Martyr at the movies

Last week, Globe and Mail columnist Russell Smith delivered a prosaic screed, The films stink more than the greasy audience, a tirade against folks herding into Hollywood blockbusters that read like a campus newspaper parody of geriatric expectorate. Confusing things further was that Russell wasn’t making a point any civilized person could disagree with – just the aging College St. dandy’s version of Seinfeld-style populist stand-up without the burden of generating laughter. But he ended the column with a call for feedback, deigning to suggest you too could get interactive with this mightily pontificating boulevardier unaccustomed to quoting the proletariat. Then, a link to the subscription-only piece strangely surfaced on Metafilter, producing 85 reactions. Predictably, that response thread gave this week’s follow-up column some fangs – with the columnist noting his being called a “wanker” a couple times in a generally agreeable chorus of people unfamiliar with Mr. Smith’s reputation – yet the headline It’s confirmed: I have the tastes of a 72-year-old is kinda misleading. Rather, it’d seem the only Globe readers who’ll submit their thoughts to a Globe columnist – especially with the paper putting their columnists behind a firewall (even though you can usually find them gratis through Google News) – are Golden Agers. Does being able to prompt a ripple of reaction entitle one to many hundred dollars per week just because their words can line a birdcage? That’s the real question here. “I am still waiting for the arguments I prepared for,” asserts Russell, concluding with an allusion to the one 15-year-old female respondent who defended cinemas as the ideal hangout for 10th graders. “I quite agree. This is largely my point.” Hopefully he’s saved that e-mail address – the gap of 57 years between her and Russell’s disposition shouldn’t be a problem.