See the ruins of the old world below That's what our ancestors left us. Our robot masters will know How to clean this mess up And build a better world For man and machine alike For the boys and the girls Who are slaves building spaceships at night In the fluorescent light. That's 2009.
"Movies like Dragon Wars, Wing Commander and Delgo err in thinking that sci-fi audiences embrace movies like Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and The Matrix because they have elaborate, involved mythologies, not despite then.
The Lord Of The Rings of the world suck audiences into their fantastical worlds with engaging characters, non-stop spectacle and compelling storylines, then get them to care about their mythologies. Delgo, on the other hand, assumes that the battle is won before it's even begun and that audiences will give a mad-ass fuck about the complicated interrelationship between the Lokni and the Nohrin races because the film’s mythology was cobbled together from bits and pieces of The Dark Crystal, Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars."
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! So many comics I read as a critic did not understand this. So many authors thought that the key to success was to hand the reader a steaming pile of exposition in the beginning. They then proceed to tell a story that only has to reach the bar they set for it. And let's face it, those wide-ranging mythologies that are meant to spark wonder in the audience are, for the most part, just rehashes of the same ol' Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey.
If you walk the halls of Comic-Con you'd think a detailed mythology is the key to millions of fans (and dollars). You'll be surrounded by people who know the name of every obscure Star Wars Jedi Knight or know the backstory of every person who was on Laurence Fishburne's ship in The Matrix. But those fans are the dedicated consumers who only arise after your story has garnered success by telling an interesting, accessible story in the first place. People spend so much time coming up with names of alien races or dark spells of magic in crafting their masterpiece but I'm astounded that they never come up with the most important part of a story: an entry point for the audience. Permanent Link: 4:24 PM |
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas. Next year I'll post more, it'll be my resolution. I'll find some way.
A follow-up to last night's article, what the fuck Australia? First that shitty movie made about you and now this?
How can the country that gave us AC/DC, the Mad Max series and Sheldon Vella suddenly start acting funny? Of course, any Australian (or anybody from any other country) can throw back all the shit America's done, regardless of the fact that we've given the world pizza, hockey and The Beatles.
Get it? Hilarious, I'm sure. See, my new plan is to not blog for forever and then come back only to confuse you. I'm like a dadaist ninja. Permanent Link: 8:47 PM |
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But Justice Adams agreed with the magistrate. He found that, while The Simpsons characters had hands with four fingers and their faces were “markedly and deliberately different to those of any possible human being”, the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people.
So does this mean every time I read a Punisher comic I'm accessory to murder? According to this logic, just because the person Frank Castle kills is borne of pencil and ink doesn't automatically mean they're not a person. Why, I've stood by and watched thousands die. I'm a monster!
