Finally posting this. Took long enough to get it together and I appreciate my friends’ patience. But Chop, Salinas, Bug, and all others: Here ya go.
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In 1996, Harry Knowles founded Aint’ It Cool News (AICN). The site was a game-changer. It was made popular by off-kilter (but often well-written) reviews by writers that came across as literate movie geeks rather than critics, insider information on upcoming films from industry professionals, and the ability for readers to post in “talkbacks” to discuss the news the site posted. These posters became known as Talkbackers. AICN and Harry Knowles were (and to a certain extent still are) a big deal. However, ask any talkbacker today what his or her opinion of Harry is and you will likely not receive a positive answer. Harry has developed what I, a frequent talkbacker myself, would refer to as George Lucas Syndrome.
Let me be very clear on something: to align Harry with George Lucas on a creative/intellectual level would be foolish. Do not mistake the comparison I am drawing. Lucas is, controversies aside, a creative genius responsible for one of the greatest pop-culture properties of all time. Knowles runs a popular website.
While it is by no means an official or well-known term, pretty much any movie geek (hell, even people that don’t know much about film) would recognize the term George Lucas Syndrome (GLS from here on out). GLS is when the work that comes from the early stages of someone’s career is viewed in a positive way. There is later a descent of sorts that sees the individual in question abandon many of the ideals and moral standards they once built their career upon, ending in what is essentially a complete destruction of their artistic integrity.
Harry Knowles is possibly the greatest example of GLS since George Lucas himself.
Now, there’s a lot of controversy surrounding Harry Knowles and AICN. There are many questions that have been raised over the years regarding the overall journalistic integrity of the site as well as the man that created it. There’s similar question regarding George Lucas’ influence on the original Star Wars films (there is evidence that its creation was a massively collaborative effort and that George Lucas, creatively, had nowhere near as much influence on the final product as one might believe). That being said, there are undeniable truths in each scenario.
1. George Lucas directed Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
2. Harry Knowles founded Aint’ It Cool News.
This article will not discuss these controversies. Many of the questions raised make legitimate points and have solid evidence backing them up. Others have proof that is far shakier. Given this, discussing them is a point I do not wish to touch upon. This will discuss the merits of each man’s early career and the factors that lead to their creative downfalls.
As previously mentioned, AICN was a game-changer. While there are many movie sites on the internet that report news on upcoming movies, AICN was the first to gain true national exposure. This attention came when the box office failure of 1997’s Batman and Robin was largely attributed to some extremely negative early reviews of the film posted on AICN, as well as a few other sites. AICN is basically recognized as the movie website that made movie websites relevant. It has been in operation for nearly 16 years now and still receives large amounts of traffic. Harry ran this site recklessly and passionately. Similarly, George Lucas made that movie that he’s really famous for (the name escapes me….something about wars in the stars or something?) as a renegade. He was making the movie that HE wanted to see, not the one that the audiences, critics, or studios wanted. The result was…well, you know. Unfortunately, whatever good comes out of the initial stages of GLS must, by its very nature, be tarnished.
There is only aspect of George Lucas’ career that matches the fame he has for creating Star Wars: ruining Star Wars. Between changing various plot points of the original Return of the Jedi outline and something the fandom commonly refers to as Those Fucking Prequels, Lucas did a wonderful job of bringing hatred and infamy to what is arguably the greatest film franchise of all time. Similarly, in the last few years Harry Knowles has done pretty much everything in his power to destroy his reputation. There are scarily similar parallels between Lucas and Knowles’ respective descents into the artistic abyss.
Many Star Wars fans will state that the initial tarnishing of Star Wars, that being the inclusion of creatures such as the Ewoks in Episode IV, is the result of George Lucas developing a greater interest in merchandising than making a good film. They, as well as many creative minds that worked on the film, will testify that at that point Lucas cared more about selling toys than creating the finale the first two movies deserved. Similarly, any current talkbacker will cringe in disgust if one mentions the word “pwesents” (yes, that is spelt correctly) to them. In recent years, it is clear that Harry has become far more concerned with studios giving him merchandise, prop replicas, and set visits than he has been with getting good inside scoops on upcoming movies and posting well-written interviews. The term “pwesents” stems from a few now-infamous posts from Knowles regarding his desire to receive the aforementioned memorabilia from studios. Make no mistake, he has straight-up asked, in open forum, for studios to send him bribes for good reviews. What’s more, when he receives these bribes, a good review of the film it is attached to will often follow, regardless of quality (see: Armageddon, Green Lantern, The Spirit, and many others). In these situations, Harry will often be the only reviewer on the site to give the film a positive write-up. Many times, if a film is TRULY unbearable, Harry will do his best to make his opinion ambiguous, using quotes like, “I feel like I like this film, BUT…”
This segues nicely into the next issue at hand: Harry’s writing abilities, or lack thereof. When AICN started, Harry never claimed to be a journalist. He never claimed to be a critic or an expert. Harry always made himself out to be a fan, and nothing more. His articles were colorful and entertaining, but never true film criticism. The thing is, this never mattered. He knew he was just a fan. His readers knew it. There was no reason to take up arms over him calling a movie a “disgusting asswipe of a wreck”. This changed when Harry’s view of his work changed. Slowly, Harry’s ego became inflated and he began to think of himself as a true film journalist, as a well-respected critic. This would be rational if his writing style changed with his view of himself, but it didn’t. It stayed fanboy. Similarly, George Lucas’ ego became more and more inflated as the years went on. What didn’t develop was his talent (it arguably got worse, as evident in the prequels). Pick any article by Harry and play the AICN drinking game. This involves taking a sip every time you see
a) a grammatical/spelling error
b) The phrase “I love…” (two sips if it’s used in succession, i.e “I love that….I love that….I love…”)
c) A phrase that contains any vulgarity
I promise you will be good and drunk by the end of the article. Again, none of this would be an issue if Harry didn’t make himself out to be a serious journalist. But sentence fragments, spelling mishaps, and phrases like “fuck up Yoda” and “chocolate-covered pussy juice” aren’t the mark of a journalist. They’re the mark of an entertainingly vulgar fanboy, a term which itself has become questionable in association with the big guy with Harry recently screwing up various bits of film knowledge with movies like Drive, Alien, and Rebecca. And let’s not get started on his infamous use of the word “giggle” in articles (personal note: Harry. It’s creepy and literally gives me the worst kind of goosebumps whenever I read it. It comes across as borderline maniacal/pedophilic. Please stop). All Harry needs to do to fix this issue is edit. Hell, not an article he posts goes without at least twenty talkbackers politely suggesting that he edit, or get somebody else to edit, his articles before they go online. This is largely the issue that plagued the Prequels. George was in complete creative control and had nobody to tell him when something didn’t look right on film, or when a line of dialogue wasn’t working. He didn’t have an editor (I do realize the irony of using this phrase on a filmmaker).
The final nail in Harry’s coffin comes in this: He knows. Harry has acknowledged at least four times over the last year that his writing is not up to snuff, that he isn’t doing everything he can for the site. He’s promised change. It hasn’t come. The first time he posted an apology, it was met with a heartfelt, “We love you, big guy.” from the AICN community (for the most part; trolls do run rampant). But just last week, he posted yet another “I’ll get my shit together.” post. The problem is that now he’s the boy who cried wolf. He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t taken what we’ve said to heart. He still makes it quite obvious that his reviews can be bought, that he has no journalistic integrity, and that he has no intention of crawling out of the hole he’s dug for himself.
I love Harry Knowles, much as I love George Lucas. Both created something that ultimately enhanced my interest in film. I respect what they’ve created. That said, I also hate them, a hate rooted in my love for them, for so phenomenally staining their creations that I love so much. AICN is still redeemable. There are plenty of great writers on staff ripe for a position as Editor-in-Chief of the site. I beg Harry to take some time off, to get back to neutral, to remember what Aint it Cool is. We will still be here when you get back and we will welcome your return. But after reading the review of Chronicle he posted this morning, one of the most unbelievably inept excuses for writing I have ever seen, I’ve got to put my foot down. Take some time off, big guy. Or at the very least, get a fucking editor.
