A Rant That Will Probably Make Me Unpopular

[poliphilo]

I see there is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in fandom.

The movie Serenity (which I haven't seen) has divided the followers of the Firefly cult (I haven't see Firefly either.)

Oh come on guys, it's a story. It's fiction. It didn't really happen. That guy that got killed (and you're all getting so worked up about) didn't really get killed because he was never really alive. That was an actor. He got paid at the end of the day and is sitting comfortably beside his pool in the Hollywood hills waiting for his agent to ring.

It's the religion thing, isn't it? We stop believing in God, but it leaves such a huge, gaping, black hole and it hurts so much that we panic and rage and go round looking for things- any old things- to stuff into the emptiness. And so we start believing in Joss Whedon or that guy who made the LOTR films (whose name temporarily escapes me) or (heaven help us) George Lucas.

And just as true believers make themselves blind to the inconsistencies, impossibilities and stylistic infelicities in the New Testament, so fans convince themselves that their favourite TV shows and films aren't in fact a load of crap.

Look, I liked Buffy. I was sort of in love with Willow. But series #7 was garbage, you know it was.

And Lord of The Rings. I love Tolkien (not uncritically) but the movies kinda highlighted all his faults and failed to translate his real merits into filmic terms. Wake up, guys, those films are dull. As dull as the Pentateuch. And I for one never want to see another CGI battle ever again.

As for Lucas- everyone agrees that the prequels are horrible- so why do you keep going to see them again and again? Are you mad?

Wake up, think for yourselves, think critically. Stop being such sheep!

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Aw, Tony, you're so b-a-a-a-a-d.

Here's my review of Serenity:

I kept falling asleep, then being startled awake by gunfire.

I hate fight scenes and movies about renegades who are tromping around in cobbled together junk spaceships.

The psychic was fun.

The dialogue was occasionally very very dry and witty.

I sometimes got confused about the plot points, which shows I'm dumb because--hey: how deep IS Serenity?

I liked the scenery.

-------I LOVE PETER JACKSON HE CAN DO NO WRONG----------AMEN.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes I thought we might have a difference of opinion over Peter Jackson.

I give him credit for taking on that huge project and bringing it to realisation. I don't think he really understands Lord of the Rings (but then I'm the only person who does.) And, finally, I think he's a good director (I loved Heavenly Creatures) but I don't think he's a great one. His vision just isn't original enough.

[ad-lumen.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

I'm still scouring the sky for incoming missiles.....

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

No accounting for taste, I suppose. I thought LOTR was magnificent -- enough so that I bought what my kid calls "the complete sucker version" of each on DVD, with extra footage and all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff.

On the other hand, I'm pretty bemused by folks' admiration of Bob Dylan.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My vision of Lord of the Rings is sooo different from Jackson's. I'd have made it darker and grimmer and paid much more (close) attention to landscape. Also I'd have spent much less time on (yawn) the battles.

I think we differ on almost everything, Laura, and that's one reason why I love having you on my flist.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Thank you! NOt because I've even seen (or even heard of) Firefly or Serenity, they are just names suddenly appearing in various journals, but I'm always bemused by people who start to see hidden meanings in movies or books or whatever, the same as with the Kennedy and Martin Luther King conspiracy theories, Elvis and John Lennon not being really dead, whatever.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

People get tunnel vision. They get so they can only consume stuff that falls into a certain genre. They take their favourites way too seriously. OK, you found Serenity disappointing, fair enough- so go and watch one of the other hundred thousand movies that are out there. Plump for something in another genre, or outside genre altogether. Why not surprise yourself?

[jenny_evergreen]

I still don't understand that religion thing; I don't believe in God or George Lucas, and I am remarkably gap-less. The only gap in my life (which religion fills for many) is a community of like-minded people. But I'm working on that.
(Boy, do the prequels suck.) (I'm not as critical as you of the LOTR movies, although I'm not all that thrilled with them, either.) (When I watched the first episodes of Buffy and they were nothing like the movie, I stopped. Maybe I'll watch the series someday, though, as it apparently got very good. :) (And, yeah, I never watched Firefly or Serenity.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Buffy was one of the (few) recent TV series I fell in love with. Like most successful shows it carried on a season (or maybe two seasons) too long.

I'm being hard on the LOTR movies simply because so many people treat them like they're the Second Coming. As big, empty, effects-laden movies go they're not bad- they're better than Troy for example- but in the total scheme of things they're just average. If people went out and watched more movies/rented more DVDs they'd realise this.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

[Nods along in agreement]

I love fandom. But I hate some of the more sheep-like aspects of it, the 'gotta get it now!' mentality of the latest Big Cool Thing, and then the sectarian nuttiness of various factions squabbling over its interpretations.

I never watched "Firefly", so I cannot comment on "Serenity". I don't own a Harry Potter book, and probably never will. I read (and was terribly bored by) Tolkein, and only saw the first two films because all the battles were so damn tiresome. The majority of SF & F is aimed at adolescent boys, and all the overhyped battles in many of the media is aimed straight at this 'precious' demographic. (I never understood why young males are more 'valuable' than all the rest of us, but it seems that a lot of what we see, hear, and endure 'out in the world' is aimed at them, poor taste and all. But that's another rant...)

I used to be a True Believer™, and my religion of choice was Star Trek. I ate, slept and breathed the show, and no one could convince me otherwise that anything about it or its characters, books, movies, conventions, etc was foolish or slightly nutty. When Next Generation ended, so did my interest in the series. I quit buying the books, going to the conventions, writing the fanfic, and being a fangirl. I still like it, but the thought of forking over $500 to own the original and Next Generation series on DVD has kept me from returning to it, even in a nostalgic way.

I now see both sides of the issue. I understand the passion of the True Believer ™ in the series/story of their dreams, and I understand the "Guys, it's just a TV show, book, movie, etc." point of view. I dwell somewhere in the middle. I've been drawn into the Battlestar Galactica universe, but only enough to enjoy the show. I haven't joined any chat boards, or written any fic, or gone to any conventions featuring the show and its characters. I am aware of the schism in the fandom over the 'old' versus 'new' storyline, and understand both sides.

I see where you're coming from, but I can also understand the 'incoming missiles' of the True Believers ™ that might be launched at you for daring to tell them that their Fanboy Emperors are buck nekkid, and have pimples on their asses. They'll understand someday... maybe.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I got introduced to Tolkien when I was a kid (and before he became a cult) by an elightened English teacher who used to reward us at the week's end by reading us LOTR, so he'll always have a place in my heart, but I can understand why you (or anyone else) might find him boring. He's not a great writer.

I totally agree about young males. Their tastes are tiresome and I don't want them inflicted on me. For this reason I give most of what Hollywood produces a miss. I hate the way Jackson pumped Tolkien up with all that fighting. It's not even as if those CGI battles of his were all that spectacular. The Chinese do sword fights much better than us.

I love Trek. I stuck with the franchise longer than you- up until the point where- towards the end of DS9 (a lovely show)- ideas finally got replaced by lots of cool explosions.

But I've done all that and I don't want to hang on. I don't need to own all those shows on DVD. There's new stuff out there to be explored.

[karenetaylor.livejournal.com]

I've never understood the fandom scene. I probably never will.

I did end up watching Firefly (on DVD) just recently and found that I enjoyed it a lot (unlike Buffy and Wheadon's other shows, whatever they may be) so we saw the movie yesterday. I was upset when the character in question died, but I'm writer enough to know -why- he did. Someone had to. I sort of felt that more should've died.

I enjoyed the LOTR movies, but tended to phase out during the fight scenes, much as I would while reading the books (which I do, once a year, whether I need to or not...) None of the scenery (lovely though it was) matched up to what I thought it should be. But that's the way it is.

My biggest pet peeve these days is the lack of character motiviation. This, plus the creation of false conflicts, dulls my interest completely. (See LOST for numerous examples of this...)

Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since the third one came out. No, not the one that came out recently. You know, the third one. The real third one. Return of the Jedi. Lucas can insist until his dying day that he actually planned to do all of these movies exactly the way he has from the get-go, but I'll never believe it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I mean to watch Firefly. I think it's probably the sort of thing I'd like. And I was very fond of Buffy.

I watched a couple of episodes of Lost. I may watch more, because it's light and fluffy and passes the time of day, but I'm not going to get hooked. The writing's just not good enough.

I can faintly remember a time when I liked Star Wars, but now the blight of the sequels reaches back into the original trilogy and blasts my enjoyment of them.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

It's the religion thing, isn't it? We stop believing in God, but it leaves such a huge, gaping, black hole and it hurts so much that we panic and rage and go round looking for things- any old things- to stuff into the emptiness.

I forget the name of the theologian who stated that modern man carries with him a God-shaped hole. Is religion a "survival", a holdover from our evolutionary childhood, and like a child clinging to a pacifier no longer needed we refuse to give it up? Or are we inherently, intuitively drawn to something Inexpressible, something that our assorted dogmas and cultures only give the barest glimpse of? I think in America anyway, most people gave up on God (not organized religion, but the Divine) because He/She/It requires self-denial, the ultimate taboo in a culture predicated on individualism and self-love.

On another topic - haven't (and probably won't) see Serenity, liked Tolkien and Jackson's interpretation of him, and am utterly floored people don't see the Star Wars prequels (and Return of the Jedi, for that matter) for the sticky-sweet, badly acted, pop psychology kiddie-fodder they are.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I can only cite my own experience. I was deeply religious up until about the age of 50- then lost my taste for it altogether. I am still intrigued and entranced by the mystery of the universe, but feel no need (not even a nostalgia) for prayer and worship and all that stuff.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who sees the fandom = religion equation. A lot of people do quite seriously find in television, films, or popular literature the level of meaning which used to be generally found in religion and its symbols and texts. I have been in fandom, so I can say this with confidence. In fact, in the days when I watched episodes religiously, as they say, and wrote fanfic, I used to complain from time to time, "I don't need a religion, folks--I already have one." Involvement in fandom should be a form of fun that enhances life, not a substitute for God.

That said, the more I hear about this movie, the less certain I am I want to see it....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"Involvement in fandom should be a form of fun that enhances life, not a substitute for God."

Yes indeed. These are TV shows and mainstream movies. They're light entertainment, for pity's sake.

"the more I hear about this movie, the less certain I am I want to see it...."

I'm getting to feel the same way.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Peter Jackson isn't that good a director. Even considered as film spectacle (forget Tolkien for the moment) those films aren't all that good. I saw the Chinese movie Hero the other day. It operates in the same general area as LOTR- mythic heroes, amazing landscapes, huge armies, breathtaking sword-play- and it makes Jackson's work look clumsy.

And another thing...

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I very much enjoyed the Peter Jackson movies and am glad I saw them in the theatre, the way they were meant to be seen, but I find I am growing more and more distant from them. Unlike some other films (and tv shows), they're not something I want to see again and again, and unlike many other fans, I haven't seen the extended versions, nor do I wish to. I think Jackson perhaps made the best possible film versions of Tolkien's epic possible, but I would tend to agree that Tolkien's real strengths and riches are impossible to translate to the screen.

Re: And another thing...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"I think Jackson perhaps made the best possible film versions of Tolkien's epic possible"

Well, I'd give him A++ for effort and something like a C for achievement. I think a better director could have done a better job. I'd like to have seen Orson Welles' take on Tolkien or Anthony Mann's or even David Lean's.

[silent-mouse.livejournal.com]

Fandom scares me. It reminds me of those Jerusalem Syndrome-affected people we have wondering around here. They are mostly harmless, but very disconcerting.
And I feel that people should be trying to live their own lives instead of living through imaginary characters. (No offence meant, I catch myself all too often doing that!)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Fandom is safe. You retreat into Star Wars (for example)and you know all the characters and how their relationships work out and how the story ends- and there are none of the uncertainties of everyday life.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Having now read through the thoughtful and intelligent responses to your post, and your own remarks, I'm a little embarrassed to see my facile banner ("Peter Jackson can do no wrong, yah, yah) hanging out there at the top...

Kate was watching part II last night, and I was doing something else, but found myself overtaken by the music. It kept drawing me in.

And the acting, which is superb, I think.

I remarked to Kate, "This wouldn't be half so good without the music or the fine acting, or the really great costumes..."

Kate said, "Or what if the actors were sitting around a cardtable with their scripts? Or maybe weren't actors at all--just random Tolkien fans?"

I now realize that, truth to tell, I would have liked more out of the Mines of Moria--Tolkien made that a place of wonder.

And I now admit also that I HATED the stupid TREES.

And I wanted the Old Forest.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think Jackson missed a lot of opportunities. I don't think he's much good at conjuring atmosphere. The Mines of Moria weren't spooky enough and Lothlorien wasn't magical enough- and so it goes. In place of atmosphere you get lots of spectacle and fighting.

Tell you one thing I really thought was great- the Balrog!