647: Clichés are SO cliché
I had planned to hold off further commentary on Heroes until at least Ep. 3 for various reasons, the biggest one being that that was the one through which the naysayers at the Post had mentioned seeing and were lambasting. Of course, I get the strong impression the episodes aired were different from the preview episodes [maybe not by much, but different all the same], because one article in particular decided it was "a largely dreary dirge whose dramatis personae seem plagued rather than pleased with the gifts they've been given." [...that, and Chard said they had changed things, like how Micah stole money from Niki's dresser, which would have changed the entire dynamic of the series.]
Well, could you blame them? Certainly Niki would have a difficult time thinking her blood-thirsty alterego was a benefit, and as Claire FINALLY makes plain in the latest installment, her Wolverine-esque super-healing qualifies her for two things: "Freak or guinea pig. Possibly both." Yeah, it might not kill her [permanently] if she got shot, but it still fucking HURTS, and goodbye any chance of living a normal girlie-girl life. Wolverine at least had fight in him to keep away anyone who wanted to stick a knife in him just to watch him heal himself and say, "COOL!" \:'
Hiro is the only one thoroughly excited about his newfound powers, because they're something he's wanted the whole time, so his part of the story naturally progresses as strongly as his enthusiasm. The others are held back by their own inhibitions and fears. Yes, the Petrellis'/Isaac's story goes kind of slow, because theirs are the powers no one can take as seriously, and they have the least reason to take them seriously. "HO SNAPS I CAN FLY!" "HA IN MY DRUG-INDUCED HIGH, I KNEW YOU WOULD KILL ME IN MY FACE!" Well, good luck using THOSE against this Sylar guy ¬_¬
I've also seen mention that Heroes is full of clichés...The mother with the exagerrated southern accent, tiny dog and horrible lines: cliche
The Indian guy with "heady" philosophy, a science degree, and driving a cab: cliche
The cheerleader, blonde, cute and apparently she wears her uniform everywhere: cliche
The two brothers, one a granola eater the other a politicking, capitalist prick, they're adversaries but love each other: cliche
The Japanese guy, manga lover, Star Trek nerd, office worker, "Yatta" yeller: cliche
The single mom, slut with a half breed kid she drops off at inopportune times so she can go deal with her seedy business: cliche
And of course the artist tried to kill himself; that's how artists are.
...excuse me?
Okay, perhaps I don't watch enough B-movies or read enough fan fiction or something, but I've not run across many "single mom, slut with a half breed kid blah blah blah" in my experiences, and certainly not enough to call them a cliché. She's in Las Vegas--it's only natural to presume she got into the business because there was literally nowhere else for her to turn, as almost anywhere else would have presented at least some McDonald's work. Furthermore, I've seen in the show that Claire ["the cheerleader"] wears her uniform 1. at school, 2. on the way home from school, having not bothered to change, or now 3. at after-school pep rally kinds of functions. Actually at home, she changes to something else.
I'm also not very versed in heady Indian guys with degrees, cab or no cab. They're undoubtedly abundant in the real world, but I haven't seen many in fiction. Nevertheless, the one actual cliché--the suicidal artist--isn't worth calling a cliché?
I've pointed this out in response to another commentary on clichés [which is now Friends-only, or I'd link it]: There are only sixteen recognized personality types in the world. Eventually, someone's going to cover them all, right? Then what? The characters hardly seem to be cliché nearly as much as they are "typical" people, and if people are typically like that, you can't say the formulas don't work--what makes a cliché a cliché is if it automatically doesn't work regardless of script. "Good Guy wears white, Bad Guy wears black" is one tried-and-true cliché. "Ninja pirate" would be a cliché if enough people made horrible Ninja Pirate scripts. [Everyone knows ninja and pirates are mortal enemies--like Montagues and Capulets.]
On the other hand, "The story is boring and tedious" would be a perfectly fine argument, even if I didn't agree with it. [I think it's interesting and tedious!] Personally, I think it's doing well enough, though I get pretty grossed out at Claire's... er... "demonstrations."
...speaking of which, for all of Claire's super-healing, she seems to be especially fragile. A football player knocks her over, and she snaps her neck. Whoops! =p Good lord, she's awfully fucking lucky to have that superpower, then. If they're doing that to make a big scene about what she can do, though, I do wish they would put more effort into not making it look like "super-erasing" power, though--when she heals a compound fracture, I would expect the bone and interior flesh to heal first and work its way outward, not for her skin to grow over it and cover it up, but that's what happens.
Laziness!
Unrelated: We got two new new newbies at work, which semi-officially kicks off the seasonal hires... besides the spattering of foreigners who work for a month then quit so they can go home, I guess. Really, even Socialite is gone after just the month or so... it's bizarre. As per usual, I refrain from naming them immediately, because I haven't seen enough of them to get a real solid nickname down. Hell, I haven't even named this one other newbie, and he's been there a while [with slight break of several weeks, from out of nowhere].
I also started re-reading Death Note at work, which is good for me, because I apparently missed a couple of pages in my initial consumption, and it's like finding a hidden treasure. Once I finish, though, I should start carrying a notepad to scribble down some ideas for fables/short stories, since Nano-fever has gotten me even with weeks away from Book 2. [Shit, I'm writing BOOK FOUR in my head! Those long hours at work are killer!] I mean, I'd really like to have more than one book a year done, and this is the best way to accomplish that, especially if I'm going to keep thinking of books to write for upcoming Nanos years in advance... T_T
Come to think of it, with the holiday shopping deluge on the horizon, I should get a damned backlog established XB I keep picking at random things, though, like switching the gerbils' cages because Jade Knight seems particularly bored, if she's constantly gnawing exactly the same spot on her cage bars.
...yeah, turning on the computer only once a day seems to work. I'm vaguely trying to bring down my post count to less than one per day while simultanously increasing post quality.
[Fawx: "Quality" is understood to be "high quality." That is, if you talked about "a quantity of apples," you wouldn't automatically assume it to be a low quantity like one or two, right? This ended up being on my mind for a long time but I never had the occasion to bring it up.]
WHOOPS I SLEEP TIME =o
Well, could you blame them? Certainly Niki would have a difficult time thinking her blood-thirsty alterego was a benefit, and as Claire FINALLY makes plain in the latest installment, her Wolverine-esque super-healing qualifies her for two things: "Freak or guinea pig. Possibly both." Yeah, it might not kill her [permanently] if she got shot, but it still fucking HURTS, and goodbye any chance of living a normal girlie-girl life. Wolverine at least had fight in him to keep away anyone who wanted to stick a knife in him just to watch him heal himself and say, "COOL!" \:'
Hiro is the only one thoroughly excited about his newfound powers, because they're something he's wanted the whole time, so his part of the story naturally progresses as strongly as his enthusiasm. The others are held back by their own inhibitions and fears. Yes, the Petrellis'/Isaac's story goes kind of slow, because theirs are the powers no one can take as seriously, and they have the least reason to take them seriously. "HO SNAPS I CAN FLY!" "HA IN MY DRUG-INDUCED HIGH, I KNEW YOU WOULD KILL ME IN MY FACE!" Well, good luck using THOSE against this Sylar guy ¬_¬
I've also seen mention that Heroes is full of clichés...The mother with the exagerrated southern accent, tiny dog and horrible lines: cliche
The Indian guy with "heady" philosophy, a science degree, and driving a cab: cliche
The cheerleader, blonde, cute and apparently she wears her uniform everywhere: cliche
The two brothers, one a granola eater the other a politicking, capitalist prick, they're adversaries but love each other: cliche
The Japanese guy, manga lover, Star Trek nerd, office worker, "Yatta" yeller: cliche
The single mom, slut with a half breed kid she drops off at inopportune times so she can go deal with her seedy business: cliche
And of course the artist tried to kill himself; that's how artists are.
...excuse me?
Okay, perhaps I don't watch enough B-movies or read enough fan fiction or something, but I've not run across many "single mom, slut with a half breed kid blah blah blah" in my experiences, and certainly not enough to call them a cliché. She's in Las Vegas--it's only natural to presume she got into the business because there was literally nowhere else for her to turn, as almost anywhere else would have presented at least some McDonald's work. Furthermore, I've seen in the show that Claire ["the cheerleader"] wears her uniform 1. at school, 2. on the way home from school, having not bothered to change, or now 3. at after-school pep rally kinds of functions. Actually at home, she changes to something else.
I'm also not very versed in heady Indian guys with degrees, cab or no cab. They're undoubtedly abundant in the real world, but I haven't seen many in fiction. Nevertheless, the one actual cliché--the suicidal artist--isn't worth calling a cliché?
I've pointed this out in response to another commentary on clichés [which is now Friends-only, or I'd link it]: There are only sixteen recognized personality types in the world. Eventually, someone's going to cover them all, right? Then what? The characters hardly seem to be cliché nearly as much as they are "typical" people, and if people are typically like that, you can't say the formulas don't work--what makes a cliché a cliché is if it automatically doesn't work regardless of script. "Good Guy wears white, Bad Guy wears black" is one tried-and-true cliché. "Ninja pirate" would be a cliché if enough people made horrible Ninja Pirate scripts. [Everyone knows ninja and pirates are mortal enemies--like Montagues and Capulets.]
On the other hand, "The story is boring and tedious" would be a perfectly fine argument, even if I didn't agree with it. [I think it's interesting and tedious!] Personally, I think it's doing well enough, though I get pretty grossed out at Claire's... er... "demonstrations."
...speaking of which, for all of Claire's super-healing, she seems to be especially fragile. A football player knocks her over, and she snaps her neck. Whoops! =p Good lord, she's awfully fucking lucky to have that superpower, then. If they're doing that to make a big scene about what she can do, though, I do wish they would put more effort into not making it look like "super-erasing" power, though--when she heals a compound fracture, I would expect the bone and interior flesh to heal first and work its way outward, not for her skin to grow over it and cover it up, but that's what happens.
Laziness!
Unrelated: We got two new new newbies at work, which semi-officially kicks off the seasonal hires... besides the spattering of foreigners who work for a month then quit so they can go home, I guess. Really, even Socialite is gone after just the month or so... it's bizarre. As per usual, I refrain from naming them immediately, because I haven't seen enough of them to get a real solid nickname down. Hell, I haven't even named this one other newbie, and he's been there a while [with slight break of several weeks, from out of nowhere].
I also started re-reading Death Note at work, which is good for me, because I apparently missed a couple of pages in my initial consumption, and it's like finding a hidden treasure. Once I finish, though, I should start carrying a notepad to scribble down some ideas for fables/short stories, since Nano-fever has gotten me even with weeks away from Book 2. [Shit, I'm writing BOOK FOUR in my head! Those long hours at work are killer!] I mean, I'd really like to have more than one book a year done, and this is the best way to accomplish that, especially if I'm going to keep thinking of books to write for upcoming Nanos years in advance... T_T
Come to think of it, with the holiday shopping deluge on the horizon, I should get a damned backlog established XB I keep picking at random things, though, like switching the gerbils' cages because Jade Knight seems particularly bored, if she's constantly gnawing exactly the same spot on her cage bars.
...yeah, turning on the computer only once a day seems to work. I'm vaguely trying to bring down my post count to less than one per day while simultanously increasing post quality.
[Fawx: "Quality" is understood to be "high quality." That is, if you talked about "a quantity of apples," you wouldn't automatically assume it to be a low quantity like one or two, right? This ended up being on my mind for a long time but I never had the occasion to bring it up.]
WHOOPS I SLEEP TIME =o