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

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.

Re: And another thing...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I hated Jackson's Lothlorien. It was so obvious we'd moved from the real woods onto a sound stage. There was no magic.

Come to think of it, there was no magic anywhere in the movie(s).