In Defense Of The Entourage Movie

It’s a movie.

I get it. You want to show off your cultural superiority. You like good culture; you hate being problematic.

Here’s the thing. Nobody is making you go see the Entourage movie, the same way nobody is making you go to TGI Friday’s or any other low-culture marker you’re proud to turn your nose up at.

You can ignore it.

There are lots of bad movies. The Transformers series.

Defining yourself by what you aren’t is a cop-out. It’s a false equivalency cushioned in snarky safety Here’s how it goes: “I don’t like a bad thing! That means I’m good.” It’s safe and it’s lame. We’ve been through that culturally for a while. It’s stale and it’s less honest and less happy than focusing on what you actually like.

Remember how people would define themselves in opposition to the Kardashians? There was a time when we hated the Kardashians. Everyone did. Then, eventually, the backlash to the backlash came as a third wave. It became basic to blandly dislike the Kardashians and now everyone blandly approves of them.

Disliking the Entourage movie, a movie you’ll never see, is just about buying into a cultural wave and identity. It has nothing to do with personal politics or artistic aesthetic. You’re just showing off better taste in a tasteless, snarky way.

Maybe you dislike the Entourage movie. Whatever. Disliking is fine and inevitable but it’s a gross thing to take joy in. Instead find a dope movie or show you actually like for the same reasons you dislike the Entourage movie. Life is too short to focus on the negatives. Consider “Mad Max” or the new Jurassic Park or Ex Machina or anything else as your focus.

Re-watch Twin Peaks! Finally check out The Wire! Joy is out there. Being negative isn’t the same as being discerning, and being cynical isn’t the same as being smart. Don’t obsess on what you don’t like. That energy is better put to use elsewhere.

***

Now is the time to say that I probably will never see the Entourage movie.

I don’t like aspirational entertainment that much. But for those who do, it will offer simple pleasures. It will be a dumb summer movie, like generations of dumb summer movies before it, unremarkable except for the energy we attach to it. Some teenagers will be happy to see it in air-conditioned theaters, some people will ignore it, and it will pass unnoticed through our collective culture.

We will survive it.

There’s no need to burden yourself with the inoffensive and bland. The world is difficult, dark and unfair and it’s a form of cowardice to take a smug stand on something so small and universally despised.

If you seek justice, aim higher. And if you don’t, if you’re taking this on as identity politics, aim for a more positive affirmation of yourself. Aim for the things you like, not the things you hate, and watch as the world becomes a little bit warmer for you.