Why is camp a bad thing?

[PatrickG]

Just asking, is all.

It seems like an automatic way to slam old stuff without giving ground for being refuted.

I recently saw a thread elsewhere in which fans of CURRENT Transformers accuse the ORIGINAL Transformers TV show of being campy. And I look at it all and see big alien robots that turn into cars.

And I love Batman wearing funky mission costumes and Superman keeping secrets from the reader.

And women with 60s hair-dos and miniskirts and gogo boots are sexy.

And I'm not interested in action movies without oneliners or horror without comedy, in terms of popcorn muching preference.

I find Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, Alan Moore and most of the british creators to be DELIGHTFULLY campy more often than not. I mean, pop magic and talking dogs and zombies from alternate universes? That's camp.

Mutants fighting to save a people that hate and fear them? Camp with angst.

Why fight camp? Why not embrace it? Eat it. Smell it. Breathe it. Swallow it. Think it. Grow it. Become it.

I mean, seriously, what's the risk?

Isn't the internet just a glorified means for people to share campiness through chain e-mails and web shrines and wikipedia entries and youtube videos?

I've tried using it for research on Shakespeare or the occult or World War II and I get Elizabethan conspiracy theory camp, magical herbal remedies and dancing clipart Hitler.

So what's so retro about "camp"? Why can't we all just laugh at it, be shocked by it, malfunction with a gaping jaw at it and just embrace it?

[Night Swordsman]

Um. What about Band Camp?

Summer Camp?

Camp Crystal Lake?


There is alot of bad camps out there. :p

[sk716]

Who said campy was bad? I enjoy a little camp now and again.

[Corrina]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you.....

Snakes on a Plane!

"Get these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane!"

*******

If that movie ain't camp, nothing is. :)

[The Xenos]

"Somedays, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

[heystacy]

Some people equate camp with "silliness," not realizing that some of the things we watch and are entertained by is camp, or campy.

Camp in entertainment reviews I think is meant to degrade the movie, tv show, or song.

T'aint nothing wrong with silliness or fun. :cool:

[Cam63]

" Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb ! "

EDIT.

I posted this before I read Xenos' reply.

Freaky !

[Charles RB]

And I'm not interested in horror without comedy

Oh indeed. There's nothing more disturbing than something horrible and wrong suddenly coming out of something you were laughing at just a second before... :evilsmile

Why fight camp? Why not embrace it?

Because a lot of it is boring or "that thing is badly made and/or pretty crap, hence it must be campy!".

[Lester C.]

Both Bad Boys movies are extremly campy and extremly entertaining.

[Night Swordsman]

the first Meatballs movie was fun,and it had camp in it. :p

[Leslie Lee III]

It depends on context and personal preference really. To steal a phrase from Jim Cornette: I like Ice Cream and I like Heinz 57 sauce, but that doesn't mean I want them both at the same time. A horror movie with comedy doesn't work for me most of the time, and even when it does I'd still prefer a wholly serious one. I went to see Snakes on Plane. It was campy, that's what I expected from it and I enjoyed it. However, not in a million years would I take that film over something like Silent Hill or Kairo. I love Batman 60's, but still prefer something like Batman Begins and if the sequel to Batman Begins moved towards being campy I'd complain.

Both Bad Boys movies are extremly campy and extremly entertaining.

I'm not sure I'd agree. I loved both films, but the comedy seemed more often than not natural and not what I'd call "campy." At least not Batman 60's campy.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

I think Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is one of the best examples of something both campy and extremely well-done you can find.

[stealthwise]

Both Bad Boys movies are extremly campy and extremly entertaining.

I liked the first one, because it came out when I was a pre-adolescent (or early adolescent?), but the second one was just terrible.

[Lester C.]

I liked the first one, because it came out when I was a pre-adolescent (or early adolescent?), but the second one was just terrible.
If I were still snarky I'd retort with something along the lines of you never being able to sleep again thanks to the fact that you recently reproduced. However I did promise and I'm keeping my word.

[howyadoin]

I'd say it's bad because it's often a blanket excuse for shitty writing, bad acting, disrespect for the subject material, and any number of other things.

[the4thpip]

People used to use "camp" as a selling point!

[Charles RB]

I'd say it's bad because it's often a blanket excuse for shitty writing, bad acting, disrespect for the subject material, and any number of other things.

Not going to see Snakes On A Plane then?