I understand that this may be hard to talk about and if it is too soon, please feel free to skip today’s posting. I won’t blame you.
However, with the initial shock of Carrie’s departure slowly sinking in, Star Wars fans have been wondering in the backs of their minds… Where the heck do we go from here??? How does this change the story that we were supposed to see on the big screen??? (And most importantly) How do we handle such a major character’s death.
Honestly, I wish I had answers for this question. To be painfully blunt, I’d say that it would be infinitely more damaging to the series if we lost her around the time Return of the Jedi started filming. At this point, though still significant, she was hardly center stage in The Force Awakens. So it is possible however difficult to carry on without her.
Lucasfilms and Disney do have a few options ahead of them, but none pose a solid solution that fans will really accept…
Let’s explore them…
Ignore the character completely. The Episode 8 could technically focus more majorly on Rey’s training. In other words, ignore the social political issues going on in the Galaxy between the shattered Republic and the First Order and focus more on the Jedi mythos and rebuilding the order. Then they could mention Leia’s death in passing as time went on.
How could they do this? Perhaps have Luke and Rey travel elsewhere, say beyond the outer rim, or to planets where other Jedi have gone into hiding? (Evidence that other Rogue elements of the Jedi order may still alive both from the Old Republic and Luke’s tutelage.
I don’t like this idea at all. This will leave a lot more questions than answers and honestly, a balance between the war and the Jedi mythos is what made the other movies great. Part of the problem with the prequels… aside from the CGI and Jar Jar problems is that this balance didn’t exist. The Jedi were just there, dealing with the social political issues that arose. There was very little in the way of delving into the Jedi mythos and a substantial amount of story was lost.
Death between films. This is probably the most likely solution that they’ll use. They’ve done it before with other characters when actors have died and/or refused to take part in sequels. I hate this because I’ve always found it to be weak story-telling, but if you really have no other choice, then it’s what you do. That said, I’m not sure the current script can survive losing Leia. If the significant speculation around the script is true, the damaged Republic and thus Leia’s role in it, were going to be fleshed out a lot more, including her locking horns with the current chancellor.
This may be a chance for them to perhaps introduce another Alliance sympathizer to the mix? Perhaps an elderly Mon Mothma could take Leia’s place as fans seem to want her fleshed out more? Or perhaps Leia and Luke’s cousins on the Naberrie side could come in? (Ryoo or Pooja?) I suppose the sky is the limit here…
CGI replacement. Ugh… well… I suppose you could do this, but Star Wars has been trying to shy away from CGI in favor of practical effects, this being reinforced with some of the backlash the CGI Tarkin got. It seems unlikely and really unrealistic. Plus Carrie has a very unique voice .Good luck finding a replacement.
Fill the gap with stock footage from TFA. You’d need a lot of stock footage and you’d also need to make sure that it was spliced in a way as to not make it too recognizable. This seems the most unlikely solution.
Replace her with another actress. This might be possible if we lost her around the time of Return of the Jedi. Sadly we’re not talking about a little-known actor from three movies that came out less than 5 years ago in a series whose face was greatly obscured by long hair and a beard. We’re talking about a 3+ decade institution. NO ONE is going to accept someone else playing Princess Leia/General Organa. Like it or not, Carrie Fisher is Leia and Leia is Carrie Fisher. That character in her present day form can likely never be portrayed again in anything other than animated form. Like it or not, Leia is done.
No matter which way they choose to go, one thing can be absolutely certain, for Star Wars fans, Carrie’s death means that we’ll be getting a much different movie than what we would have gotten and we will be forever wondering what would have been.
Thankfully, Disney and LucasFilm has some of the best writers out there… They can’t replace an endearing presence such as hers, but they may be able to find a way to work around her in a way that doesn’t stretch our suspension of disbelief too much.
In summation, this sucks on so many levels!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
“If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true… and that is completely unacceptable! Let’s say something happens, right? And from a certain slant, maybe it’s tragic… even a bit shocking, and then time passes, and you go to the funny slant… Now that very same thing can no longer do you any harm.”
-Carrie Fisher
(Shockingly appropriate, huh?)
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Carrie Fisher, the actress, author and screenwriter who brought a rare combination of nerve, grit and hopefulness to her most indelible role, as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movie franchise, died on Tuesday morning. She was 60.
A family spokesman, Simon Halls, said Ms. Fisher died at 8:55 a.m. She had a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles on Friday and had been hospitalized in Los Angeles.
This… was unexpected… unbelievably unexpected. She was always a fan-favorite and one of the early strong female role models in film. Her performance in Star Wars alone set her apart from others and made her name one that would be remembered for a very long time.
I personally grew up watching her… everything from Star Wars to Drop Dead Fred to… yes… the damn Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back movie.
Her death comes at the end of a very hard struggle with drugs, weight, and psychological issues that had plagued Carrie her entire life. I suppose it’s yet another testament to her character that she was able to overcome all of that with a smile and a sense of humor.
Carrie, yours was a life that touched many and you will be missed. Your loss is our loss and will leave an irreparable hole in geek culture for years to come.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the election, regressive politics, and the continuous WAVE of people who have asked me to address my own political beliefs, which I have responded to en mas.
And I think filmmaker and (ironically enough) known feminist Joss Whedon put it best:
“I’ve said before, when you declare yourself politically, you destroy yourself artistically… Because suddenly that’s the litmus test for everything you do — for example, in my case, feminism. If you don’t live up to the litmus test of feminism in this one instance, then you’re a misogynist. It circles directly back upon you.”
Truer words for sketchers, painters, writers, sculptors, movie makers, et al, have rarely been spoken.
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews for Rogue One, many of the say it was great, several say ‘not so much.’
Personally, I can understand both sides. This is not a typical Star Wars movie. When we tune in to see Star Wars, we’re usually going in to see a space opera dealing with Jedi, the force, and really character-driven plots. Rogue One was none of those things. It was actually a war movie. Yes, Rogue One was essentially an action-driven Flags of our Fathers, Saving Private Ryan, or Band of Brothers with spaceships, blasters, and significantly less gore.
Personally, I’m on the ‘pro’ side. I loved the movie. It showed the nit and grit of the war that we never really see in the original trilogy. The only times we see the major fighting between the Empire and the Alliance is during the Battles of Hoth and Endor. Yes, I felt that even the Battle of Yavin was a fairly watered-down representation.
I can certainly understand why people may not have liked it as this was way outside what we normally see in Star Wars… however I’d argue a certain level of hypocrisy from this crowd as if you take a look at a lot of the critical blog posts and check their histories, these are the same people that railed against The Force Awakens for being too much like the original trilogy, which is another point that I can argue against, but that’s a post for another day.
I’d actually like to touch on one recurrent theme I see in a lot of the criticisms that surround one aspect of Rogue One… the CGI used to recreate a younger Carrie Fisher, and ‘resurrect’ Peter Cushing. Some have called it ‘plastic-looking,’ fake, and outright unnecessary.
Well… let’s take a look. Here’s the best I could find of the CGI Tarkin. I placed it next to an HD version Peter Cushing himself.
Regrettably, there aren’t many decent images out there and I will admit the one above is really poor quality. Somehow, Disney has so far kept a pretty tight lid on many of these images from coming out. I wasn’t able to find a decent one of Princess Leia as the only one out there is extremely low quality and makes the image they made of her look like the Twilight Baby… although it could also be that somehow if you do a Google image search for CGI Princess Leia, you get way too many images of the Leia slave outfit overwhelming the results page…
(seriously guys, what is it with that fetish!?).
ANYWAY!!!
Honestly, I don’t see an issue with it. I’ve watched Rogue One and I loved it. I thought that the CGI was very well done and will hold up a lot better in the future than the a fore mentioned Twilight Baby or the Episode 2 Yoda.
So why do you think there’s so much hate for it then?
I honestly think that Star Wars fans have a personal bias against CGI and it’s not earned nor unjustified. Cost-effective CGI has replaced much of the practical effects such as the model ships, and Jim Henson puppeteering (something I view as slowly becoming a lost art), and the special effects have suffered as such. Where the original trilogy has held up remarkably well and will continue to do so, the prequels are already starting to age, causing Lucasfilms to re-evaluate them and attempt to update them again.
This problem hasn’t been restricted to prequels though and probably caused even more outrage when they were added into the original trilogy, essentially coating what many view as the ‘Holy Grail’ with fool’s gold. I have to admit that when I first saw the updates, I didn’t mind them much. It had been a while since I watched the Original Trilogy, and seeing it on the big screen really made me appreciate the movies even more. However, having received the 2006 Limited Editions on DVD, I have to say that I better understand the outrage now.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those people who get all upset about the whole ‘Han/Greedo shot first’ crowd.
HOWEVER… the updated editions have severely damaged Return of the Jedi. Of the three movies, I feel like ROTJ took the worst hit. Two of its very iconic songs were replaced, the first of which is now breaking the 4th wall and the second, more well-known one, Yub Nub… well… okay that was composed by John Williams and I’m not going to argue against seeing all of those worlds rising up against the Empire, that was actually kind of cool.
However…
This was one of my favorite things about ROTJ. This was a very bittersweet scene where a fatherly Anakin Skywalker finally got to see both of his kids, together. A close look at his face (BOTTOM IMAGE) shows a man that’s simultaneously overjoyed at seeing them, but that joy is overshadowed by the fact that he never got to watch them grow up and will never get to spend time with them. That is a very powerful scene that is very well done… too bad someone at LucasFilms thought that Sebastian Shaw’s performance wasn’t up to par and replaced it with Hayden Christiansen’s blandness.
Jim, y0u’ve gone off topic!
Right, sorry. So in essence, this is part of the reason why Star Wars fans have a personal bias against CGI to the point where it’s rejected even when it’s good. Their hesitance to accept CGI is perfectly understandable, but in cases like this, is unfounded… at least in my opinion.
But Jim, what about the ethical issues of using the likeliness of someone who has passed on?
Yes, moviepilot published an article recently about the ethical question surrounding ‘resurrecting’ Peter Cushing, and I have to admit to a certain personal bias when discussing this, being someone who uses historical people as characters in my own stories.
“…they brought Peter Cushing back from the dead, and the results are unnatural, unethical, and borderline unholy.” -David Ehrlich
Okay, here we go… Let’s take a look at two key paragraphs from this article…
“The propriety of recreating deceased actors for films is something that definitely needs to be discussed. If you’ve ever looked through family photos or videos, you’ll know that it can be a strange experience to view or watch someone you once knew move and speak, even though you can’t touch them. It must be even stranger, then, to see a loved one do and say things that they never actually did whilst they were alive.
You may argue that this is nitpicking, but let’s consider the issue of consent. Michael Douglas has his youthful avatar in Ant-Man because they had his approval. Cushing’s estate apparently received a credit from the Rogue One team, but we can only speculate whether Cushing himself would have liked being resurrected in such a way onscreen.”
Here’s the thing… they got approval from his estate. How is that any different from me using Mary Jane Kelly in my novels? I don’t know what she was like, I have no idea who she was, I can only guess based on the information I have. Heck, we don’t even have a definitive description of her so mine may we way off!
Or what about Pearl Harbor’s laughable putty-faced Franklin Roosevelt:
Is it because the likeness is too similar in the case of Peter Cushing? Or because Roosevelt was a public official, held to different standards? What is the argument here that one is okay while the other two are not? Is there one?
I’m curious, did anyone contact the Roosevelt estate for this absurdity?
But Jim, don’t you get what this means? As the technology progresses, suddenly we could see John Wayne starring in new movies even though he’s been dead for so long!
Okay *chuckles* look… first of all, that’s already happening:
I don’t think it actually was ever banned as I saw it on TV for quite a while. We also saw it in Forrest Gump:
Where was all this outrage then? All right, on point, even if it does happen, so what? If you have a character that was originally portrayed by one actor, is known by that actor, and you can’t find someone else to replace him or you don’t feel like the audience would accept said person if you did… why wouldn’t you do something like this?
I’m sorry, I don’t see why Peter Cushing’s likeness has come under such fire when we’ve seen so many other public icons be re-enacted using CGI, face putty, makeup, or just lazily found someone who looks somewhat like that person. I don’t see this as a bad thing and I really don’t get the argument that’s propping up about it.
I’m going to end here because I’ve really run aground with this. I can’t make a really cohesive argument against it because I view it as such a non-issue, so please let’s continue this conversation. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think. If I’m way off and this is a serious issue, please tell me why so that I can address said concerns!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
“I don’t know, he just started convulsing. His skin is becoming discolored!”
“Get him into room 2.”
Mica could feel his body slipping away. He tried to scream, but Adramelech would not allow him enough control over his own muscles to do it. He could feel a burning sensation in his chest just under where the crucifix on his neck rested. It felt as though someone had cast the crucifix into a fireplace before placing it around his neck. It had kept Adramelech at bay, but it was now causing him pain.
He had been cursed with the demon for almost a year and it had been eating away at him. He had not been able to eat much in months. The demon had forced him to abuse himself and those around him. He had been forced to alienate the ones he care for the most…
I’ve heard a lot of talk lately since Trump was elected about how ‘We’ve won the war against the regressive left!’ How their party, the democrats, are now in shambles as the republicans now dominate the senate, house, White House, soon the Supreme Court… and the majority of the elected governors. In addition, the mainstream media has been ripped to shreds in many ways. CNN has been exposed for its bias and has almost completely fallen while the other networks are doing everything they can to remain relevant… and its not working.
At this point… at least from looking at Michael Moore’s video, the only arguments the left has are falsehoods (Brexit regret, which is pure fantasy), shame and guilt. No facts, and he’s even talking out of both sides of his mouth. He says that this is the end of American while saying that Trump isn’t going to do a damn thing… well if he’s not going to do a damn thing, how is that any different from the last 16 years?
Anyway, not important right now…
So as you can imagine, this is a pretty good time for the right, the anti-establishment, and moderates on both sides of the isle who were sick and tired of the extremes on their party.
I’ve even heard many out there tout this move as a major victory against the regressive left, the SJWs, and the extremists… and for some, maybe it is…
… but for all?
As most of you know, geek culture is something that is very near and dear to me. Having grown up a gamer/comic and action figure collector/Sci-Fi & Fantasy reader, seeing geek culture enter the mainstream is uplifting on many levels.
Today, people no longer have to be ashamed of reading comics or collecting toys as adults. We don’t have to hide in the back of super hero movie theaters, our stores aren’t relegated to hidden, crumbling strip malls in the middle of nowhere, and our conventions get national media attention, which is great!
Yeah we’ve been riding high now for a decade or so… but something loomed on the horizon that I don’t think any of us expected.
Within a few years, our outlets came under fire. A virtual crusade appeared to have been launched by the social justice crowd against pretty much all things geek… and it seems very little was spared from these attacks by identity politics…
Let’s go through them one by one shall we?
Comic Books:
Marvel: Yes, yes we all already know my opinion on the Marvel Universe. Ever since the creation of the multiverse, Marvel has been upping the ante on changing the identities/sexual preferences/races of time-honored characters with little to no explanation, rhyme, or reason. Usually they just wind up throwing up their hands and say, “It’s in an alternate universe, so we can do whatever we want.”
The result has been a noticeable decline in the quality of their stories and a decline in people buying their books as they slowly crawl to the point where they are unreadable and DC is not far behind.
Originally Marvel dealt with social issues in a very scholarly and appropriate way. Using facsimile, alliteration, and metaphorical approaches to their narrative. This made for excellent stories while giving a very underplayed and passive statement that was effective without being preachy.
Storytellers like Stan Lee and Chris Claremont had it in their mind to make their cast more diverse in a very sensible and appropriate way… by retiring old characters as time went on and bringing in new ones to take up their mantles. However by the mid-80s, this was thrown out the window and some rather poor story lines and plot devices were thrown together that landed us in the mess we’re in today where now instead of doing things the way they were originally intended, we now have identity politics, social issues, and extreme left views literally being preached to the readers at the expense of good storytelling.
“I wouldn’t mind, if Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way. But we originally made him white. I don’t see any reason to change that… It has nothing to do with being anti-gay, or anti-black, or anti-Latino, or anything like that. I say create new characters the way you want to… I don’t see any reason to change the sexual proclivities of a character once they’ve already been established.”
Sadly, it doesn’t appear that Marvel or DC ever got the message. The result is many of us who don’t like being treated as stupid, bigoted, or just don’t like being preached at have since retreated to the indie comic realm… unfortunately for us, many of our favorite titles are in short supply and somewhat difficult to find on shelves.
Also… Wonder Woman was removed as the UN Ambassador because of whining.
TV & Movies
Ghostbusters: Yeah, we’ve all heard my thoughts on this one. No one like the condescension, forced girl-power message, hypocritical treatment of male characters, hypocritical treatment of the movies detractors, or the way the movie was greenlit in the first place.
When the trailer’s got a critical response, Sony manipulated the comments and ran with a narrative of hate, saying that all the movies detractors were white, trump-supporting man-babies… and the mainstream ate it up.
Comments included immaturity from one of the producers:
“I would assume there’s a very large crossover of people who are doubtful ‘Ghostbusters’ will be great and people excited about the Donald Trump candidacy… I would assume they are the exact same people. That movie is made by the great Paul Feig and stars the funniest people on Earth, so I couldn’t be more excited.”
Unfortunately NONE of these people have faced consequences or have even been served a piece of humble pie. The media has never called them out for their unprofessional behavior or unwarranted attacks on the fanbase. The end result to this being detractors wrongfully having to deal with public shaming for their opinions… these people include Richard Roeper and James Rolfe.
Sony apparently hasn’t gotten the message yet as Amy Pascale not only still has a job at Sony, but she is now trying to create… a Barbie movie starring, Amy Schumer , and supposedly written by Lena Dunham… though I couldn’t find a source for this.
Star Trek: If you hated the JJ Abrams movies (I didn’t by the way) you’ll really hate what’s up next. The inkling of what was to come was a ‘bold’ move in making Sulu’s character gay, despite there being no evidence of it anywhere else in the Universe. Presumably this was done in honor of George Takei, known same-sex and civil rights activist, and the actor who played him on the original show and moves.
He apparently didn’t see it that way…
“I’m delighted that there’s a gay character. Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”
He later clarified his comments, but usually back-peddling comes as pressure from the community these people are activists for. So take that at face value.
That wasn’t the end of it for Star Trek either. The 2016 San Diego panel was ruined by producer Brian Fuller who essentially turned it into an hour-long social justice rant:
I know people who went to this panel and said it was boring, preachy, and they wound up leaving out of disgust and disappointment, having looked forward to this for months…
This was almost as bad as the ‘Trek Against Trump’ campaign that was basically a group of… almost everyone who worked on Star Trek coming together to shill for Clinton while detracting all those who not only voted for Trump, but refused to vote or voted 3rd Party. (No I will not be linking to their page. They don’t need more exposure.)
But they’re not done… no no no, now they have a new show coming out that will surround a female non-white officer, but also an LGBT character. Okay, I don’t have an issue with that, it’s fine, but do they really need to continuously tout it? We’ve heard more about these two characters than we have anything about the plot. The way it keeps coming up in every article about the show like it’s some huge phenomenon, makes me worry that they’re going to pull a Marvel and sacrifice story for preaching. I could be wrong and if I am, please let me know… because I don’t intend on watching it. After all of this, I have been completely disillusioned with Star Trek as it stands.
Star Wars: Thankfully this one hasn’t been hit as bad. Despite detractors who say that they’ve gone into identity politics with Rey, Jyn, and Fin, I don’t agree. One, Han Solo got a ton of air time, you’re forgetting Poe Dameron, and the story didn’t take a hit because the movies weren’t preachy!
… Unlike their writers!
“Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization. Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”
-Chris Weitz
Thankfully said tweet was deleted and it looks like his entire account is gone now, but the internet never forgets!
MTV: Okay, I know I’m probably dating myself here a bit, but there was a time way back when MTV was considered part of Geek Culture… today though… it’s a hot bed of racial guilty, bigotry, and complete regressive ideology as evidenced by several of their videos…
Um… we really don’t want Kanye either… we don’t. No, he’s yours. You can’t get rid of him.
Thankfully, it does appear that they’re getting called out on it, but again the internet never forgets…
The ugliness of the regressive left has never looked so bad…
Video Games:
Anita Sarkeesian: This is just one example of many… This woman has become a spokesperson of the 3rd wave feminist community and has taken it upon herself to attack games and other geek outlets for their lack of diversity and what she views as a negative portrayal of women. She sees fit to criticize games even though she herself admits that she doesn’t play nor like games. This rings pretty hollow as she strikes me as the type who stuck her nose up at video gamers as a child, labeling them like everyone else did as unclean, unpopular, shut-ins living in a fantasy world… yet suddenly she can cash in on them since they’re now in the mainstream…
Okay, if that’s not bad enough, we also have companies like Nintendo blatantly editing dialogue in video games that they deep too extreme for Western Audiences. This is nothing new and has been going on since video games started getting made, but it doesn’t make it right.
Conventions:
This is far more minor and is usually restricted to the bigger cons… so being from Boston, we haven’t seen this happen yet. Suddenly feminist groups, many of whom have no background in anything geek, don’t read comics (Not all but many), and really have no stake in the geek community see fit to show up and tell the geeks how awful they really are. As if said opinion is welcome.
Synopsis:
So yes, perhaps in some peoples’ views, a great victory against overbearing identity politics, regression, extremism, hyperbole, and SJWs… maybe… but to those of us who are more center of the isle or just don’t conform to any of the political norms… in that we can actually think for ourselves, don’t see it that way. We more see the election as selling our soul to one devil to rid us of another.
Sadly, geek culture was a casualty here. We’ve seen a lot of what we hold dear drastically altered to the point where we don’t recognize it any more and when we complain, we’re abused and accused of all sorts of horrible things. The main problem is that comic collectors, geeks, nerds, and video gamers for many many years have been considered rejects and outcasts. We weren’t welcomed by what society considered ‘normal’ for the longest time. Now though as our numbers have group, mainstream society has noticed us, and as our numbers grew even larger, we became a big part of the societal norm.
Sadly as a result of this, those very people who told us to go back to our hole in the ground, are now trying to tell us how our hole in the ground should look and operate, and if we disagree, we’re misogynist, hateful, bigoted, etc. etc. and I’m not saying that in some cases, those labels aren’t warranted, but in most?
Geek culture essentially just wants to be left alone. If the mainstream wants in, that’s fine, but it’s the mainstream’s job to conform to our standards if they want to be a part of our movement, not the other way around.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened… and as in every case when one culture impedes on another and imposes its views, a lot is lost on the way. That is the casualty of the social justice crusade that has ended in the political right taking over on an almost global scale. To quote too many villains…
“You may have won, but every victory has its price.”
Ours I fear, was far too high.
So Jim, you’re saying that you have an issue with minorities and women being portrayed in your medium?
No, of course not! As a rule, geek culture dating back to the 60s has been known for being extremely progressive and I find no issue with that! Having different cultures, skin colors, etc. is what made a lot of geek culture awesome in the first place. However there are ways of doing it without throwing it in people’s faces.
My issue comes in with the level of appropriateness. When story lines are sacrificed for the sake tokenism and preaching ideologies because they’re either too lazy or not savvy enough to work them into the writing/video/etc, when suddenly EVERYTHING has to become political and there is no refuge from it, and when suddenly one group of people think they can dictate societal norms and views on other people without any concern or regard for that groups fears, beliefs, feelings, or behaviors, and that group justifies said intrusion with the unqualified belief that they are the moral right, this is where my issue comes into play.
I’ve said it before and will say it again;
PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE BEING PREACHED AT! They don’t like being called racist/hateful/misogynist/bigoted without any justifiable cause.
And essentially that’s what’s being going on in geek culture for the past 5 years or so.
Take that as you will.
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
I love Battle Beast. They’re a very 80s-style Heavy Metal Band with a very distinct sound. You really hear their full capabilities here:
I WANT THE WOOOOORRRRLD!!!
Oh Hell Yes!!!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
So I finally got to see Rogue One today with my son…
What did I think…?
OH MY GOD IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! JYN’S MOTHER GETS KILLED AND JYN HIDES IN A HOLE UNTIL FORREST WHITAKER FINDS HER. THEN SHE’S IN PRISON, BUT GETS BROKEN OUT BY THE REBELLION. THEN THEY GO ON THIS HUNT WHICH THEY DON’T GET THE PROOF THEY NEED, BUT THEN THEY KNOW WHERE TO GET THE PROOF AND THEN THERES FIGHTERS AND STARSHIPS GOING BOOM BOOM AND WE SEE THE BIG WALKER TANKS GOING BLAM BLAM!!! EVERYONE ON THE GROUND IS RUNNING AROUND BLOWING SHIT UP AND YELLING AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!
Ahem… okay, Nerd/man-gushing over. Let’s get serious.
So Jyn Erso is basically a criminal who was orphaned after her father is taken by the Empire to continue his scientific work… which isn’t described at this point. The man taking him is pretty much the main villain of the movie. Dressed like Admiral Thrawn, he holds the rank of director.
After Jyn’s father is taken by the Empire and her mother is killed, she is raised by a rebel fanatic known as Saw Gerrera… yes, THAT Saw Gerrera:
Jyn is abandoned at 16. She lives a life of crime until she is captured… and then freed by the Rebel Alliance. She is brought before the High Command, including Mon Mothma, whom we all know from Return of the Jedi:
I give a lot of credit to whomever cast this role… they did a pretty damn good job!
Throughout the story, it is revealed that the project being worked on by Jyn’s father is none other than the Death Star. During this, we see a power struggle between the main villain and… Governor Tarkin as portrayed by Peter Cushing!?!?!? WTF????
Actually it’s not the legendary Peter Cushing at all as he passed away of prostate cancer in 1994. Through the magic of CGI his face was recreated… and honestly it was a pretty convincing likeness, unlike other really bad CGI effects… (Looking at you Twilight Baby!)
Long Story short, the father tells Jyn right before he dies that he intentionally built a fatal flaw into the Death Star, that would easily destroy it. A defected pilot, a former Jedi Temple Guard, and several members of the Rebel Alliance disobey orders from their dispersing command council and go attack an imperial records base to get the plans for the Death Star in order to exploit the weakness.
The group is getting gunned down until a… rather impressively large rebel fleet appears and attacks the Imperial Fleet in orbit. The Jyn successfully steals the plans and transmits them to the rebel fleet before killing the director. The Death Star appears on the scene under the command of Governor Tarkin and destroys the base, killing Jyn and the few members of Rogue 1 that are still alive.
In orbit, Darth Vader arrives on the scene in a Star Destroyer and takes out half of the rebel fleet. However the ship that intercepted the Death Star plans downloads them, and hands them off to an officer who makes his way to another ship that’s docked onboard and launches. The ship fleas for Tatooine and the plans are handed to a woman in a white dress who states that they have been given hope… and then we see her. Somehow Disney managed to reverse the aging process and get Carrie Fisher back to her teenage self… Just kidding, its CGI again, but again its impressively done!!!
So her ship takes off into hyperspace, Darth Vader gives chase… and the rest is history…
So… what did I think of this movie? I LOVED IT!!!! The action was great, but the movie did have a few problems…
What worked:
The action – The movie was non-stop action from start to finish. It literally kept you on the edge of your seat and engaged.
The scenery – From Yavin, to Jedha, to every other planet, everything is fleshed out and awesome.
The effects – As Star Wars fans, it’s almost expected that we all hate CGI, but to be honest, it worked pretty well here. The meshing of practical effects and CGI made it very difficult to tell which was which. The attention to detail in both Tarkin and Leia’s faces is very well done to the point where it is very difficult to tell that they are both CGI.
The story – This was a standard shoot-em-up action adventure which really gave a lot of background into the ‘First Victory’ of the Rebellion.
Homage – Throughout the movie, we get nods to other Star Wars mediums. Forrest Whitaker’s character is from the last Season of the Clone Wars Cartoon, and in the Yavin base, we here the name ‘General Syndulla’ over the intercom.
This is a standalone – The closest this could ever get to a sequel is A New Hope. Truly a rarity in Hollywood these days. We almost never see a single movie go without an open ending. No, this ties everything up neatly to make way for Episode 4.
What didn’t:
Character Development:
Besides Jyn… there really isn’t much. Each character get’s a few lines of dialogue to explain their back story and that’s it.
Scene Transitions:
I found the editing to be somewhat rushed and sloppy. You were never really given much time to be immersed in any one scene before you were immediately jump-cut to another.
The Title:
This is a complaint going back to when we first found out the plot, and its something I never understood… why was this called Rogue One? Rogue One was supposed to deal with the adventures of Wedge Antillies (Canon) of the Rogue Squadron (Also Canon, see Battle of Hoth).
Story-wise, this movie was much closer to the ‘Dark Forces’ video game and storyline and would have been more appropriately titled.
Red Leader and Gold Leader:
Yeah, during the final battle of the movie, stock footage for Red and Gold leader were taken from ‘A New Hope,’ it was updated and really remastered, and put into this movie with new voice-overs to make it look like the same actors were playing the leaders that would later die in the Battle of Yavin… it’s a quaint trick… but it did kind of take me out of the moment, especially since I immediately recognized the footage. It’s a minor quip, but one worth mentioning.
The Title Crawl:
Again, minor, but this is a Star Wars Movie. The format should really have been followed. Again, not a huge deal, but still a bit off-putting not seeing what we all know and love at the beginning.
The Rebel Fleet:
This may seem like another minor quip… but to me it wasn’t… When they said that the Rebel Fleet was on its way, I pictured a few medium transports, 2 squadrons of fighters, one, maybe two Nebulon B Frigates, and an assortment of Corelian Corvettes.
What we got was a massive flagship, hammerhead corvettes that we saw in Star Wars Rebels, a pretty decent number of ships, and THREE squadrons (Blue, Gold, Red).
Okay, as awesome as this was, it really changed the dynamic of Galactic Civil War… in A New Hope, the rebellion is little more than a rag-tag band with only a few squadrons of ships and a small fleet that is constantly on the move… certainly nothing that could take on one, let alone TWO imperial class Star Destroyers. It really gave a more David vs. Goliath feel of desperation… This kind of killed that. Yes, I know that over time the Rebellion gets bigger and adds more ships, but its supposed to be relatively small at this point.
The trailers –
Like what you see? I know I did… too bad half of these scenes AREN’T IN THE MOVIE!!!
Remember the quote ‘This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel!’
Yeah, not in the film.
Nor was a scene that I was dying to have put in context. The part where we see a rather beat up and angry-looking Jyn limping to the end of a platform where a Tie Fighter appears out of nowhere:
That is a TEASE!!!
What I’m on the Fence about: THE ENTIRE MAIN CAST DIES!!! – I mean on one hand I get why they did this. It is certainly easier and less messy than retconning after the fact like Disney often likes to do. It’s also a pretty bold choice in that, yes the Rebellion won, but the victory is bittersweet. As is the ending of the movie. But still, unless you’re watching an Alamo docudrama or a horror movie, something like this isn’t always expected or welcome… it does kind of suck to see this happen to characters that we were all excited about getting to know and love.
Overall assessment: 3.5 / 5 Stars.
Again, I loved the movie, but it seemed to place an emphasis on action over story. In most cases this is fine, but this is Star Wars we’re talking about. Even so, there was enough story there to satisfy and keep me interested. It’s a fun movie with a lot of really great scenes and plot devices driving it forward. I went in with VERY high expectations even for a Star Wars movie and to not walk away disappointed, is saying a lot! It’s not perfect, but then again almost no movies are!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
I was wondering how important you feel it is to portray history accurately, even in a fantasy universe?
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike,
It really depends on how close to reality your story is. If you’re doing a sort-of ‘what if’ story, you can pretty much do whatever you want… to a point.
I’d say no matter what the case, you really do want to get some things right. You’ll want to be careful and do your research regarding things like what sort of items were available at the time, the personas of any people you’d be portraying, and the circumstances around what historical events you’re talking about.
Writing about history, even in a fictitious manner can be damaging. Let me give you a few examples…
I hate this movie for a number of reasons. Fast forward to 1:50 and watch what happens…
The Japanese open fire on Civilians and medical staff at the hospital in Pearl Harbor.
Sorry to swear, but this is bullshit! 100% bullshit and it really pisses me off. This scene is an attempt to #1 Put the heroine in harms way, #2 Needlessly over-vilify the bad guys.
Look, the attack on Pearl Harbor was terrible and the Japanese military was guilty of a lot of things, but attacking the Hospital was NOT one of them. This is easily researched, easily found documented history that the Japanese did NOT attack the hospital, even when they had a clear shot, they would not open fire.
This understandably pissed off the Japanese, Vets, and historians alike as anyone who knew ANYTHING about the Pearl Harbor attack, knew full well that the Japanese pilots were under strict orders not to attack civilian targets, and survivors note that even when they had a straight line of attack, the Japanese did not once attack the hospital itself.
Michael Bay himself OPENLY ADMITTED that the scene was added because it made the attack seem more barbaric.
That… is just wrong and the excuse that this movie is fiction doesn’t protect it.
One other example… and this one is more the fault of a misreading of history and inaccurate reporting by the American Press… imagine, the American Press wrongfully smearing someone’s reputation.
Okay, this one is a little bit more tricky, so let’s dive into the actual history a little more…
At that point in time (Early 1900s), it was considered noble for the captain, crew, and pretty much everyone over 13 with a penis to go down with the ship while everyone else made for the boats. At the very least, this was the attitude of American journalists at the time.
As such, Ismay, seen as ‘another captain’ by many was smeared for being a coward and, again per the media, jumping into a lifeboat while women and children were still on the deck:
Unfortunately, this movie follows that narrative and further smears the reputation of Ismay.
Here’s the problem with this… Ismay was a passenger. He wasn’t the captain. That role fell to Captain Edward J. Smith. He was the man that failed to heed ice warnings, did not slow his ship when ice was reported directly in his path, did not issue a general abandon ship order, allowed lifeboats to leave the sinking ship partially filled, and even confused which ship he was on by ordering lifeboats to be launched from the promenade deck, which was enclosed on the Titanic. The Olympic had lifeboats there.
He is directly responsible for the loss of the Titanic, he is ultimately responsible for all the failures of the command structure on board, and the tragic life that was needlessly lost.
… But he went down with the ship.
Ismay on the other hand was seen helping and urging passengers into lifeboats and even helped lower them away. There are witness accounts to this. Further, witnesses say that he was actually ordered into the lifeboat as there was no one else in the vicinity.
‘Had he not jumped in he would simply have added one more life, namely his own, to the number of those lost.’
-High Court judge Lord Mersey, British enquiry into the loss of Titanic
But because he survived, while Smith went down with the ship, Ismay is continuously smeared to this day. The clip I provided showing Ismay convincing Smith to light the final boilers is pure fiction. The boilers were already lit, and there is no evidence nor witness testimony that Ismay acted outside of his place as a passenger. He lived out the rest of his life in shame, labelled a coward.
Meanwhile, Smith has a statue in Beacon Park, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. He is portrayed as a noble man in most works, and there are even unsubstantiated stories of him placing a child into one of the boats before swimming off into the night.
Do you see now the importance of getting history right, even in a fictitious universe? A quick look at the facts surrounding the history, and Cameron could have made the bold move of helping to rightfully clear Ismay’s name. Instead he followed the bandwagon and furthered the narrative that the man was a coward who jumped into a lifeboat willingly and left women and children to die.
My advice to you is to take as much license as you like when writing history into fantasy, just take care not to wrongfully smear anyone who doesn’t deserve it… and be ready for the historical nitpickers to pull everything apart if you didn’t get the history right.
Remember, the First Three Rules of Writing History:
Research, Reseach, and God Help You If You Don’t Research!!!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
Okay… I’ve wanted to say something about this for YEARS! Anyone who knows me well, knows that I collect various antiques and collectibles… They include the following:
Original Comic Art
Comic Books
Star Wars Figures and Sets
Military Antiques
1st Edition Books and/or Rare Antiquity books
Antique Firearms
Historical Documents…
and the list goes on…
My issue? PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING I LISTED HAS FAKES OUT THERE!!!
And I’m not talking about illegal forgeries like what we see with art. Believe it or not, there’s a huge collectors market for those and… as much as I hate to admit it, they are still pieces that were hand done by someone.
No, I’m talking about things made in a factory, printed, assembled, and made to look old. This is one of the reasons that I consider the 1950s to be the dark years for collectors. Not because collections were short at that point… IT’S BECAUSE THATS WHEN A LOT OF THESE FORGERIES WERE MADE!!!
The 1950s were essentially the beginning of Mass Production. Take a look at a clock or a radio from the 30s-40s, they’re beautiful. Wood, backlit, the clocks are metal, brass, and hand made in many cases. Many of these survive today and still work very well.
Now compare those to the 1950s.
Plastic… mass-produced. Usually easy to find at antique stores for a pittance.
Okay, I know I’m generalizing here a little bit, but it really is quite prevalent. If that were the only crime, I’d be fine with it, but go on sites like gunbroker.com and look up antique flintlock pistols/rifles/Matchlock, etc. You’ll have to figure out which ones are real and which are fakes, and I guarentee you that the majority of the fakes made in CA either by Hy Hunter or Hacker Martin.
Not convinced? The other day, I went into a book store by me and found an original Magic of Oz book… being a fantasy collector, I asked to take a closer look. See below:
Both of these look similar and both have a pre-1930s copyright date… however one was published in 1919, while the other was published in the late 50s. Can you guess which is which? The seller at the store couldn’t.
Thankfully, as a die-hard collector who knows what to look out for (Publisher marks, etc.) I pointed out the difference. The store owner apologized after confirming that I was correct and offered the book to me for 1/3 the price he was selling it for. I do a lot of business with the guy so I knew it was an honest mistake. However, despite that being a very generous offer as, despite being a blatant ripoff, the book still has value, I declined. Call me an elitist, but I don’t do reprints… EVER!
Okay, I’m done bashing the 1950s. Now go onto ebay and look up the Titanic Sinking Newspapers… I did this the other day just to prove a point… 4 are supposedly authentic and there are about 30 ‘Reprints!’
You’ll see it with books too. Ever on the lookout for an actual book of hours from the 13-14c.? I know I am… though I doubt I’ll ever own one given that they go for $15k at the cheapest… but you have no idea how many forgeries there are out there. I’ve seen fakes being passed off as real either by honest mistake, which I’ll give the benefit of the doubt on, or by unscrupulous sellers.
But Jim, reprints and remakes make collector’s items affordable to the rest of us! Shouldn’t we get to enjoy these things?
Of course you should, but here’s the problem, we’re not talking about something like a copy of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the U.S. Something that is very clearly not authentic. Or another document that is clearly stamped with its production company or has a label on it that states ‘Reproduction’, ‘Reprint’, or ‘Facsimile.’
We’re talking about remakes and reproductions that are so close to the original, it’s impossible to tell the difference if you don’t know what to look for. In some cases, you even have to bring some of these collectibles to a lab or a professional historian and pay a fortune just to confirm that what you have is authentic. So while you may think that reproducing antiques exactly as they were without a single mark on them so its hard to tell the difference doesn’t hurt anyone… as a collector of original works, I have to beg to differ and I’ve gotten burned a few times with unscrupulous sellers where it took an arm and a leg to recover what was spent. It’s rare, but it happens.
Anyway, just something I wanted to get off to some of my readers. If you’re geek like me, you collect and being a geeky collector can run very expensive!! So be careful and do your research before making ANY purchases.
Thanks for listening to my rant!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
You can also add me on Twitter!
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
One of the most frustrating aspects of reading or watching a bad period piece is the inability of the writer/director/whomever to remove the modern cultural assumptions from the work. Now, no one can ever completely achieve this, but so many are positively injecting modern morals and prejudices where they don’t belong. It’s distracting and grating.
(seriously guys, what is it with that fetish!?).
James Harringtons Creative Work 