Random Thoughts About Constantine
I am not quite hate-watching the show; Scott enjoys it much more than I do, as he thinks it is much more "serious" than, say, Supernatural. I find the writing really clunky, and some of the monsters of the week are just boring or stupid. (I'm thinking particularly of the one with the Rom chick and the miners, and also, the fuck is with Pennsylvania and gypsies in pop culture right now?! Hemlock Grove did the same thing, and it's like, ok, of ALL of white America's prejudices, Romani isn't really one of them? And it seems REALLY fucking stupid to act like it is when, you know, freaking Ferguson is going on, you know?)
I also have really mixed feelings about the shift of the setting from London to Atlanta. On the one hand, man is it awesome to have black people on tv in a variety of roles. But--the Afro-Caribbean populations and history is SO DIFFERENT between London and Atlanta, you know? I mean, Atlanta is one of the very few American cities with a significant population of wealthy/middle/upper-class black people, but it is also more segregated than DC and Baltimore are. And it feels like they could be doing some interesting things with this white British dude nonchalantly driving a pick-up truck to go consult with this or that vodoun priest or African or Australian shaman, or whoever needs to do the exposition this week, but they--don't. And it seems to me that it makes more sense for these culturally interstitial crossings to be in London than, you know, freaking ATLANTA, because for all of the cozy "the city too busy to hate" motto, the city also encapsulates way more of contemporary American racial tensions and stuff.
That said, I did like that the climax of one episode happens at The Fox Theater and is actually shot inside of it, and there's also a bit when they break into a museum that may or may not The Fernbank (I haven't been since I was like 14, so I can't quite remember, but I also can't think of where else in Atlanta there would be a museum with dinosaur statues, so).
I *do* quite like Matt Ryan as Constantine--he is one of the few bits that feels absolutely organic and real to me. (I've only seen the one ep with Papa Midnite, and even though the film version got his characterization wrong, Djimon Hounsou **looked** like him perfectly.) That said--he's also too young for the role because, er, he's my age, which means he has the same relationship to the Sex Pistols and 70s punk rock that I do--through CDs obtained as a teenager. And **that** said, I do love the sequence where he has to avoid listening to cursed vinyl by listening to "Anarchy in the UK" because that seems like the most Constantine-y moment to ever be committed to film. But to me it just changes a lot of the character's life story in amusing ways to update him to now (the character was in his late thirties/early forties in the 90s), and now I basically just get entertained imagining Constantine going to shows of Blink 182 and being incredibly bitter about how pop 2000-era punk is, etc.
Anyway, I hope the show gets renewed anyway, just because it could develop in interesting ways once they get through the growing pains. Also, SPN is probably going to wind up this year or next, and I'll have a supernatural horror starring cute dudes gap in my life, and that will make me sad.
I also have really mixed feelings about the shift of the setting from London to Atlanta. On the one hand, man is it awesome to have black people on tv in a variety of roles. But--the Afro-Caribbean populations and history is SO DIFFERENT between London and Atlanta, you know? I mean, Atlanta is one of the very few American cities with a significant population of wealthy/middle/upper-class black people, but it is also more segregated than DC and Baltimore are. And it feels like they could be doing some interesting things with this white British dude nonchalantly driving a pick-up truck to go consult with this or that vodoun priest or African or Australian shaman, or whoever needs to do the exposition this week, but they--don't. And it seems to me that it makes more sense for these culturally interstitial crossings to be in London than, you know, freaking ATLANTA, because for all of the cozy "the city too busy to hate" motto, the city also encapsulates way more of contemporary American racial tensions and stuff.
That said, I did like that the climax of one episode happens at The Fox Theater and is actually shot inside of it, and there's also a bit when they break into a museum that may or may not The Fernbank (I haven't been since I was like 14, so I can't quite remember, but I also can't think of where else in Atlanta there would be a museum with dinosaur statues, so).
I *do* quite like Matt Ryan as Constantine--he is one of the few bits that feels absolutely organic and real to me. (I've only seen the one ep with Papa Midnite, and even though the film version got his characterization wrong, Djimon Hounsou **looked** like him perfectly.) That said--he's also too young for the role because, er, he's my age, which means he has the same relationship to the Sex Pistols and 70s punk rock that I do--through CDs obtained as a teenager. And **that** said, I do love the sequence where he has to avoid listening to cursed vinyl by listening to "Anarchy in the UK" because that seems like the most Constantine-y moment to ever be committed to film. But to me it just changes a lot of the character's life story in amusing ways to update him to now (the character was in his late thirties/early forties in the 90s), and now I basically just get entertained imagining Constantine going to shows of Blink 182 and being incredibly bitter about how pop 2000-era punk is, etc.
Anyway, I hope the show gets renewed anyway, just because it could develop in interesting ways once they get through the growing pains. Also, SPN is probably going to wind up this year or next, and I'll have a supernatural horror starring cute dudes gap in my life, and that will make me sad.