine what kind of criticism it can withstand. A lot of zines I’ve read have this particular intimacy about them, like you’re being led into somebody’s house, and it would be poor form to start criticising the décor. Others seem to invite dialogue, disagreement even; some zines are openly critical and will justifiably generate a response. Some zines are just play; others veer into mean-spirited territory. There needs to be tact, as Candace mentions. Not all criticism is vital to put out there, but sometimes it really is necessary.

I really appreciate that Sticky’s newsletter not only reviews zines but talks about the ethics and practice of reviewing. As a sporadic and inexperienced zinester, I am a still little bit resistant to saying outright bad things about other zines – hopefully not unreasonably so. Although I’m still chewing over how to define what my actual position is, this article has prompted me to renew my perspectives on zine criticism, for which Candace has my gratitude.


Elizabeth Tan
for dotdotdash