So, let’s see, I said last week that if I didn’t post a new comic, I would at least blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so that there was something new on the website. This week I have been drawing, but I’ve been busy with various things including a breakup, and that kind of threw me off as far as having a comic finished in time for today. There will be one next Monday, though.
So, in the meantime… blog.
Well, I’m doing alright, how are all of you?
Hm. I’m gonna be seeing Prometheus in a few hours, that should be exciting.
The lukewarm reaction that the film has been receiving is utterly predictable, by the way. I started saying months ago, people need to calm themselves down, because the last time I remember people being this rabidly excited for one particular film and certain that this film was going to be the greatest film ever and change their lives, that was The Phantom Menace.
The thing is, when people work themselves into a frenzy of expectations like that, no film is possibly going to deliver, because no matter what it is it won’t be as exciting as the months or years of thinking about it they’ve already done in their head, and no matter how well made the film is, it’s not going to be the film they were thinking of, because they’re not the ones who made it. Prometheus could be a million times better than Alien, and people will be disappointed. Actually if it is a much better film than Alien, they’ll definitely be disappointed, because it will be too different. With Phantom Menace, what people wanted was a film that would make them feel like they were a child again watching Star Wars for the first time. That’s impossible, because they’re not a child, it’s not the same film, and they’ve already seen Star Wars for the first time.
My point being that I expect Prometheus to be great, but on its own terms. And I’m fine with that.
It’s not really a matter of wanting sequels/prequels/spin-offs to be a repeat of a past experience. I’m sure there are some people that DO want that very thing, but it’s overly dismissive to lump every critic and unsatisfied viewer into that camp. A lot of people want entertainment like this to have a comparable effect “on its own terms”, though (if such a phrase can even apply to a spin-off of an existing brand, which I’d argue it can’t). No one wants a rehash of ALIEN, but they want something that will effect them – here and now, with our modern sensibilities and jadedness – in a similar way. Of course we don’t know what that could be, but that’s the job of the creators. When they don’t pull this off, which they often don’t, then it’s a fair criticism. The lukewarm response to Prometheus is just that – lukewarm. Very few are saying it’s bad, but aside from one sequence that seems to have universal approval for being inspired and memorable, the rest of the film is being called out for being overly by-the-numbers and cookie-cutter. For spin-off of a franchise that originally broke quite a bit of ground back in its day, to be revisited by its original creator over 30 years later, that’s a perfectly reasonable criticism to make. Why revisit such a creation in such a way if not to bring a similar cutting-edge approach to modern sci-fi/horror?
When most people bitch that it’s “nothing like ALIEN” or “not as good as ALIEN” or whatever the exact turn of phrase, they mean it didn’t bring anything to the table LIKE the movie ALIEN brought it back in the day. That doesn’t mean it’s crap, but that IS judging the new work on its own terms – modern terms, we want something to effect us NOW. If it doesn’t, then *shrug*, it’s not that great, plain and simple.
There’s also the fact that PROMETHEUS is part of a brand, and it’s using that brand connection to make easy money and get easy press, so it’s own terms ARE that brand. Trying to reap all the rewards of being part of a major franchise but then wanting to dismiss all possible backlash for having ridden those coattails is disingenuous at best, though creators and financiers of such creations have argued this tactic to the public for decades. PROMETHEUS is not it’s own movie, it’s a new ALIEN movie. PHANTOM MENACE is not it’s own movie, it’s a new STAR WARS movie. There’s still limits to how far a reasonable comparison and expectations can go, but trying to judge a movie apart from the very brand name that is the only reason it exists in the first place, isn’t sincere. In fact, it’s literally not judging the work on its own terms :P