Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bananafish Media?
The Bananafish Collection strives to be:
1. A critical notebook looking at the personal and social impact of art.
2. An online journal helping to navigate the saturated waters of today's film and music.
3. A collection of the very best in movies and music.
Is this a review site?
No. A reviewer is someone who writes about everything that comes out and tells you whether it is good or not. We will only tell you about works that we think are good, or atleast noteworthy. As well, reviewers work on outrageously tight deadlines, preventing them from bringing the sort of perspective that time alows for. In addition to recommending works, this site will also feature occasional articles focusing not on a single work, but on issues, trends and genres in media, popular culture and art in general.
Is this a weblog?
The problem with weblogs is that they tend to be just links to other sites. More often than not they are dedicated to telling you how much stuff sucks. Conversely, this is not a fan site dedicated to telling you that a work is the single greatest thing ever either (althoguh we are biased to works by Terrence Malick). One of the driving forces behind this site, is to create more original, articulate and insightful content on the internet. While we are friends with the internet we think our friend has a drinking problem, belligerently yells too much and after hanging out with him for a while he makes us depressed. At the same time we've long hoped to consider the likes of The New Yorker as one of our friends, but after years of leaving messages on her machine, we've decided that she's a stuck up elitist who refuses to trade in her typewriter. So our hope is to bring intelligent, respectful writing (previous sentence not included) to the free-flowing worl of the web. So to answer your question (er- our question) this is not a blog, but an online journal.
How come you don't update your site more?
Cause we're really busy making heaps of money in our other endeavors.
What is a Bananafish?
A "bananafish" is a creature from J.D. Salinger's short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." The fish is one who swims into a hole and eats so many bananas that he gets stuck in the door, can't swim out, and thus dies. Through our understanding of the story, it is a metaphor for a person who lacks a filter for judging between the good and bad, the sincere and the sarcastic, or the important and trivial; and is thus deeply affected and scarred by everything he encounters. In a sense we believe that as people living in the 21st century, we are being bombarded by more and more media, and lacking the ability to distinguish between what is pure and what is simply trying to sell us something. The modern metaphorical Bananafish ultimately ceases being human, becomes a mere consumer, and essentially dies. Our goal then, is to help the Bananafish navigate the increasingly turbulent waters of today's media.
If, however, you are J.D. Salinger or one of his legal representatives, then the word bananafish is a random combination of a popular fruit and an unassuming animal. I decided, that since my mother was a zoologist and my father a fruit farmer, such a combination would be an apt way to honor their union, and Bananafish had a better ring to it than Pomegranate-hippopotamus.
I really love your site and would like to donate money to help keep the site running. How can I?
You are a liar, a cheat, and most likely a fictional character. But in case you're for real then you can use our donation page on Amazon.
