Geek Links of Note

[thehefner]

How the Mandarin could possibly work in IRON MAN 3, and why it's okay to hate Tony Stark. Even if you take out the Yellow Peril racefail issues, one still has to wonder how distinctly magical elements would jive after the first two IM movies

Comments

[fragmentedsky]

Oh god, I'm already in mourning about what M. Night's done to that movie and it hasn't even fucking come out yet. That cartoon may well be the best animated series I've ever seen, and the friend who introduced me to it literally wouldn't let me watch it without her just so she could watch me squeal and bounce and comment. It's a thing of beauty and a joy forever and the fact that the movie is so clearly going to destroy it makes me want to hide until at least the commercials are done.

[fragmentedsky]

Also, have you read American Born Chinese? I loved it.

[thehefner]

I did, and I too loved it up until the point that the three stories were combined. I found it very jarring, and that the fantastical elements clashed with the real-life element. But I need to reread it, knowing now that's where it was going. Maybe it'll work better for me next time.

[box_in_the_box]

This is why, in my own attempts at genre fiction, I've given each archetypical character not only a well-defined familiar role to play within the story - working-class career costumed criminal, superhuman separatist "freedom fighter," etc. - but also a PHILOSOPHY that motivates them. "Good versus evil" is admittedly pretty weak, and even many attempts at "chaos versus order" wind up being butchered in the execution, as much as I like the concept, but at heart, each superhero or supervillain should be fighting on behalf of their own ETHOS (or, failing that, at least their own AESTHETIC). Of course, part of the problem inherent in that one is that your explorations of real-world politics and segments of society have to be a few light-years more well-thought-out than those of Mark Millar, and since even critically acclaimed writers like Bendis seem offended at the idea that they should be required to think any deeper about the issues that THEY THEMSELVES ARE BRINGING UP than simply ripping off David Mamet dialogue, that's a big strike

[thehefner]

but also a PHILOSOPHY that motivates them.

Oh, I *like* that.

[surrealname]

1. I hate liberal panty waists. Talking about the problem of race rather than doing something about it only perpetuates the fucking problem. OH NO! AN ASIAN SUPERVILLAIN! AAAAAAAH! HOW ARE WE TO DEAL WITH AN ASIAN SUPERVILLAIN! OH NO

[pure_doxyk]

Ever since marrying a scotch-irish guy, I see that weird entrenched racism everywhere, too. It's creepy how pervasive it is, and how almost no-one even seems to link it to the anti-Irish craziness of 1-2 generations ago; how we've gotten quite sensitive to making fun of blacks as a way of consciously atoning for our past behavior, but with the Irish it's like ::shrug:: they're white anyhow, so it didn't count, and therefore things like St. Drunkard's Day aren't really racist.

'Course, I'm of German descent and white as a lily, so I'm just pure evil any fucking way you cut it. *sigh* Ah, well. Somebody's gotta be!

[surrealname]

It's really completely fucked.

[thehefner]

I got nothing to add to this epic pair of rants, other than to say I really dug 'em both.

[pure_doxyk]

The superhero has been a literary concept ever since the first fiction writer understood Nietzsche a little bit (or thought he did); but it's been since before the time of the Buddha that the "super-human" has been a compelling philosophical concept. I think it still is. I also think that many superhero stories are penned by people who wouldn't know this concept if it crawled into bed with them, and that a little research and some digestion of the classics would do these men (almost exclusively men, anyway) a shitload of good

[thehefner]

You're welcome, and thanks for more awesome comments! Say, have you seen AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER? I get the feeling you'd dig it on a whole different level than I do. Your last post made me thinking about that in particular.

[pure_doxyk]

I need to watch the cartoon, yeah; I've been floating around it but haven't gotten to it yet. The movie can kiss my butt, of course. ;)

Thanks!

[thehefner]

I'm also thinking about you as I reread THE QUESTION, a comic series of an Objectivist vigilante (if you don't know him, he's who Rorschach was based upon) who is remade as a Zen-based crimefighter, dispensing ass-kickings with Eastern philosophy in equal measure.

It's a mixed bag of a series, but the character is always great, and it'd be neat hearing what you'd get out of it, even if it's just to nitpick the details or complain with me about how O'Neill makes pretty much every bad guy a strawman figure.