So Here's A Real "Get Off My Lawn" Moment

[handful_ofdust]

As somebody who's still not very interested in Avatar (the Cameron movie), I've been getting more and more annoyed by the whole "Oh, this is just Ferngully: The Last Rainforest with blue people! In space! Rippy rippy ripoff, yah boo sucks neener!" meme. Because that title means literally nothing to me--I keep looking at these references and going: "Am I supposed to know what this is? Does everybody know what this is except me? What's wrong with them? What's wrong with me?"

Well, today I looked it up...and discovered that it came out in 1992. When I was either 24 or 26, on the verge of moving/freshly moved out of my mother's house, just starting my career as a film reviewer, very self-identified as an adult, and highly unlikely to go see animated kids' films on my own recognizance. Which I suppose should make me feel sheepish, but--yeah, not so much. Not so much AT ALL. Because applying the templates of films aimed at children to films aimed at adults is...specious at best, ridiculous at worst, in this former critic's eyes. At least the whole Dances with Wolves comparison has actual merit, and--better yet--a chance of being a reference people beyond your personal age-range might recognize. Not everyone has the same set of childhood touchstones, ladies 'n' whoever; who'd'a thunk?

But then again, I guess it's true what they say about geeks, after all: We really do never grow up. And--as keeps getting ably proven and re-proven, in oh so many ways/areas--we continue to have amazing trouble understanding the idea that everyone on Earth isn't just an endless reiteration of ourselves.

This morning's rant brought to you by yet another Tuesday of run-run-running, and no coffee yet.;)

Comments

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

To you I recommend this brilliant bit of satire (if it is indeed that): http://web.me.com/pascalboogaert/Site/foto3.html

A friend of mine shared this with me and another friend, the latter of which promptly replied that there are no original stories anyway, etc., etc. My reply to him was: Yes, but there *are* also stories which are not shameless ripoffs of others.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's funny, but see above. Not to mention how I'd be one of those boring people arguing that execution truly does trump content in the long run, especially if you're dealing with the archetypical. "Pretty but dumb"? That's an execution problem. "Pretty, dumb and maybe racist?" Same thing. Romeo and Juliet does NOT "equal" Tromeo and Juliet, any more than West Side Story "equals" China Girl. (Or Turbulence "equals" Silence of the Lambs, just because their main villains may seem to be riffing off the same eeeevil soopa-geeeenius template.)

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

The "in the long run" bit is what most of the fans seem to be glossing over. They're very much "in the now" about the movie, much as the fans of the rebooted (shilling for de-booted) Star Trek loved it. To which I reply: Wait.

Remember how Titanic inspired all that rant-n-rave from all quarters (including, I am not ashamed to admit, yours truly)? How often has it come up since then except as a passing back reference to the last time Cameron made a feature film?>

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Well "in the long run", none of the Trek products count for much, and I say that as one of those deluded Abrams Trek fans. But I'm with you on Titanic--one of the funniest books I own is that movie's BFI Modern Classics installment. Though it did at least give me a couple of ideas for my own Gangs of New York pitch...;)

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

"Deluded" in the sense that you felt like you got gypped? (I have a post about Trek, sort of, already published.)

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

No, I was just labeling myself that proactively, since I don't actually feel like I got gypped, which I get the feeling you maybe think I did. How far back is that post? Were we linked up then?

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

I just made it: http://www.genjipress.com/2010/01/contrarianator-dept.html

I know I feel I got ripped off; the more I think about the film, the less I like it. I'm also trying to separate that from judgments ABOUT people who watch the film, but it's trickier than I thought.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Why trickier? Because it makes you think less of them? Yeah, that'd suck, if so. For me, when I walk into a movie theatre and the guy selling tickets has a badge which claims his favorite film is American Pie II, I really no longer feel like I have to get into it with him, because what's the point? Good on ya, guy. Now give me my ticket to Gangs, and bye bye/fly fly.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

Right, and a lot of times I don't want to think less of someone for having bad taste, because that's the greased-pig slope to unrequited snobbery. I actually have more respect for someone who "just likes" American Pie II than someone who defends crap because they don't want to be caught dead looking lowbrow.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Aha, actually, never mind: Just saw what you just put up.

Since I certainly agree with you re Moff's law--this always having been the way I assess things, professionally and otherwise, and I can't think of anything more annoying than people who are all "but who you gotta THINK, boo? What's THAT about?"--I should probably make my position on Trek Latest really, really clear: I don't have a dog in that fight. I enjoyed it, I enjoy it, but I know what it is. It doesn't give me that cracktastic jolt of soul-affirmation that other people are ready to throw down over; subsequently, I don't feel like I have to care much, either way.

With Avatar, OTOH, I foresee so much fooferaw going in that it makes me ...not want to go in, you know? Just not bother. I'm sure there are a lot of other arguments I should probably book time to have, this year.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Make that: "Why you gotta THINK, boo?"

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

Excellent summation of your POV. I don't mind people liking Trek (or Avatar); I just resent it being defended on the grounds that there's nothing new anyway so why not turn your brain off.

[blixie.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've see all three movies and IMO yeah it's plot is much more identical to in characters, plot, themes to Ferngully than it is to Dances with Wolves, thus my focusing on that as a comparison point of *merit*. Avatar's approach is also much more simplistic and childlike (and I mean that not in a bad way) and much more focused on eco elements than tribal adaptation/adoption. Basically I'm not convinced Avatar is a movie aimed at adults, and Ferngully is both smarter and yeah darker than it's kiddie origins.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Point taken, in that you've seen both and I've seen neither, so thus am talking out my virtual ass. But I gotta say, I'm not going to rush out and rent Ferngully just to snag a seat on the bandwagon if I ever do decide to see Avatar, either.

[blixie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally wasn't supporting the meme that it's a rip off and sucks just because it's plot structure is like a previous film, I'm just sayin' for me when I heard about it/saw it all I could think about was how similar it was to this other movie that I also loved, and looked forward to it based on that perception. It's actually part of drama/film and cinema that I love, the sense that we all draw on the same stories/tropes, and that when done well, can add to the overall lexicon.

Not that I'm not guilty of doing a rip off rant now and then, because hello to Buffy's Hush/Dark City.

[mlamprey.livejournal.com]

Our eldest watched Ferngully a lot when she was little, so I absorbed quite a bit of it without wanting to. And yes, when I sat through the IMAX 3D preview a few months back, Ferngully came immediately (and naturally) to mind. I was still dying to see Avatar after that sneak peek (the 2D trailers looked like shit to me but the 3D experience was a completely different thing). And I still haven't seen it.

[kmarkhoover.livejournal.com]

You're not alone. I don't know what the F "Ferngully" is, either.