May 4, 2023

May the 4th Be With You… Unless You’re an Asshole —OR— Coming to Terms With My Own Toxicity

May 4, 2023

“Star Wars for adults!” That overused expression was what circled the internet when the show ANDOR landed on Disney+ (and oddly when people talk about Denis Villeneuve’s remake of DUNE). Tons of reviews, both critical and user-based, spouted that line (or something similar) over and over. And for some reason, that really, really got under my skin. What did they mean by that?

The original Star Wars, while clearly a stylized old-west in space, had a lot of adult themes. An oppressive, totalitarian Empire that boarded ships and killed who they liked. Stormtroopers who killed Luke’s Aunt and Uncle, leaving them as smoking corpses. Not to mention arm-cutting, bounty hunter murder, and planet-wide genocide. “Hey kids! Wanna see billions of people die? Hey, stop crying, this isn’t for adults! Ya pansy-ass kids.”

Empire and Jedi both had copious amounts of murder, betrayal, loss, incest-kissing, and sacrifice. Huh, bloody well sounds like a Game of Thrones ep to me. So why was ANDOR suddenly “Star Wars for adults?”

Then it hit me… they—the people who say this—don’t actually like the core of Star Wars. Or as to not sound like a total gate-keeping asshole, what I feel to be the core of the Star Wars universe. That being, the technological juxtaposed with the spiritual/magical. Or in other words: space fantasy. Not just space opera, but actual fantasy, complete with a fully-functioning magic system, monsters, knights, and one bad-ass princess.

That’s what pulled me into Star Wars. If I want moral philosophy in space, I go watch Star Trek. If I want gritty noir, I go watch Blade Runner or 2001. But when I want that mystical feel among the stars, I go to Star Wars.

So when I watched ANDOR, I was kinda “meh” about the whole thing. I mean, it was shot well. It had some clutch moments. A heist angle for one mini-arc. A prison escape. And some cat-and-mouse political thriller points. And of course, the moment when the oppressed people rise up and fight back… just like every other story out there. But it didn’t click with me. Mostly it came off to me as being purposely designed to be completely bereft of Jedi, Lightsabers, and the Force. You know, the things that kinds sorta (absolutely) makes Star Wars what it is and sets it apart from its peers. Instead, I watched a bleak, cold, blue-gray-filtered-looking depression quest following Diego Luna’s titular Andor who stumbled in and out of events like a space-faring Candide. His approach was to stand somewhere, do his shifty-eye look-around thing, and then move to the next scene. Reductive? Yes. Am I skipping over Mon Mothma’s go-nowhere story or Luthen’s activities? Little bit. But hey, apparently I’m just a child. What do I know? Boring, slow, and oppressed is apparently what “adults” want. Unless you mean the exact same things in a well-told story, like Arcane or Season 1 of Carnival Row.

Seems to me, the showrunners wanted a Blade Runner-feel, but in Star Wars. And if I’m being brutally honest with my opinion, ANDOR did nothing better than the other sci-fi it was clearly emulating. It was a copy/paste of other space noir but without the skill. I know that’s harsh, but it’s my opinion. There were parts I honestly liked, but at the end of the day, Blade Runner will always be an icon while ANDOR will be just another Star Wars show.

Quick aside: do you like basketball? Who doesn’t, right? Either professional or just shooting some hoops with your friends, it’s a great time. But, what if we added full-contact? I mean, balls out, I ram into you and knock you on your ass when we’re in possession of the ball. I mean, I guess you could hit me back. Grab the guy with the ball and slam him down hard onto the pine. Hmm… we’d need helmets and pads of course, but I think it would make it more fun, trust me. Oh, and I think that if we added a few more players, preferably one person with a strong arm to launch the ball down the court, so that another person could catch it to set up a score, that would make basketball better.

In case you haven’t caught on, this is just adding football to basketball. Because the fictional speaker doesn’t just like football, they want more football in everything. Almost like, gosh, they don’t appreciate the game of basketball for what it is.

Are you catching my meaning?

The more I thought about it, that whole “Star Wars for adults!” thing, the angrier I got. How goddamn belittling is that? For adults? Tell me oh high and mighty website, do you really need to subversively push someone down to make you feel good? What the actual fuck? Sure, yes, some of the best Star Wars stories (aside from the OG) came out of the books or from Dave Filoni’s CLONE WARS and/or REBELS shows. Yes, they’re animated, but they’re solid stories that are tied deeply to the Star Wars universe and its lore.

So who the fuck are you to say this is proper Star Wars?!

… Sigh, kinda like how I’d declared a few paragraphs ago that “the real” core of Star Wars was space fantasy? You know, like a hypocrite.

So with that bit of humility swallowed, I had to look past my opinions and at the franchise a whole. Especially the fans. And man… we are toxic. While the prequels weren’t my cup of tea, all you need to do is look at the stories of what fans did to folks like Ahmed Best or Jake Lloyd. Lloyd retired from acting in 2001 due to bullying at school and harassment by the press. Ahmed Best admitted to thoughts of suicide due to the barrage of harassment he received for voicing Jar Jar Binks.

And the sequel trilogy? Woof. Kelly-Marie Tran received constant sexist and racist comments online for playing Rose Tico. All the while Rian Johnson seemed to revel in provoking old-school fans by calling them “man-babies".”

You could say that the actors need thicker skin. Conversely, folks could show an ounce of humanity/empathy and NOT harass actors for playing the parts they were hired to play. Unless of course, you’re an idiot who thinks the people on the magic talky-box in their living room are real-real. As for Rian Johnson and his actions online? Well, the old internet axiom still stands: don’t feed the trolls.

… Even if his smug face is so goddamn punchable.

Having criticism is okay. Having a different POV is good. Now, do I think that a HUGE ASS SWATH of people online will take any fucking intellectual property and turn it into a political statement? Yes. Yes I do. Whether real or imagined, it’s what people do these days. And it sucks. But that’s echo chambers. Some people want to live in them. Drink their respective cool aid or else face being ostracized.

Some folks will always call the Disney era of Star Wars a “blow to the patriarchy.” Other folks will always call it “woke garbage.” And some folks will just say “meh?” But the reality is, it’s still Star Wars. And saying it’s not the “real” Star Wars is a douche move, no matter what camp your come from. Even though it’s anathema to God’s will, pineapple pizza is still pizza. Just not the pizza I want.

Cards on the table, I have not really enjoyed the Disney era of Star Wars. There’ve been a few things I liked. Elements/parts of each show or movie. But as a whole, I feel it’s a product instead of a passion. But that’s me. When something feels manufactured, lacking heart, then it reads that way in the script, pacing, plot, and pathos of the characters. As such, the bulk of Disney Star Wars, again . . . to me, doesn’t feel fresh or enriching. Mostly comes off to me as being devoid of original ideas, choosing instead to rehash old material -or- creating contrary for the sake of contrary. I’m sure some folks love it all just because it’s more Star Wars. Just like there are folks out there who hate it because it’s Star Wars. And that’s okay too. It’s your opinion.

So this May the 4th I urge fans of any beloved IP to discuss, listen, politely disagreed, and be wise enough to walk the fuck away when necessary. Odds are I will never convince someone that their opinion is wrong, just like they won’t convince me. But I will hear their words and dwell on them. Possibly even shift my perspective a bit and at least try to see it all from a certain point of view.

… except pineapple pizza. That slice of shit can go to hell.

Live Long & Strong

~Gibby

Michael Gibson

October 30, 2022

Fantasy TV Burnout -Or- Why Am I So “Meh” about Rings of Power/House of the Dragon?

Michael Gibson

October 30, 2022

No matter how old I get, part of me will always be like Bastian, that kid who lived in a land of make believe w/their head in the clouds. Kind of a “no shit” statement considering what I do/write for a living. So when the Sci-fi & Fantasy (SFF) media revolution began in the late 90’s/early 00’s, you can imagine how I, along with the rest of the nerds of the world, rejoiced. Like the Goonies, this was OUR TIME. And over the last two decades, SFF remained the dominant entertainment media.

And I’m—I’m kind of getting tired of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still consume SFF as much as the next nerd. But the sheer volume of pop culture saturation has me just kinda . . . burned out? Desensitized and apathetic. Maybe it’s like a porn thing, you know? The adage that the more you consume the more you become numb to the medium, thus forcing deeper searches for either the truly excellent or the truly bizarre to pique your interest. Eh, who knows? Anyway, when the media heralded the coming of Rings of Power and House of the Dragon, I just kinda shrugged. So with that burnout filter in mind, here are my quick reviews of the latest entries of prestige fantasy drama. (If you don’t want to hear a middle-aged dude rant, then skip to the end where I try to redeem myself by listing shows I really like/recommend)

House of the Dragon (HoT-D!!)

So right out of the gate, this show is obviously going to be compared to its predecessor. Impossible to separate them due to nerd zeitgeist. But considering how GoT ended, metaphorically like a stinking, loud wet fart after what had been some great sex, all the show had to be was better than that. And as such, my overall opinion was . . . it was safe. New actors doing and saying the same old thing in the old same places we’ve already seen. “Oh . . . look, it’s King’s Landing, the Red Keep, the Iron Throne, the Small Council, the Hand of the King, Maesters, family/house names we know, and . . . oh boy, white-haired Targaryen women with dragons wanting to be queen . . . again.”

And this is just me talking, but once you’ve seen Tyrion, Tywin, Littlefinger, Varys, Queen of Thorns plotting and sniping, or the sheer self-serving malevolent insanity of a Geoffrey, then the best HOT-D had to offer was little league at best by comparison.

Without a looming threat like the White Walkers or a legitimate external threat to give the internal strife context, and the fantasy elements just being “hey look, a dragon . . . neat,” then the show boiled down to elite 1%’ers fucking and fucking each other over. The Real Housewives of Westeros if you will. I know that’s reductive, but it’s my opinion.

Then there were the time jumps, where whole sections of the cast were changed, leaving them without enough screen time to care about, let alone giving a damn when they have “a shocking death.” You want me to feel something for brown-hair generic son #2’s grisly dragon-back demise? Seriously?! Please, I was cheering for his death. When Ned Stark died it had an impact because we spent an entire season (1st book) with him (seemingly) as the main protagonist. Subsequent deaths in the OG GoT show followed the same formula: spend copious amounts of time with them, get to know their multi-faceted character, then kill them. Brown-hair generic son #2 (not gonna bother looking up the name) may have been cool in the book, dunno, didn’t read it. But on screen, he and most of the kids were as captivating as room-temperature water paired with unsalted crackers. And when the king died it was a goddamn blessing as we watched him literally fall apart for most of the season.

Now all that being said, I still gave this show 4 out of 5 dragons. For my gripes, I can’t deny the production and the acting skills of Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Eve Best, Rhys Ifan, Olivia Cook, or Milly Alcock. Each of them played their respective characters with gravitas as they wove a The Crown-like level of royal storytelling strife. So, I’ll watch season 2, but man I hope they give us something new. Again for the record, no I did not read the book . . . books? Are there more than one? I don’t know and I’m not gonna bother looking that up either. Mainly because if a show is going to be a show, you shouldn’t need a companion guide. Speaking of which . . .

Rings of Power (RoP)

Oh dear lord, where do I start? Do I need to have read outside the Hobbit and Lord of The Rings proper to know what’s going on? Because I didn’t and I don’t know or care what a Silmaril is. I do care about how the show constantly cherry-picks lines and rather specific turns of phrases from the LoR. And man does it ever feel, what’s the word I’m looking for . . . cloying? A saccharine, excessively sweet play on nostalgia that filled the screen with Peter Jackson ‘member-berries instead of crafting a world of their own. Well, that’s not true is it? According to Screenrant, Amazon has the rights to adapt The Hobbit and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, but not The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. So the showrunners made their choices on how they want to tell their tale which came off to me as mostly piss-poor character archetypes that border on stereotypes, plot contrivances, and boredom.

So. Much. Boredom.

So let’s address the elephant in the room. Galadriel. To me, she’s an asshole. Maybe in 3000 years, she’ll be the Cate Blanchette version, but here in the 2nd age, she’s kind of a prick. They might have been going for strong and stalwart, but somewhere between the writing and the acting, they ended up with prick. I mean, if you’re gonna milk archetypes, then go for Steve Rodgers from MCU. A constant, dedicated, and capable character sure. But most importantly self-aware vice self-righteous. Humility, even a touch of self-depreciation, endears an audience. Now with all that said, Yes, Galadriel was a driven, capable warrior. And yup, she was 100% right that Sauron had survived and was out there despite everyone telling her no. And boy I’m so glad the plot let her realize who Sauron was at the very end for . . . like, no discernible reason, considering she was thirsting for him hard for most of the show.

This version of Galadriel is a villain pretending to be a protagonist. Aside from leaving troops to die (to which I don’t blame said troops for their mutiny one bit,) remember when she performed a soliloquy to a captured Adar? The one where she will keep him alive just so she can kill every orc in middle-earth, only to then tell him that all his children are dead and then kill him? Yeah, that’s called genocide.

Man, wasn’t there an internet movement a while back about Tolkien and D&D, where certain “monster” races, which were considered “evil,” being coded as basically non-white people in fantasy? And here we have Galadriel talking about exterminating them all? I’m not one to whip up an angry twitter mob or anything, but umm . . . like, you know? Moving on.

As for the rest of the characters, I honestly didn’t care about them. Not the Scottish dwarves, the Irish Hobbits (Harfoots?), the Stranger who is clearly Gandalf (too soon arriving in middle earth I hear? Maybe its actually Saruman?), the discount Aragon/Sauron, and not this version of Elrond who looked like Neil Patrick Harris’s inbred cousin. Oh, and the one healer lady/single mom who led the southland humans, you know how I knew she’d be the leader of that group? Not because she was brave, fearless, or whatever they were trying to convey, but because she was the only person in the village not covered in mud, had all her teeth, and spoke like she went to an Oxford finishing school. In fact the only characters I liked were: Ismael Cruz Cordova’s Arondir, Sophia Nomvete’s Princess Disa, and Joseph Mawle’s Adar. Their respective tales and POVs I actually found myself enjoying.

images from Den of Geek, British GQ, and Epicstream respectively

But like the above review, I have to give credit where it’s due. It’s clear Amazon sunk a buncha money into RoP. The show looked mostly great and yes, there were some actual cool moments. I don’t care if that’s how volcanoes are made, that whole ep was pretty solid. And like HoT-D, I didn’t hate RoP. I was . . . whelmed. Not over or under, just whelmed. But by the end, for me it was sadly just another generic fantasy show without an identity of it’s own. Middling writing with fancy production to hide the lack of actual multi-dimensional characters. A very weak 3 out of 5 Balrogs for me. And I’m not alone. Check out The Guardian’s review HERE.

So yeah, maybe it’s me. Maybe these are amazing shows and I’m just burned out. But I have a feeling I’m not the only one feeling the SFF burnout. No shade being tossed to Top Gun: Maverick, as it’s been dominating the box office. But I have a sneaking suspicion that if that flick had come out even 5 years prior during peak MCU, Star Wars, etc, I think it would have been a blip. But as it stands now, folks are raving about this movie. My guess is that folks are hungry for something else. Something simple with as many practical effects as possible. Wonder why?

Recommendations

NOW, so I’m not a total asshole, here are some “recent” shows (SFF and standard fiction) I’ve greatly enjoyed for their writing, character work, and having a unique identity. Arcane being the current gold standard of where storytelling and visuals meets solid AF character work.

Images from their respective parent sites.

As always, feel free to leave a comment of message me directly on Facebook or Twitter to tell if I’m right, wrong, or somewhere in the middle.

Live long and strong

~Gibby

Michael Gibson

October 18, 2019

Scorsese Doubts Marvel Movies as Cinema? -or- Hating Popular Things to Sound Cool

Michael Gibson

October 18, 2019

An old adage of mine is simple and goes something like this: “Are you being critical, or are you just an asshole?” And I recently added the follow-on caveat of: “And if so, are you one of those assholes who hates things just because they’re popular?”

Recently, acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese came out against the wave of comic movies, citing Marvel in particular, as not being “cinema” (HERE). The legendary filmmaker went so far as to refer to the genre as being “theme parks”, as they (Marvel Movies) are not “the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

Wow. Those are some weighted and profound words. And If I were to be a touch catty, I would ask: was it cinema when he directed Jonah Hill to simulate jerking-off a prosthetic penis to (presented as a sex object) Margo Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street? You know, the same movie that opens with DiCaprio snorting cocaine off a hookers ass, enjoys a nice round “dwarf-bowling”, and flaunts Caligula levels of kinky sex.

And yes . . . I own this movie :)

Full disclosure, I like the MCU/comic genre of movies and Scorsese’s words rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t like all comic flicks, and I also like/love some of Scorsese’s movies (Gangs of New York being one of my all time favorite movies) . . . but not all of them.

So when (some of) the internet balked at Scorsese’s comments, he doubled down a few days later. (HERE). On the back of that, celebrities like Jennifer Aniston have purportedly claimed that Marvel movies (and I assume the genre) have diminished what is available in terms of acting projects. But hey, that Netflix rom-com murder mystery movie is getting a sequel, so good for her.

But what really struck me as interesting was the wave of vocal supporters for the Goodfellas director. Not because of what he said, the man has a right to his opinion. After all, he’s been been involved with bringing movies to the silver screen since 1959. He’s earned his opinion. (One which is not new) No, what struck me as odd was the vitriol at which some people railed against the Disney-owned Marvel. The venom they spewed was hateful, cruel, and barbaric.

Basically how everyone who is not a New England Patriots fan reacted when The Pat’s won their last Superbowl. … But seriously NE people, y’all are really freaking annoying. You know that right? You are the definition of Sore Winners. There’s a reason people don’t cheer for you.

As all this went on, pop-culture websites and YouTube channels did as they do, covered the nothing-burger in order to gain clicks and views. Some called the situation a case of old man yelling at clouds. Some said Scorsese was trolling, or that he was jealous of MCU’s success. And as I ingested these comments and views, I started to believe that this wasn’t just an old school movie maker attacking modern trends. I think there are two issues at play.

The first, and actually least important, is: The Natural Reaction to Popular Things.

I’ve always been interested in the phenomena of why people hate on popular things. What is it that makes us, as humans, balk against whatever is popular? I think we’ve all heard, or said, something akin to:

That’s not real music!
You call that art?
You’re so basic!
You eat what? Do you even know what good food is?
That show is so overrated!
The book was better!
Pumpkin spice?!

But why do we do that over something subjective? What is it about things that are beloved by the populace, or at least perceived to be loved, that makes some people so angry? There is a term in psychology called normative social influence (HERE) that basically says that there is an effect due to inherent tribalism that makes people “go with the flow” even if they don’t like something. A communal sense of belonging. In other words, conformity. Another aspect is the mere-exposure effect (or familiarity principle) which as the name suggests, is the more one is exposed to a thing, the more comfortable and accepting they are of it.

Conversely, Rebellion in Group (HERE) is also natural. The thought that rebellion is a strategy of social action to overthrow the group's status quo or to adamantly oppose its revision. Beyond simple rebellion, is the iconoclast. Or, those who feel it is their imperative to tear down idols and to attack cherished beliefs or institutions.

You know . . . like assholes.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. The need to challenge the status quo is a necessity for change, good or bad, to occur. And such actions, leaders, and thinkers are a vital part of society. That being said, lifting something up doesn’t mean you have to push something down.

Another way of thinking about it is: sometimes you have to burn down the old to make way for the new. Conversely, some people just want to see the world burn.

When the MCU began with Iron Man, people were skeptical. As the movies grew and became interconnected, people smiled. As they grew further into overlapping properties and team-up movies, they broke bank records and people cheered. But as the juggernaut continued to dominate and grow, that’s when the caution flags started going up. Bitter words were spoken. And then tribalism reared its ugly head.

Looking back on Scorsese’s comments, I honestly don’t think folks are trying to argue that comic movies/MCU are “high art”. I think people were balking at the dismissive, pejorative manner in which Scorsese’s words came across. But, I don’t think his comments fall into the natural rebellion model--while the jabbering squawks of the MCU haters and trolls do. No, I think there is more to it. Something deeper.

This brings me to the second part: Fear of Change.

In 2017, at the MCM London Comic Con, Anthony Mackie, “Falcon” in the MCU, was interviewed on a panel. During the interview (HERE), I think he hit the nail on the head. He said: “People used to go see the Stallone movie. People used to go see the Schwarzenegger the movie. Now they go see “X-Men”. The evolution of the superhero has meant the death of the movie star. And that’s the fear now.” Further in the interview, Mackie admits that the cost of the theater experience has gone up, while home theater technology has gone down. Coupled with other forces, that creates a disinterest to going to the movies. Or, as some think-pieces have said, the death of the cinema. Many of which would like to lay the blame at feet of superhero movies.

Perhaps these factors were what Mr. Scorsese was getting at. The fear of a named franchise destroying the implied artistic standard? A model which has been prevalent since the beginnings of the superstore overtaking “Mom and Pop Shops”. I’ve briefly written about the subject before (HERE). I was warned when I started writing books that stand alone novels were nice, but people came back for the franchises. Recognition and familiarity of characters were what made people come back. And let’s be honest, short of James Bond or Star Wars, no one else has built a franchise in name and scope quite like the MCU.

When it comes to our preferred entertainment, and the perceived value they bring, the result is almost always the same. Some may see the work as less, while others might see it as more. Inspiration comes from many places. Often in the most unique and bizarre ways. Sure, the comic genre might be a CGI nightmare of spandex and punching to some, but others might see the struggle of a hero an be inspired.

So, long story short, are the MCU movies cinema? Well, in the film-studies major, self-professed prestige-piece aficionado, tiny fedora-wearing sense . . . likely not.

But, do they “convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being”? For some, without a doubt. For others, no, they’re just fun. The level of which comes down to human subjectivity vice a standard metric.

So, I end this rambling pseudo-intellectual think piece with this, as I often do: like what you like, love (who) what you love, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Those who try and shit on what you like, instead of just minding their own business and just liking what they like, are as I said earlier: assholes.