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

[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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Kurosawa's Lord of the Rings- now there's a thought!

Yes, I liked Heavenly Creatures. It's a super little film. But "little" is the operative word.

I guess Jackson got the job because he fought for it. I admire his chutzpah no end.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think I want to see it.

The first remake was a terrible mistake. This one is likely to be worse.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, exactly. Hollywood is devouring its past- and the television past as well. I think sooner or later this period of decadence is going to come to an end. Audiences are tiring of the prdictability and lack of inspiration. I read the other day that cinemas receipts are falling dramatically. Hooray. hit 'em where it hurts and they'll be forced to rethink.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I still go to the movies occasionally, but I watch most things on DVD.

I love it how suddenly so much of the cinema's past is available to hand. It used to be the case that you had to hunt old movies down in art-house flea-pits and the wastes of late-night TV, now you can own them.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm coming to think that the big screen is over-rated anyway. You get better picture quality on the small one.

Hey, I own most of Bergman and most of Welles and most of Hitchcock- I'm in Heaven.