Because they were rare back in the day, when Harry Potter hit hard (after three
books, because nobody knew what the fuck that is until the fourt or so) and the
TLDR Fellowship of the Ring came out
and there was nothing hotter than lean blonde elves (even my mother knows who
Orlando Bloom is and she’s stopped thinking blondes are hot with Lawrence Olivier),
kick-ass witty dwarves (only reason to play Alliance side) and secretive,
torn-inside heroes (okay, those were kind of the norm even before, but
Mortensen's Aragorn sealed the deal) - suddenly you were no longer special
needs for reading children's books above the age of nine, pretty much all of
what came down on the market early was deemed excellent. Twilight saga,
Pullman's Golden Compass, Nix's Sabriel, ANYTHING Pratchett scrapped from the
bottom of the barrel... Yes, those have been around for a long time, but nobody
admitted to reading comics (even if it was Gaiman), watching Anime (even if it
was Miyazaki) or reaching for any kind of science fiction other than Isaac
Asimov ... maybe Gibson, maybe, maybe
Douglas Adams, but he was basically a Monty Python anyway.
Those things were rare and they were great. They weren't
marketable, they appealed to a thin stack of pencils of nerds who practiced
becoming future Nabokovs by means of Star
wars or Labyrinth fan fiction and
who thought some day, porn, some day I will understand the meaning of you!
Well, times changed. Lord
of the Rings was followed by a torrent of movies that attempted to
incorporate elements of magic (even some interesting Russian stuff), and is
still rolling in the likes of Game of
Thrones, where audience will sit agape at teen titties and huge CGI
battles, as long as there's a good, deep dialogue thrown in once every four or
five episodes. Characters don't even have to do much, just stand in imposing
costume and wear resting bitch faces and the nerds and nerd on-line magazine critics will be just fine
interpreting the costume, down to the jewelry worn by extras.
Manga and Anime are in such demand these days, their
quality is watered down on every level: story, illustration and details. I LOVE
Anime, and would read manga if I could get my hands on it, but even I am desperate
for at least one exceptional show per year. Is all I ask. One that I won't be
TOLD is excellent and highest ranked, but one which I will be able to find
memorable on my own. I've seen SO MANY shows and always will, but they are
starting to blend together. Comics, western version, which are slightly harder
to produce, are slightly more fortunate in this aspect: there has been an up in
some superlative content - Wytches, say, and Saga and personally I am very fond
of Flight, the Watchmen and I Roved Out.
And yet, looking back now, on the likes or Eragon,
Inkblood and shit like that…. Those were fucking retarded. I tried, I tried
really hard to fangirl, because it genuinely is my genre and there are things
within that genre that will transcend your LIFE… But man. Take a look at that
shit again. It’s fucking embarrassing. There are movies in the past with
magical realism elements considered bad that are freakishly brilliant by comparison
to what we find acceptable today. Enough with the posh realistic fiction, I beg
of you. Make one a year, maybe two, and keep those astounding. One big, one
indi. Not fifty, the opening act of which is the fucking Mummy. Which makes the
Brendan Fucking Fraser version seem okay.
There is a huge HUGE divide between a good idea sold to a
rich studio and a movie made for people who actually know what the genre is
about. Hint: it is not about hot chicks and space battles. It is not ONLY about
hot chicks and space battles. That’s like only eating dessert for the rest of
your life.
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