This is a good point. Hard to tell if it's deliberate or not, however. Clearly enough people commenting on this thread don't get the historical context of the pink triangle. I wonder if someone might make a clever suggestion to the artist? What else could symbolize hedonism? Could you do a Pac-Man munching a dot? …

I understand the sickness just fine. And lots of good art has been made out of deep understanding of this sickness. I didn't think this movie deserves to stand with, say The Bell Jar or Detachment. Some people clearly share my opinion, and some don't. I went to see that movie at Toronto's Carlton Cinema (or…

I was expecting a good movie. From Von Trier I expect a good movie. Sad certainly, but good. I didn't get that. Others did. This is the way of the world.

That's ... disturbing. So, you know, thanks. I'll pass it along.

Fair enough. My argument was intended as a kind of simulation-world version of the Carter catastrophe (also called the Doomsday Argument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument).

May I have mine with some post-scarcity on top?

I'm glad it worked for you. It didn't for me. If that means that you must make assumptions about me (as I've been saying over and over again here) then you might want to look inside yourself and ask why you must make such assumptions. I, on the other hand, am not making any ridiculous and unfounded assumptions…

I love that machine. What happens if you try to fake it out by flicking a switch back and forth?

This is a fair point, and I don't disagree with it. As a representation of depression in the character played by Dunst, it's got much to recommend it. However, it's a movie, not a textbook or a case study. And as a story, the film supports and privileges the point of view of the depressive far too much. The way…

I would actually be willing to forgive the anti-science as being of the character of a fable if at least the story and pace and characters had been good. They weren't — to me, anyway. And in the end, as I've said elsewhere, I thought the glorification of a selfish depressive as being more insightful than some of the…

Word.

F

I am not an American. How insightful of you to make assumptions. Once lived there for a year, though, and met many wonderful people, only some of whom probably watch Batman and Transformers. I say probably because I don't want to make assumptions.

I can't have both? I want both. Especially when, after simply expressing an aesthetic judgment, I was told I had insulted a whole category of people. I guess you're right — do that to me, and I'm going to want to demolish the argument.

No, thank YOU. After being told that I've insulted all depressives, must only like Michael Bay movies, have a short attention span and missed the point of the movie, it's nice to hear from someone else who felt the same way. And I don't even dislike all of Von Trier's work. I found Breaking the Waves emotionally…

Nah. Spielberg, Gilliam and Wenders. I didn't miss the point of the movie. You couldn't miss the point of that one. It kept hitting you over the head with it over and over again. The truth is I think its point was pernicious — that depressives have some sort of special insight into the tragic nature of the…

C-

No. I am not insulting sufferers of depression. They are not the movie. The movie was bad. Sufferers of depression are not bad. Not all of them.

I know that depression is, fool. (Actually, I felt a lot of it having to sit through that depressing crapfest of a pretentious cinematographic delight.) Depression doesn't make for much of a good story unless something happens. As an old writing teacher of mine once said, "one cannot render boredom by being…

I rarely respond in disagreement to a post praising a work of art, but I feel I must add a dissenting voice. I went to this one with my wife and a good friend. Each of us suffered in silence, figuring the other two might possibly be enjoying the experience. None of us did. It was an excruciatingly dull look at a…