"It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen."

Friday, December 23, 2011

On Sequels

The first three Star Wars were amazing (from memories of grade 7 at least), then it should all have stopped there.

I'm still loving Harry Potter. For that one, I think a series of seven will be just fine, if the last two can do justice to the first five, that is. Well that's hoping the fifth lives up to its reviews.

And one of my favourite movies of all time was a sequel:  T2.

I loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean. I liked the second one despite the weak reviews. But the third one blows goats. It's an attempt at Man Ray meets Disney, and it fails miserably – unless you're on acid.

Beyond the little men in Depp's mind, the sexism bothered me. I was annoyed by the stereotypes perpetuated in the film.

First off, when Elizabeth is escorted in to see the gang-lord dude, only she is made to wear a tiny little robe. And then her own people, pirates in her crew, are under the floor boards sneaking a peak up her wazzoo. To me, it was positively creepy. My kids didn't give a hoot. They were oblivious to the opportunistic voyeurism of her "friends."

Then she gets to be the head honcho only because Depp deferred his vote to her. It seemed a strategic play on his part. But bottom line, she certainly didn't win by merit of any kind, but by a man's allowance. Not a great victory, that one.

But what's really bugging me today is Bambi II. My daughter begged for it, and the writers have merely re-written the entire Bambi story in a slightly different way and called it "new." And they did the same thing for Lion King II, which is entirely unwatchable.

But whenever I watch a money-making movie that's so clearly plagiarized and full of crap and/or portraying archaic gender norms, it gives me hope that one day I'll actually publish something.

Go me!

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