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stoicheionIf you're wondering what this might be about, this is a post about media. About books and television shows and music. About the nature of writing in any of those forms, and the nature of reading, of enjoying. No guarantee I'm going to be coherent, but it's a subject I've had in my head for a while and I figured "why not?"
Generally, I read braincandy. Simply written stuff that catches my eye, young adult books that appear to have an interesting premise. That isn't to say that I don't also pick up exceptions to this; some of my favorite books are those exceptions. But for flat escapism, I usually go for the junk food.
Mostly, because I love when I find smart-in-stupid.
By that, I'm talking about the books that look like a giant cliche that end up to be anything but. The shonen manga that looks like every other shounen manga but isn't. The cheesy action flick that has a real lesson to teach. The movie that points out how stupid something we take for granted really is. The goofy scifi show that maybe isn't BSG but when it hits those moments, has something to say.
Pick up Neil Gaiman and the like and you know you're going to find something that touches you, makes you think, which is why I love the man as a writer. But sometimes, I like the search. I like to see what I can find. I like to find something meaningful and applicable to my life in what should just be a 5.99 paperback.
And, in a way, I kind of applaud these authors/writers a little bit more. Because they're using the bubblegum to change the bubblegum. They're moving from the ground up to take some of these tired stereotypes and tropes and bap you on the head for believing in them.
Soul Eater
I've been meaning to write up something about this series for a while because there are just so many things that, well, that make me happy about it. It's a shounen series for the Naruto-type crowd, but where Naruto seems to be edging farther and farther into the cliche pit, SE keeps wowing me with the stuff the mangaka is doing.
Guess what? he says with one character: Mental illness is DEBILITATING and harmful and world-warping. It is NOT just an excuse to be a better fighter, a berseker. It can, in fact, give you TROUBLE in a combat situation. It makes love a terrifying, complicated thing. It HURTS. Courage is not a lack of fear; it is the ability to stand up regardless of it.
Guess what? he says with another: Ethics are not simple. They are not clean cut. They are not EASY. Even when you try your hardest to do what is clearly the right thing, people are human and they screw up and when they're hurt, they do stupid things that they genuinely don't mean.
Guess what? he says with his main characters: Men and women can have relationships based on respect. A girl can have desires that don't involve getting a guy. A guy can have NO INTEREST in being 'stronger' and still be a good, decent character, a liked character. Compassion has a place even on the battle field, but that's not ALL a girl can do. You can screw up and fix it by listening.
There's more, so much more, characters and situations about morality and humanity and responsibility and consequences and everything else that just make me smile when I think about them being in mainstream, popular anime. Not the thinky, paced stuff that only certain people seek out, no, the real in your face lots of people watching it anime. And for everyone who watches it and likes it, that's one more person who in some way, shape, or form now knows that you don't have to do the same tired ideas and motivations and cliches to make an awesome series.
Forbidden Kingdom
If you didn't see this movie, I can't blame you. It went by in a blink, covered up by a few other blockbusters, which is a shame because, dude, Jet Li and Jackie Chan? Epic! But the thing about this, the smart in this stupid, is what the movie does and what the movie shows.
With all the discussion about the Avatar casting and the cultural appropriation debate of doom, people are thinking about these things more: casting non-Caucasians for non-Caucasian roles and the problems with using everything that's 'cool' and 'awesome' about a culture and throwing aside the bits that you don't really care about/aren't as interesting to you. For an example of both, check out the new Dragon Ball movie. Because... ouch. Srsly.
But as an example of Doing It Right, as far as I'm concerned, Forbidden Kingdom does it head and shoulders above anything else I've ever seen while POINTING IT OUT PLAINLY. Now granted, the main character is Michael Angarano (ie, the goofy kid from Sky High), but he is quite literally just the vehicle for the audience to get into the world and the message to make itself known.
After all, Jason LOVES Hong Kong kung-fu movies. He doesn't just watch the American ports, oh no, he goes to Chinatown and buys the REAL DEAL and he worships the greats, watches their moves, studies up on their techniques and the names, goes DEEP. Of course, he's respectful and polite but you can see there's just a bit that wants to kick some butt kungfu STYYYYLE.
Then he ends up in ancient mythical China and learns how very LITTLE he knows. This kid gets handed his backside the first few times. Then, as he's traveling with Jackie Chan, he turns all 'show me what you know!' and they have what is... well, I'll just let the dialogue speak for itself:
Jason: You think you'll teach me the Shadow Kick? Oh, and the Buddha Palm Technique. There's a guy in Virtua Fighter 2, who does the Buddha Palm Technique.
[Lu gives him a cup and starts pouring tea]
Jason: Thanks, Lu. And he does the Iron Elbow. And he does the One Finger Death Touch.
[the cup starts overflowing, burning his hands]
Jason: The cup's full. Stop! It's full!
Lu Yan: Exactly! How can you fill your cup if it's already full? How can you learn Kung Fu; you already know so much. No Shadow Kick, Buddha Palm! Empty your cup.
They even lampshade the whole concept of the movie a few times, with the Silent Monk (Jet Li's character) pointing out something about the main character who's supposed to help the Monkey King free himself: But, he's not even Chinese.
And yeah, eventually they do teach him some fighting techniques, the both of them, and both of them are hard teachers. It takes TIME, effort, and most of all: UNDERSTANDING of the underlying culture and ideology beneath all of it. Satisfyingly, guess what? Even after all that, Jason gets his ass handed to him 8/10ths of the time. He just knows how to land now; he can survive a fight with all these awesome martial artists, but he won't WIN it. The action scenes belong squarely to Jackie Chan and Jet Li; regardless of Jason being the protagonist, THEY are the main characters, the show stoppers. Jason is the right person at the right time, but the hero is the Monkey King.
Empty your cup. Huh. Pretty good advice, Mr. Chan.
Monsters Vs. Aliens
I'm not going to be discussing the movie at length, though I really enjoyed it. What I am going to point out is one five minute scene that just made my day.
We called it 'role reversal theatre' when we saw it. It was the typical scene with two teenagers out at night, sitting in the front seat of the car, girl and a boy at Lookout Point or wherever. Think of ever terrible cliche for this scene and it was there.
Then, the girl started bugging the guy about trying stuff out. The guy was hesitant and he had a gymnastics meet tomorrow and he wasn't sure this was a good idea. Yeah, you get the picture. Take all those cliches and REVERSE them, up to and including the guy running when the alien started making noise and breaking his ankle, the girl coming up to pick him up a moment later and carry him in her arms.
And it was a five minute scene and yes, it was funny. But I loved it because it was a really good show of 'look at how STUPID this idea is; look at how it's been DONE TO DEATH.' And maybe it was just a goofy movie, but if even one person left the theatre thinking 'God, that's dumb; when I make my movie, I'll come up with something better' or even 'wow, that whole situation is disgustingly sexist' or... hell, made them think about it, then I think the movie was worth the tickets.
This post is pretty long already, but I'm sure you can see what I mean. This is the stuff I love: picking at the popcorn and finding a Godiva truffle in there. What was the purpose of this post? Maybe it's to encourage anyone reading to look in their braincandy and see what might be there, what lessons can be learned. Maybe it's to encourage anyone who thinks all they can write IS braincandy to feel free to play with concepts and be important and thoughtful nonetheless. Maybe it's just to get this out of my brain.
Dunno. But I hope it was good reading, at least.
Generally, I read braincandy. Simply written stuff that catches my eye, young adult books that appear to have an interesting premise. That isn't to say that I don't also pick up exceptions to this; some of my favorite books are those exceptions. But for flat escapism, I usually go for the junk food.
Mostly, because I love when I find smart-in-stupid.
By that, I'm talking about the books that look like a giant cliche that end up to be anything but. The shonen manga that looks like every other shounen manga but isn't. The cheesy action flick that has a real lesson to teach. The movie that points out how stupid something we take for granted really is. The goofy scifi show that maybe isn't BSG but when it hits those moments, has something to say.
Pick up Neil Gaiman and the like and you know you're going to find something that touches you, makes you think, which is why I love the man as a writer. But sometimes, I like the search. I like to see what I can find. I like to find something meaningful and applicable to my life in what should just be a 5.99 paperback.
And, in a way, I kind of applaud these authors/writers a little bit more. Because they're using the bubblegum to change the bubblegum. They're moving from the ground up to take some of these tired stereotypes and tropes and bap you on the head for believing in them.
Soul Eater
I've been meaning to write up something about this series for a while because there are just so many things that, well, that make me happy about it. It's a shounen series for the Naruto-type crowd, but where Naruto seems to be edging farther and farther into the cliche pit, SE keeps wowing me with the stuff the mangaka is doing.
Guess what? he says with one character: Mental illness is DEBILITATING and harmful and world-warping. It is NOT just an excuse to be a better fighter, a berseker. It can, in fact, give you TROUBLE in a combat situation. It makes love a terrifying, complicated thing. It HURTS. Courage is not a lack of fear; it is the ability to stand up regardless of it.
Guess what? he says with another: Ethics are not simple. They are not clean cut. They are not EASY. Even when you try your hardest to do what is clearly the right thing, people are human and they screw up and when they're hurt, they do stupid things that they genuinely don't mean.
Guess what? he says with his main characters: Men and women can have relationships based on respect. A girl can have desires that don't involve getting a guy. A guy can have NO INTEREST in being 'stronger' and still be a good, decent character, a liked character. Compassion has a place even on the battle field, but that's not ALL a girl can do. You can screw up and fix it by listening.
There's more, so much more, characters and situations about morality and humanity and responsibility and consequences and everything else that just make me smile when I think about them being in mainstream, popular anime. Not the thinky, paced stuff that only certain people seek out, no, the real in your face lots of people watching it anime. And for everyone who watches it and likes it, that's one more person who in some way, shape, or form now knows that you don't have to do the same tired ideas and motivations and cliches to make an awesome series.
Forbidden Kingdom
If you didn't see this movie, I can't blame you. It went by in a blink, covered up by a few other blockbusters, which is a shame because, dude, Jet Li and Jackie Chan? Epic! But the thing about this, the smart in this stupid, is what the movie does and what the movie shows.
With all the discussion about the Avatar casting and the cultural appropriation debate of doom, people are thinking about these things more: casting non-Caucasians for non-Caucasian roles and the problems with using everything that's 'cool' and 'awesome' about a culture and throwing aside the bits that you don't really care about/aren't as interesting to you. For an example of both, check out the new Dragon Ball movie. Because... ouch. Srsly.
But as an example of Doing It Right, as far as I'm concerned, Forbidden Kingdom does it head and shoulders above anything else I've ever seen while POINTING IT OUT PLAINLY. Now granted, the main character is Michael Angarano (ie, the goofy kid from Sky High), but he is quite literally just the vehicle for the audience to get into the world and the message to make itself known.
After all, Jason LOVES Hong Kong kung-fu movies. He doesn't just watch the American ports, oh no, he goes to Chinatown and buys the REAL DEAL and he worships the greats, watches their moves, studies up on their techniques and the names, goes DEEP. Of course, he's respectful and polite but you can see there's just a bit that wants to kick some butt kungfu STYYYYLE.
Then he ends up in ancient mythical China and learns how very LITTLE he knows. This kid gets handed his backside the first few times. Then, as he's traveling with Jackie Chan, he turns all 'show me what you know!' and they have what is... well, I'll just let the dialogue speak for itself:
Jason: You think you'll teach me the Shadow Kick? Oh, and the Buddha Palm Technique. There's a guy in Virtua Fighter 2, who does the Buddha Palm Technique.
[Lu gives him a cup and starts pouring tea]
Jason: Thanks, Lu. And he does the Iron Elbow. And he does the One Finger Death Touch.
[the cup starts overflowing, burning his hands]
Jason: The cup's full. Stop! It's full!
Lu Yan: Exactly! How can you fill your cup if it's already full? How can you learn Kung Fu; you already know so much. No Shadow Kick, Buddha Palm! Empty your cup.
They even lampshade the whole concept of the movie a few times, with the Silent Monk (Jet Li's character) pointing out something about the main character who's supposed to help the Monkey King free himself: But, he's not even Chinese.
And yeah, eventually they do teach him some fighting techniques, the both of them, and both of them are hard teachers. It takes TIME, effort, and most of all: UNDERSTANDING of the underlying culture and ideology beneath all of it. Satisfyingly, guess what? Even after all that, Jason gets his ass handed to him 8/10ths of the time. He just knows how to land now; he can survive a fight with all these awesome martial artists, but he won't WIN it. The action scenes belong squarely to Jackie Chan and Jet Li; regardless of Jason being the protagonist, THEY are the main characters, the show stoppers. Jason is the right person at the right time, but the hero is the Monkey King.
Empty your cup. Huh. Pretty good advice, Mr. Chan.
Monsters Vs. Aliens
I'm not going to be discussing the movie at length, though I really enjoyed it. What I am going to point out is one five minute scene that just made my day.
We called it 'role reversal theatre' when we saw it. It was the typical scene with two teenagers out at night, sitting in the front seat of the car, girl and a boy at Lookout Point or wherever. Think of ever terrible cliche for this scene and it was there.
Then, the girl started bugging the guy about trying stuff out. The guy was hesitant and he had a gymnastics meet tomorrow and he wasn't sure this was a good idea. Yeah, you get the picture. Take all those cliches and REVERSE them, up to and including the guy running when the alien started making noise and breaking his ankle, the girl coming up to pick him up a moment later and carry him in her arms.
And it was a five minute scene and yes, it was funny. But I loved it because it was a really good show of 'look at how STUPID this idea is; look at how it's been DONE TO DEATH.' And maybe it was just a goofy movie, but if even one person left the theatre thinking 'God, that's dumb; when I make my movie, I'll come up with something better' or even 'wow, that whole situation is disgustingly sexist' or... hell, made them think about it, then I think the movie was worth the tickets.
This post is pretty long already, but I'm sure you can see what I mean. This is the stuff I love: picking at the popcorn and finding a Godiva truffle in there. What was the purpose of this post? Maybe it's to encourage anyone reading to look in their braincandy and see what might be there, what lessons can be learned. Maybe it's to encourage anyone who thinks all they can write IS braincandy to feel free to play with concepts and be important and thoughtful nonetheless. Maybe it's just to get this out of my brain.
Dunno. But I hope it was good reading, at least.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-19 05:56 pm (UTC)I comment b/c you mention Monsters vs. Aliens.... =)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-19 06:38 pm (UTC)And thank you for talking about those other two things I have not heard of before. :D
I like the one about mental illness being actually bad for you, particularly. It reminds me to keep an eye on the characters in my own fiction who are crazy people, and make sure I show that it's not all maniacal laughter and jokes about cannibalism.