In Defense of Bale
By now, there is no dark forbidden trench of the universe that is not aware that Christian Bale went on a tirade on the set of the new Terminator film. Indeed, given the penetration of the internet into every fold and fiber of our very being, it is impossible that we would not know, as soon as it happened, perhaps even before it happened. Time and space are trifles compared to the power of judgmentalism.
What exactly is the shock here? That a guy got upset, flipped his switch for a bit, and a let loose a foul-language tongue-lashing on the object of his ire? Have we reached a time and place in which we can no longer understand the urge if not the absolute need to go mental for a few minutes?
I wish I could call out some of the kneecaps that I have to deal with. I can’t. I don’t have the power, the suction, to do it and get away with it. To slightly edit Jake Gittes (apologies to Robert Towne), “you gotta be rich to shout-down somebody, anybody and get away with it. You think you got that kind of dough, you think you got that kind of class?”
Guess what, Christian Bale has got the dough, and the class to do it, and he did. It’s pure Bismarckian realpolitik and it was brilliant.
No one has argued that the cinematographer who drew Bale’s bane was not in the wrong. We know he was wrong. Such errors as his ought not to be tolerated without word or warning. It’s only the particular words and the particular warnings that some find so horribly objectionable. Yet who amongst us has not said these words and worse over things such magnitudes more trifling than this as to make the whole argument absurd?
But because this is the internet, we can all sit back and purse are lips like an English Governess in a Merchant Ivory period piece and go tut-tut-tut for shame for shame, shake our heads slowly in disappointment, and forget, for a moment, how supermodels came to blows over whether Miller Lite tasted great or was less filling. How soon we all forget.
Paul posted: 03 Feb at 5:52 pm
What Bale did was not to be expected but, that was way to much. Wanting to get the dude fired and I think he said something about his mother too.
CriticalTodd posted: 04 Feb at 3:29 am
But he didn't even delve into meat logic! I know you've seen worse meltdowns than that!
CriticalTodd posted: 05 Feb at 4:33 am
AICN got an inside scoop on the rant. It looks like Bale was even more justified than I thought!