Forum - View topicThe ANN Aftershow - Futuristic Catastrophes
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
earl.m
|
|
||
You are claiming that correlation equals causation, as well as scapegoating superhero films. OK, take superhero films off the table. Name the films that would have grossed $300 million domestically and $1 billion worldwide in their place. Or even half that. Exactly. Also, the decline in mid-to-low budget films had been going on for over a decade before the rise of superhero cinema. A lot of people who ask "what happened to the mid-budget films" forget what genre most of the popular mid-budget films were. They were likely to be cop/detective films, military/spy movies, westerns and romance films. Prior to, say, the 2000s such films depicted police, American soldiers and spies, cowboys and settlers, men proactively seeking romantic and sexual encounters with attractive women etc. generally favorably. Today, clearly not so. The result has not been popular with audiences. Look at why superhero movies have remained popular: they have defied those trends. Iron Man, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Black Panther, Aquaman etc. are still depicted as protagonists (even when they screw up). And they still get to romance Pepper Pots, Catwoman, Steve Trevor, Lois Lane, Nakia and Mera. Jason Bourne, James Bond and Mission Impossible? More of the same: even as their depiction of western military and intelligence leadership ranges from mixed to negative, the protagonists themselves remain good guys and the romance subplots remain. (Indeed, in the Craig era Bond the romances have been more important than ever.) Result? The latest James Bond entry No Time To Die made almost as much money as Black Widow and Shang-Chi combined! So did the latest "The Fast and Furious" entry by the way ... the team has continued to be the same bunch of (anti)hero romantics that they were 20 years ago. Incidentally, look at the superhero movies that DIDN'T make money: Harley Quinn and The Suicide Squad. The former has a man getting murdered for asking a woman on a date and in general depicts men getting shot, kicked and stabbed in the groin for 2 hours. The latter depicts an alliance between the CIA and a fascist Central American regime and has a right-wing pro-military caricature Peacemaker spoiler[murder the good guy, survive and get his own spinoff series]. By contrast, note that Marvel's Falcon and the Winter Soldier handled their right-wing pro-military character John Walker/U.S. Agent with a lot more nuance ... and that Falcon was still active duty U.S. Military. Long story short: the movies that succeed in the marketplace are those that manage to avoid antagonizing and alienating most of its audience. It just so happens that superhero movies are the only ones that have mostly refrained from that until now. And Pixar movies too by the way. |
|||
Spoofer
 Posts: 356 Location: NY |
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
AmpersandsUnited
Posts: 633 |
|
||
Ironically, the best live-action adaptions end up being kids shows probably because they have no qualms about being as cartoony or wild as the source material. I wouldn't call those Fairly Odd Parents TV movies great or anything, but at the very least the style and humor was spot to the silliness and stupidity of the original that they were essentially live-action versions of the cartoon. It's just most live-action adaptions try to take themselves way too seriously and make changes to make things realistic. The Loud House live-action movie looks, as far as casting and costumes go, looks practically 100% spot on to the cartoon. So it's a bit of a sad state when Nickelodeon has a better track record than Netflix or Hollywood. Here's hoping Avatar doesn't have bland costumes and set design like the last one did and the characters can actually be fun and silly this time around rather than mopey and serious. |
|||
|
|||
|
Spoofer
Posts: 356 Location: NY |
|
||
|
|||
Rentwo
 Posts: 184 |
|
||
That seemed more like a clip from It's Always Sunny than Cowboy Bebop. Not sure if it's just that clip or the whole show is like that though. |
|||
|
|||
|
insert name here
Posts: 84 |
|
||
|
Anime live action adaptations often fail for the same reason they get made. The studio sees it as "IP" with a built-in audience that they can cash in on. Problem is that a lot of people who got into anime in the first place were looking for something different, (i.e. not Hollywood). So Hollywood coming along to make their version of the thing isn't as exciting as it is for fans of superhero comics who get some sense of validation from the whole proceedings. The built-in audience there isn't as built-in as they think.
The other problem is that they only pick the most popular series instead of picking the things that would lend themselves best to adaptation. There is no shortage of great stories from the world of manga and anime that would work well in live action, but they aren't the most obvious choices and don't have the biggest pre-existing audiences. |
|||
|
|||
|
db999
Posts: 300 |
|
||
|
It really is a shame about Bebop. I just watched the first episode and while I don't think its as bad as everyone else says it's not great. It's shot well, and action is good and it has Yoko Kanno, but everything else is lackluster. John Cho and Mustafa Shakir are perfect as Spike and Jet, but everyone else is just poorly acted and the script is bad. Any amount of good visual direction and acting from the main duo just can't save the show from the other actors and writing.
|
|||
|
|||
NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2305 |
|
||
|
Not sure I follow.. I think Lynzee? re: Mexico being sepia. I mean, I know that's a common trope, but, having watched a few episodes of the Netflix Bebop, it seems to use sepia to mean "the past/a memory", whether or not we're in a Mexico or some other Spanish-speaking setting?
I've watched a few episodes already, though, and my read is basically the same as Lynzee and James, that detail aside. The only novel thing I might try to add is: I actually think the show is kind of fun? Like, I don't feel so into it that I can't walk away, but I am never bored or tired while watching it. It is very clearly not Bebop -- and some choices made with respect to Vicious, Julia, even moreso than my previously expressed concerns about the main cast, are super puzzling -- but it is still entertaining. I can't remember whether Lynzee or James said it, but I think it's quite true that this will be a lot more enjoyable (while still falling quite far of the original) if you watched it never having seen the original. |
|||
|
|||
enurtsol
 Posts: 14763 |
|
||
|
Pretty much guarantees a Season 2?
|
|||
|
|||
|
juaifan
Posts: 111 |
|
||
I agree. Anime is popular because it offers something no other market can . Taking that and then remolding it back into the homogenized media that people looked elsewhere to avoid in the first place just makes no sense and appeals to no one other than people who don't watch anime in the first place. |
|||
|
|||
Beatdigga
 Posts: 4372 Location: New York |
|
||
|
I think Netflix was hoping for an audience/critic split among loyal fans like The Dirt had with the former propelling it to success, but saying Motley Crue fans and Bebop fans wanted different things from their respective productions is putting it mildly.
|
|||
|
|||
|
enurtsol
Posts: 14763 |
|
||
|
#2 in the Netflix Top 10
|
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group