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ericadawn16A month or two ago, I mentioned to someone about a study where people tend to hate things after 35 which explained the anger towards the female Ghostbusters and such...
It turns out I remembered it all wrong. It wasn't a study. It was Douglas Adams. It's still true though, just put kickass females in place of technologies:
“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
It turns out I remembered it all wrong. It wasn't a study. It was Douglas Adams. It's still true though, just put kickass females in place of technologies:
“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
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Date: 2016-07-01 06:35 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2016-07-01 07:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-01 02:14 pm (UTC)And it has nothing to do with whether or not it's an all-female cast. Sometimes a bad movie is just a bad movie, and it's not some man's attempt to "put us in our place." I don't feel the need to go see a movie just because someone said that men are against it.
I've watched good programs with women in the lead. Smart women, like "Bletchley Circle," where women code-breakers from WW II fight the stereotypes after the war is finished and solve crimes using their mathematical skills.
Jessica Jones has many women in the lead; it's partly about those relationships/friendships between the female characters, and also deals with some of those issues about men and how their views differ from women on some very basic concepts (like rape). It was scary to see that illustrated so starkly.
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Date: 2016-07-01 09:35 pm (UTC)Sometimes a bad movie is just a bad movie, and it's not some man's
attempt to "put us in our place."
'Zactly. Honestly, I have a hard time getting into a book/movie/show if there's not a kick-ass chick in there somewhere (and that doesn't mean she has to kick physical ass, although I enjoy that too). But a lot of the support for this remake seems as knee-jerk as the opposition to it. Some movies (books/shows) just suck.
(As a side note, I went to a work seminar that was primarily about bias against PoC and while a lot of it was a snooze I found it interesting that the speaker (black, male, university prof) was disdainful towards what he called 'dipping' characters, such as making the Torch black in the most recent Fantastic Four. He also attributed the failure of the movie on that decision. I think it failed just because (1) the last two were so bad and (2) this one looked awful as well.
I haven't watched either of the Marvel Netflix series, but they're on my list.
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:11 am (UTC)I admit it. I try to support stuff because it's either different and/or there's opposition to it based on bigotry. On one hand, Hollywood shouldn't support films that are awful or that they could have done better with but on the other hand, Hollywood likes any excuse to blame minority leads for poor box office instead of the real reasons.
He also attributed the failure of the movie on that decision.
I feel like anyone who says this didn't actually see the film. If it had actually been an awesome film otherwise, people would have still seen it but they did some plot points, editing and other character decisions that really ruined what could have been an interesting and new take on a 50+ year old story.
*I enjoyed both of the first FF films although Silver Surfer was not as good. All three films really benefited from awesome casts that were hobbled with horrible scripts and decisions.
I've never heard it called "dipping" before, that's interesting. I've thought there must have been an antonym to white-washing.
Did he add what he prefers? Some have argued for more stories where the original characters WERE different races instead of "dipping".
I've seen about five episodes of Daredevil and it's pretty good but R! It's not quite Daredevil R since there's less nudity and profanity but there's a lot of blood and gore at times. The last episode I watched had TWO different scenes of a character sewing themselves up after a fight...not a metaphor, literally doing needle and thread on their own skin.
It's okay once in a while but I really prefer PG-13/TV-14 with my viewing.
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:18 am (UTC)I guess I'm the opposite. Social media outrage makes me want to back away slowly and go read a book ;)
Did he add what he prefers? Some have argued for more stories where the original characters WERE different races instead of "dipping".
That was the implication.
(Sometimes I come across the FF movies on TV and they literally embarrass me. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Avengers movies.)
I'm perfectly okay with R... I'm a fan of GoT and Outlander, after all ;) I just have to be in the mood to start a new series.
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Date: 2016-07-02 01:03 am (UTC)Obviously, I don't want to blindly follow social media outrage. I'm going to try and find out the truth about it.
Thanks for clearing it up about the dipping. However, that implies that it's easy for Hollywood to make those tv series and films about POCs. It's not, because Hollywood thinks they don't make money unless it's Tyler Perry in drag or produced by Shonda Rimes although Lee Daniels is starting to get more power. Most of the source material they want to adapt because it's sold millions, has readers all over, etc...they're predominately white because publishing isn't that different from Hollywood. There isn't a lot of POC leads there either.
Now, currently Hollywood does have some films coming out with African-Americans as leads but...most are still about the Civil War or the Civil Rights era so that even my mom was like...why?
But I think things are going to get better. People are pooling their resources and using Crowd-Sourcing to fund projects that Hollywood wouldn't do. There are also a lot of people on Youtube and elsewhere making popular series that prove people want other Points of View.
I've seen all 3 FF films in the theatre. Obviously, it was Marvel but I wasn't like a HUGE fangirl back then. No, I wanted to see those first two films because of Ioan Gruffudd...HORATIO HORNBLOWER ON THE BIG SCREEN!!!
And he gets to have a love interest with Dark Angel!!! in horrible blonde hair but still!!!
A few years ago, I bought the first film for my nephews to watch so they would appreciate how comic book films are done now and see YOUNG CHRIS EVANS!!!
I will still watch FF on television and will probably do the same with the third one depending on where in the film they are at. If you want to see cheesy, you should see the really old Marvel stuff we had as tots with like the tv movie The Incredible Hulk Returns when I was 5 and a half. These kids have it easy now.
Hmm, that could be part of the reason I never got into those. Sometimes, I'll watch an episode of Outlander because I came past it but Game of Thrones...I've never managed a full episode. They always do something to upset me. Last time, I didn't even make it through the "Last season on Game of Thrones" montage.
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Date: 2016-07-02 01:27 am (UTC)Hollywood loves to pat itself on the back about how progressive and liberal it is, and it's also pretty consistently accused of being unfair to PoC, which has always struck me as amusing. I think it comes down to what we were discussing earlier... not every movie with a PoC lead that bombs does so because that's not what audiences want to see. Sometimes a bad movie is just a bad movie. Movies are more and more expensive these days and studios want to go with a sure thing, and what makes a movie a sure thing seems to have a lot more to do with franchise or the studio's reputation (SW, Marvel, Hunger Games, Pixar). But hey, I can't remember the last movie I actually went to a theater to see.
GoT has made me wince on more than one occasion but, especially in the early seasons, I was ready for it having read the books. Must have something to do with growing up watching X-Files, Profiler, etc ;)
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Date: 2016-07-02 02:00 am (UTC)Yep...oh, I go fairly often. Last Monday, my mom and I went to The Free State of Jones...SO GOOD.
Must have something to do with growing up watching X-Files, Profiler, etc ;)
No, no it wasn't because I also watched The X-Files, Profiler, all the various NBC/CBS/whatever crime shows, Buffy, Angel, Prime Suspect, A Touch of Frost, I really loved Touching Evil, my oldest brother would insist on watching Tales from the Crypt and the other brother loved the Nightmare on Elm Street series Fox had for a while...it gave me nightmares but I'd lie and say it didn't. Then, in college, they started Nip/Tuck and I watched all of those.
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Date: 2016-07-01 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-01 11:55 pm (UTC)Paul Feige/Judd Apatow productions can go either way but generally, I enjoy them so I'm still hopeful.
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Date: 2016-07-01 11:52 pm (UTC)When you bring in NEW kickasss females like the Ghostbusters or Rey or others, they throw a fit.
So, there's a lot of misogyny out there but when I saw this quote, it felt like it explained how people could adore SOME kickass females while hating others.
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Date: 2016-07-02 03:45 am (UTC)Now, there are also those who are criticizing it on purely artistic grounds and that's entirely legitimate.
Gabrielle
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Date: 2016-07-01 08:20 am (UTC)I'm 54 and I'm looking forward to the movie.
I will probably see it in the theater just to spite the misogynists who are whining.
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Date: 2016-07-01 02:19 pm (UTC)If I think it's good, I might go, or wait until it comes out on video (they still make money off of that). If I don't, I won't bother. Since it's so expensive to go out, I usually reserve my theater going to sci-fi like Star Trek or movies that use big scenery (like Indiana Jones), where it just isn't quite the same on the small screen.... then I buy it anyway!
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Date: 2016-07-01 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-02 12:23 am (UTC)So, now I feel like 6 or 8 dollars is a lot better deal than 20 dollars on a disc that's going to stop working in a few years anyway...although perhaps the BluRays are better, I hope.
I feel like my movie money isn't JUST to spite stupid men but to also show Hollywood what I want from them, like seeing Dope in the theatres last year TWICE.
Yep, I'm really selective with my movie/tv buying now. It has to be something I want to show my nephews that's not on their Netflix or something that I was never able to see in my area, like the smaller British stuff.
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:35 am (UTC)I've had players go bad but cannot recall one of my discs going bad. It can happen though. We've borrowed or rented bad discs...
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Date: 2016-07-02 01:10 am (UTC)I went through two DVD players before getting BluRay but the DVDs are too freaking fragile. I broke a few from using bad cleaner. I broke my POTC from overuse. Pan's Lanyrinth must have gotten scratched when I lent it out but Harry Potter...it acted like the file itself was corrupted which made no sense to anyone but that's what it acted like. It wouldn't go past the WB logo, not even to the menu. I'm sick of it.
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:15 am (UTC)I definitely want to add my money as protest to the misogynists...although I saw Catwoman in the theatre, too. I wish I had seen Elektra in the theatre. I fell for everyone saying it was bad and I hadn't enjoyed Daredevil that much so I skipped it but I caught it on tv years later and really enjoyed it.
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Date: 2016-07-01 01:35 pm (UTC)I for one just tend to not like remakes of anything. LOL...
Hugs, Jon
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-01 01:58 pm (UTC)As for the movie... I'll just wait and see. I don't care that it's all women, makes no difference to me. My tastes in humor, though, might have changed. I loved the original Ghostbusters when it came out, but now it's cringeworthy. Same movie, different reaction. Then again... I liked Airplane back then, too... wow!
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Date: 2016-07-02 12:35 am (UTC)I wanted it to be more than just about Ghostbusters but possibly explaining the whole difference why people, especially men, will write long essays about how Buffy, Ridley and Harley Quinn are so awesome but complain about Rey, the new Ghostbusters or Mjolnir being wielded by a woman as well as characters having their race changed to a Person of Color...how there did seem to be a correlation where the biggest complainers were over 35.
Yeah, there was a lot of sexism and racism that was acceptable in comedy back then but now, a lot of us don't feel the same way. Do I think it's going to be a laugh riot?
No, the first one wasn't a laugh riot either even before I could understand the adult stuff and how problematic it is in places.
However, I am hoping for fun and to see fellow females being awesome...because I always thought it would be cool to be a ghostbuster and wanted Janine to be a Ghostbuster so even though it's not me, it's cool to see others like me getting to have that dream fulfilled and to have all those little girls getting to see that without ever going through wishing that they could have that.
It's the same with Rey being a Jedi. A lot of us as little girls wanted to be Jedis but we never got to see ourselves on-screen and now the the little girls will always have a Jedi on-screen to look up to.*
*But I still want Leia with a lightsaber before it all ends or they kill her off.
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Date: 2016-07-01 06:20 pm (UTC)This, as much as I dislike saying it, sounds sensible. D:
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Date: 2016-07-01 07:29 pm (UTC)Sorry, I don't discriminate on the basis of gender or religion or orientation or color.... it's the content that matters to me.
And that's sensible, too.
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Date: 2016-07-02 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-02 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-03 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-05 01:05 am (UTC)