Philistine

One result of auteurism is books like this, which cast directors as larger-than-life characters making extraordinary art despite all the philistines around them.

And a good thing too, since in Paul’s own estimation, Barton boys are, with rare exception, a hopeless bunch of “philistines,” “reprobates,” “troglodytes,” “degenerates,” “hormonal vulgarians,” “fetid layabouts” and “snarling Visigoths.”

It’s a uniquely philistine movement, but its political consequences are its most troubling aspect.

I must add that, as you drive in Boston now, across the Longfellow Bridge to the Ted Williams Tunnel, it’s pretty obvious that high culture has its philistine competition.

I, on the other hand, remain a philistine and a hayseed.