craner

Beast of Burden
But maybe you're talking about something different here anyway. Are you saying that the ideas behind the myths live on but in different forms now, with Iron-man or whatever as the carrier rather than Ares & Odysseus (or Mars and Ulysses if you like)? Which is obviously more interesting. But the thing to me is that if Marvel does fill that role it can potentially make the phenomenon interesting without making the films themselves worth watching.

Yes, myth in a broader sense than just stories and names ripped from the Greco-Roman canon.
 

luka

Well-known member
its an idea put forward in books like supergods by grant morrisson and our gods where spandex by christopher knowles
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
This point here

"...We hate everything about Star Wars. But the idea of Star Wars…the idea we love.” Never has the Death of the Author been so acute: Lucas held responsible for everything the fans hate about the universe he created which is their one true love.

I read something very similar from a journalist who went to a Harry Potter convention and spoke to all these geeks who spend ages reading and rereading the series, seemingly mainly to complain about all the mistakes JKR made, whether simple factual errors or - worse no doubt - those relating to the universe she had created.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
Yes, myth in a broader sense than just stories and names ripped from the Greco-Roman canon.
One has to be a little bit careful to differentiate these two ideas cos both of them do occur - eg in Marvel, you literally have Thor as a character and a bastardised version of a number of Norse legends - but they are not the same thing at all. Although I suppose it's conceivable that both concepts could coincidentally be embodied in the same thing, if for example, the character of Thor accidentally happened to inherit the role of carrier of the same archetype that Thor had previously carried in the Norse Mythos... does that make sense?
 

sufi

lala
This point here



I read something very similar from a journalist who went to a Harry Potter convention and spoke to all these geeks who spend ages reading and rereading the series, seemingly mainly to complain about all the mistakes JKR made, whether simple factual errors or - worse no doubt - those relating to the universe she had created.
👍 I was reading about how fast the Buffy community pivotted when sleazy Joss Whedon was cancelled last year
 

craner

Beast of Burden
One has to be a little bit careful to differentiate these two ideas cos both of them do occur - eg in Marvel, you literally have Thor as a character and a bastardised version of a number of Norse legends - but they are not the same thing at all. Although I suppose it's conceivable that both concepts could coincidentally be embodied in the same thing, if for example, the character of Thor accidentally happened to inherit the role of carrier of the same archetype that Thor had previously carried in the Norse Mythos... does that make sense?

I'm sure you're right, but it wasn't really the subject of the essay I was writing here.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
That's what I think The Last Jedi was all about, ultimately.
I haven't seen it. I saw The Force Awakens, and I saw some of Rogue One on a plane one time but I didn't finish it at the time and felt no particular need to seek it out and finish it at a later date.

The Last Jedi, I didn't avoid or anything, I just wasn't that bothered. However, having read a few people moaning about it and gleaning some of the stuff that happens... well, I got the impression that people were pissed off cos they had the idea that after the Return of the Jedi - when the Emperor and Vader had been defeated, the Death Star destroyed and so on - Luke, Leia, Solo etc had ridden off into the sunset and lived happily ever after... BUT now it was revealed that actually that wasn't the case, they had become miserable and directionless alcoholics (or the space equivalent of that) and Luke in particular instead of being a wise and content aged Jedi was in fact a bitter old git. And they thought that that fucked with their enjoyment of the original film and - without getting into the debate about "who owns the film" again - to my surprise, I actually felt kinda the same. It would be like discovering something about my childhood was very different (worse) from how I thought of it at the time, and, although it couldn't change the way that I had experienced and enjoyed it, it could taint the memory.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I haven't seen it. I saw The Force Awakens, and I saw some of Rogue One on a plane one time but I didn't finish it at the time and felt no particular need to seek it out and finish it at a later date.

The Last Jedi, I didn't avoid or anything, I just wasn't that bothered. However, having read a few people moaning about it and gleaning some of the stuff that happens... well, I got the impression that people were pissed off cos they had the idea that after the Return of the Jedi - when the Emperor and Vader had been defeated, the Death Star destroyed and so on - Luke, Leia, Solo etc had ridden off into the sunset and lived happily ever after... BUT now it was revealed that actually that wasn't the case, they had become miserable and directionless alcoholics (or the space equivalent of that) and Luke in particular instead of being a wise and content aged Jedi was in fact a bitter old git. And they thought that that fucked with their enjoyment of the original film and - without getting into the debate about "who owns the film" again - to my surprise, I actually felt kinda the same. It would be like discovering something about my childhood was very different (worse) from how I thought of it at the time, and, although it couldn't change the way that I had experienced and enjoyed it, it could taint the memory.

It was a sadistic lashing of Star Wars fans which was probably its only redeemable feature
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I'm sure you're right, but it wasn't really the subject of the essay I was writing here.
Precisely why you need to be careful to distinguish this... no, I know that obviously, but that coincidence with the two meanings lining up was something that occurred to me just then and I found it... worthy of a mention at least.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I haven't seen it. I saw The Force Awakens, and I saw some of Rogue One on a plane one time but I didn't finish it at the time and felt no particular need to seek it out and finish it at a later date.

The Last Jedi, I didn't avoid or anything, I just wasn't that bothered. However, having read a few people moaning about it and gleaning some of the stuff that happens... well, I got the impression that people were pissed off cos they had the idea that after the Return of the Jedi - when the Emperor and Vader had been defeated, the Death Star destroyed and so on - Luke, Leia, Solo etc had ridden off into the sunset and lived happily ever after... BUT now it was revealed that actually that wasn't the case, they had become miserable and directionless alcoholics (or the space equivalent of that) and Luke in particular instead of being a wise and content aged Jedi was in fact a bitter old git. And they thought that that fucked with their enjoyment of the original film and - without getting into the debate about "who owns the film" again - to my surprise, I actually felt kinda the same. It would be like discovering something about my childhood was very different (worse) from how I thought of it at the time, and, although it couldn't change the way that I had experienced and enjoyed it, it could taint the memory.
I saw it (for my sins) - it goes on for faaar too long, the plot is all over the fucking place, half of it consists of close-ups of people who seem to be on the verge of bursting into tears, and there's this bizarre middle bit that bears no real relationship to the rest of the film and appears to serve no purpose other than to hammer home a very unsubtle "capitalism is bad" message, which is a bit fucking rich coming from a fucking Star Wars film, of all things.

OTOH it was quite fun pretending the grizzled Luke Skywalker was actually Slavoj Zizek.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
👍 I was reading about how fast the Buffy community pivotted when sleazy Joss Whedon was cancelled last year
How do you mean? Why was he cancelled again, was it a sex thing? I'm guessing their pivot was a way to deal with that - but what was the position they switched to? I don't really know much about the guy and his fans to be honest.
 

sufi

lala
How do you mean? Why was he cancelled again, was it a sex thing? I'm guessing their pivot was a way to deal with that - but what was the position they switched to? I don't really know much about the guy and his fans to be honest.
he was really in with the fans - on their discussion forum and hanging out and getting glorified and so on,
then he was cancelled and i think the fans re-evaluated and are getting on fine without him
as far as i understand
which tbh is not at all far - on the basis of 1 article https://www.vulture.com/article/joss-whedon-allegations.htmland 0 interest in buffy or harry potter
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Ah I see, they changed to a position wherein they cut him out and remained fans of the show - separated and artist once again as everyone used to do once upon a time.
 

sufi

lala
Ah I see, they changed to a position wherein they cut him out and remained fans of the show - separated and artist once again as everyone used to do once upon a time.
yeah

i thought the mandalorian was ok, in terms of existing harmoniously within the lucasworld retcon timewarps,
and as undemanding cgi-fi entertainment in its own right
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I did see it... it was very undemanding though wasn't it? I dunno what ages it was aimed at - maybe another problem for Star Wars things is they have to appeal to kids watching it now and also their parents who want it to be as magical for them now they are 50 as it was when they were 10 - but ultimately I found it disappointingly simplistic.
 
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