Ariel the mermaid princess is now a 24th century killer robot sent back in time to affect the African slave trade by killing Abraham Lincoln and assuring cotton farming stays prime to support the rise of Hanes underwear which ultimately takes over the world economy and issues in a big brother state by wire tapping all bras and underwear.
J.k. that's actually Dave, the time hopping capybara with debts to the mob.
I mean- yes. But no? We can criticize the hacks who don’t turn out 100+ completely original and enjoyable tales month after month and year after year- but if it is so easy where are all of our original and acclaimed stories? There is an argument that these “rehashings” take away slots for original content, and there are LOTS of stories that are interesting or well done which could be made. There are many existing books and stories which haven’t been adapted to the screen yet faithfully and aren’t perhaps known to the masses. So sure. There is truth there- but making a “different” or “new” or even “good” story or work of art isn’t the same as making something people will like, which isn’t the same as making a viable commercial product. Look at “modern art” and all the flack that or these high concept and “weird” films get- mass audiences tend not to appreciate them while critics steeped in the same thing being done over and over… and make no mistake- we know that for many thousands…
.. of years that details change but we can see the same stories being told and retold with little differences in twist and flair…. These people who are looking for different often live the weird stuff that doesn’t appease mass audiences who want a painting or a photo of the Eiffel Tower or a boat or pretty flowers and when they get tired of that photo they want a photo of the Eiffel Tower from a different angle, or at night, etc. the mass audience doesn’t want, often hates, when they expect the Eiffel Tower from a different angle- familiar and understandable, and you give them some surrealist mega commentary where the art is the lack of art. They fail to see the artistic merit of a banana taped to a wall and make fun. You can’t give people wanting the avengers but not the exact same avengers a video of a banana taped to a wall. But even the “original” sorties often take concepts of premises from other works that inspired the authors and mix them together or change some details enough..
.. that you don’t realize you are just watching Macbeth fan fic played out on mats and with a few different twists.
So most people that cry for the new and different don’t want that at all- they want the old and relatable and familiar but they want it served up in a new way. But let’s say it’s easy and possible and practical to go truly new without putting off your mass audience. Then you now have a problem- people like that. You make more. People like that. Ow it’s old. So every 3 years human mind must create something we haven’t seen before? How long can we do that for? At what point does the quest to do what hasn’t been done lead us to a point where all that is left to do are things that weren’t don’t for a reason? That most people would agree is new, but not good or enjoyable? What point have we gone through so many “new” original characters that all that is left are tiny variations on characters- the same character but with a brown jacket, 20 instead of 17, short not tall?
Ever notice how the casting makes a difference? This is a big part of this and related complaints right? “I can’t believe they cast so and so as this character! I can’t enjoy this…” Will Smith was almost Neo. To me, I think that would be a very different and less enjoyable film. Smith even says he didn’t understand the film and thinks he would have made a worse version. So with the character of Neo- he’s a pretty generic protagonist and not really anything new. The story and effects and the actor in the role and the interactions with other actors are what mainly make it enjoyable to those like Neo in the matrix. Often times when we watch something we are more about the actor than the film. Sam Jackson is one such actor that people will watch a film like snakes on a plane and actually enjoy it just to watch Jackson’s screen persona and hear his mannerisms etc. in such a film.
So often we don’t really care about the character when we are talking about Tv or film so much as we care about the actor and how fun or lovable or attractive or cool they are standing there, usually as a fill in for us and our fantasies of power or escape and adventure etc. we care more about how well the character represents us or who we want to be or who we see ourselves as and wether we enjoy their exploits vs. if their exploits and such are original or not.
Books are a different matter- but there are plenty of books that are original or fairly new and novel and so many books that there probably are few if any people who have been through all of them to be able to complain that they can’t find a book that isn’t a cookie cutter- so this complaint seems aimed at the screen not the page.
The wonderful thing is, you can make stories and make videos! YouTube is full of fan and independent made series and shorts and animations. People make films all the time- if you have a cell phone or modern laptop you can probably make a movie or series! So get out there and do it. Go show us what a good and original work looks like. If you do a good job people will love it and you’ll gain support and financing and perhaps change the entire film industry! Not going to? That’s ok. Lots of other people do it every day! Go watch their movies and works. Go watch indie films and YouTube videos for original or novel content that compels or captivates you!
What’s that? No? You don’t want to do that either? They’re often boring or weird or just bad? The writing is poor or the acting or the cinematography or editing or pacing or production values and effects…? They’re too strange or niche or artsy or high concept…? But… those are the things you won’t tend to find in big studio films where “mind blowing” “original” “smart” films are things like the easily understood Tennant, Inception, Interstellar (all fun and good movies in my book with interstellar being my top pick and one of my modern favs..) but like- they aren’t “smart movies” or “complicated” or anything like that objectively. They’re pretty straight forward and they aren’t written for master degree researchers in the field- it’s mostly plain language or jargon defined in dialog or through context. They use some very simple and sometimes faulty but often spelled out logic to drive their plot engines.
There isn’t anything “high concept” or particularly academic about any of them.
Those types of films are the limits of what most people can approach digesting.
But more often these complaints are about… a freaking comic book character. A one, maybe two dimensional super hero in a suit who punches things and maybe has some life angst from their dual identity or stresses or alienation or whatever.
Or some made up fantasy creature or one of a billion set ups to put an elite soldier or disgraced ex soldier or skilled criminal or “Everyman” who happens to be a one person army or whatever…. And how deep is that characterization? What do you want? We’ve had the squeaky clean cop in a sterile world where cops are all heroes or exposed as “bad.” We’ve had the squeaky clean cop in a dirty world; the dirty cop in the clean world, dirty cop dirty world, gray cop in the…. And we’ve replaced cop with vet or security guard or farmer or outdoorsy type or random literal child who likes practicing with a bow…
At the end of the day- we know what people tend to look for in fiction. The escape, the fantasy, etc etc. we like ideas that make us feel smarter but ideas that are too smart make us feel dumber- and in a mass audience… look at the politics and internet of just the previous so many years and you’d realize that sadly- being able to read with rudimentary comprehension or at ALL, and follow basic logic probably plants you at least in the top 50% of folks in a random room if not top 20%. So sorry, the ideas that people are capable of handling are sadly en mass, on the smaller side. We weren’t ready for a woman president and a shocking number of people aren’t ready for a female VP. We can laugh or be saddened looking at the people who freaked out when toilets or shared beds were shown in television because their tiny minds couldn’t cope with the idea but a lot of have lived through a time when characters being gay- let alone an onscreen kiss between same sex characters, was a generations…
Taboo “shared bed.” Or “unmarried couple living together.” People protest drag queens reading stories to kids at the library or trans characters in kids shows because they can’t get their heads around a concept as simple as “this person doesn’t want to be/isn’t a dude/lady” or are afraid that seeing it will somehow… make children… “catch” trans…?
You don’t think that one day in the future we will be looked at like the idiots who thought that a character as milk toast as “Fonzie” from happy days wearing a leather jacket would incite the youth of America to a life of crime..? Look it up, that’s a real thing, and I sadly realize many of you probably don’t get the reference to Fonzie or the show “Happy Days” even if you are from the US because that’s maybe before your parents were born. Look it up if it went over your head. The point is:
We aren’t smart enough, we aren’t open enough to get truly new stories for a mass audience. The interesting and compelling stories that are most untouched are the ones society hasn’t allowed to be touched.
The film “broke back mountain” and the book created all manner of moral panic and ouch back and continue to do so… in 2022.
A story about two men falling into a forbidden love. Forbidden love and “unlikely romance” stories aren’t new- but you won’t find alot of mainstream stories with main characters grappling with forbidden love in the context of being a closeted homosexual from a culture that had rigid standards of masculinity and sexual morality which preclude that possibility as socially valid while balancing their own responsibilities and sense of obligation. That’s a novel story with fairly novel characters- at least a fresh angle and “gay coy boy” isn’t a staple or genre of American film outside perhaps porn and comedies mocking the concept.
The cry for new or novel or different isn’t one I oppose. We do have to accept that it is rare that truly game changing works come along. We have to understand that most stories and characters are some sort of riff on an existing one.
We have to ask- is that REALLY what is being said when some people say this? Is the complaint REALLY that they don’t like old characters being rehashed? LOTR, The Star Trek reboots, Ghost in the Shell I’ve action it SAC and later works), Mad Max Fury Road, Conan, Terminator films, Oceans 11, any of the post 1980’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Almost any Disney movie, Shrek Films, countless other movies and TV shows- didn’t like any of those? Think they should have never been made?
There may be some or even many on the list you don’t like- but chances are there’s several you did- probably several things you’ve enjoyed that you didn’t even realize were literal reboots of older pre existing characters and stories that you just weren’t aware there was an older version of or didn’t connect the two together.
I adore the modern “She-Ra” cartoon, and it’s one I highly recommend. The original isn’t without any merit but I wouldn’t call it good lol. The new She-Ra took mostly the same characters and overall plot and tweaked it into a totally different story with some wonderful moments.
Should they have just taken the nostalgic but objectively not very good original and ran with it? I mean- come on. When most people start talking about not wanting characters changed- especially online- we know what that means.
It often means that the attractive young special agent you used to be able to diddle yourself to was given an outfit that actually might make some practical sense, or their dimensions were changed to be more realistic or even physically possible. It often means that your “wifu/husbandu” was “your type” and now they are blonde or they aren’t blonde or whatever and you don’t find the character attractive. It often means that your upset isn’t from the perspective of enjoying the story but is political- that you are upset that you feel a choice was made for political reasons- perhaps one’s you don’t agree with. If often too might mean that a change was made and you just don’t like that type of person or don’t identify with them and are upset because now you can’t Halloween play as spider man without getting an angry letter from some organization for your questionable use of face paint.
And I mean- maybe that’s societies fault. I don’t know if it is good or bad that people can’t just say those things out loud. I’m old. I’m old enough to have seen so many “updates for a new generation” of classic properties that I get how some can feel that something is being “taken away,” when this fiction you feel this connection to, that shaped your life or was something you felt really represented you or a time in your life gets changed for a new audience that has lived a different life or a different time etc. when the stars of “your day” are replaced by new faces and who you see as “legends” in “timeless performances” are perhaps even unknown and their performances are seen as dated or hokey etc. by a new generation. So these new faces that maybe are big names to the kids are not the legends, the icons, the standard you have in your mind when you think of that character. The characters story and personality that spoke to you or of you isn’t yours anymore. So you feel something
was taken. But… it’s still there. I lived Fury Road but it isn’t Road Warrior and personal issues asides Hardy isn’t Gibson. My Max is still there. I have him on DVD and Theron and Hardy didn’t erase him. I mean- go watch the 90’s power rangers- or even probably a current power rangers. To a 90’s kid those suits and robots were THE image- now imagine those on screen in 2022 where you paid $20 to watch. You’d probably not be happy. So things are going to change. Talk to my father and in his day- when 100 horses died in screen they killed 100 horses and filmed it. It doesn’t matter how dated or rudimentary those films are forget how primitive or problematic or inhumane- you could remake them 100 times and he’d probably insist the original was the best one. That’s his movie. That’s what he grew up with. Around the world cuisine and “hime cooking” and “comfort food” tend to be different- what we grow up with and are familiar with tends to stay with most of us and form our preferences.
Fiction is like that too. Tropes aren’t just tropes because writers are “lazy” or “bad,” they’re a form of language. Viewers have expectations. We know that in general- a film like Die Hard that is considered a classic and generally well lived and did well commercially- we know that if that film ended with Bruce Willis dying or the bad guys getting off scot free- it probably would have flopped. Back to Sam Jackson from earlier- when you go to a film with him, most people are expecting, perhaps waiting for the moment he utters one of his famous phrases. To exclude that defies expectation and may be a surprise- but a surprise in the way that doing absolutely nothing to celebrate or acknowledge a close loved ones birthday might be a “surprise,” but probably not as happy a surprise as a surprise party no?
So defying expectations doesn’t always make a jolly time. This is a type of “an service” except it transcends fandoms. We tend to want to see certain things. We want to see things like the “villain” lose or the “cathartic revenge.” If Iron man 1 had Tony Stark realizing he was being dumb and selfish fighting crime and instead turned his attention to solving things like world hunger and retiring from weapons and fighting, so that through the other avengers movies you just see him solving social issues and not fighting… I mean… that’s different. Would you watch it? Did you watch the Avengers and MCU films? Watched any lately? Notice any differences from the previous characterizations etc? Oh. Well I guess maybe you are ok with rehashing the same characters slightly differently and it’s more a question of making it entertaining or having those different takes fit your politics and preferences…?
J.k. that's actually Dave, the time hopping capybara with debts to the mob.
So most people that cry for the new and different don’t want that at all- they want the old and relatable and familiar but they want it served up in a new way. But let’s say it’s easy and possible and practical to go truly new without putting off your mass audience. Then you now have a problem- people like that. You make more. People like that. Ow it’s old. So every 3 years human mind must create something we haven’t seen before? How long can we do that for? At what point does the quest to do what hasn’t been done lead us to a point where all that is left to do are things that weren’t don’t for a reason? That most people would agree is new, but not good or enjoyable? What point have we gone through so many “new” original characters that all that is left are tiny variations on characters- the same character but with a brown jacket, 20 instead of 17, short not tall?
The wonderful thing is, you can make stories and make videos! YouTube is full of fan and independent made series and shorts and animations. People make films all the time- if you have a cell phone or modern laptop you can probably make a movie or series! So get out there and do it. Go show us what a good and original work looks like. If you do a good job people will love it and you’ll gain support and financing and perhaps change the entire film industry! Not going to? That’s ok. Lots of other people do it every day! Go watch their movies and works. Go watch indie films and YouTube videos for original or novel content that compels or captivates you!
There isn’t anything “high concept” or particularly academic about any of them.
But more often these complaints are about… a freaking comic book character. A one, maybe two dimensional super hero in a suit who punches things and maybe has some life angst from their dual identity or stresses or alienation or whatever.
Or some made up fantasy creature or one of a billion set ups to put an elite soldier or disgraced ex soldier or skilled criminal or “Everyman” who happens to be a one person army or whatever…. And how deep is that characterization? What do you want? We’ve had the squeaky clean cop in a sterile world where cops are all heroes or exposed as “bad.” We’ve had the squeaky clean cop in a dirty world; the dirty cop in the clean world, dirty cop dirty world, gray cop in the…. And we’ve replaced cop with vet or security guard or farmer or outdoorsy type or random literal child who likes practicing with a bow…
You don’t think that one day in the future we will be looked at like the idiots who thought that a character as milk toast as “Fonzie” from happy days wearing a leather jacket would incite the youth of America to a life of crime..? Look it up, that’s a real thing, and I sadly realize many of you probably don’t get the reference to Fonzie or the show “Happy Days” even if you are from the US because that’s maybe before your parents were born. Look it up if it went over your head. The point is:
The film “broke back mountain” and the book created all manner of moral panic and ouch back and continue to do so… in 2022.
A story about two men falling into a forbidden love. Forbidden love and “unlikely romance” stories aren’t new- but you won’t find alot of mainstream stories with main characters grappling with forbidden love in the context of being a closeted homosexual from a culture that had rigid standards of masculinity and sexual morality which preclude that possibility as socially valid while balancing their own responsibilities and sense of obligation. That’s a novel story with fairly novel characters- at least a fresh angle and “gay coy boy” isn’t a staple or genre of American film outside perhaps porn and comedies mocking the concept.
We have to ask- is that REALLY what is being said when some people say this? Is the complaint REALLY that they don’t like old characters being rehashed? LOTR, The Star Trek reboots, Ghost in the Shell I’ve action it SAC and later works), Mad Max Fury Road, Conan, Terminator films, Oceans 11, any of the post 1980’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Almost any Disney movie, Shrek Films, countless other movies and TV shows- didn’t like any of those? Think they should have never been made?
I adore the modern “She-Ra” cartoon, and it’s one I highly recommend. The original isn’t without any merit but I wouldn’t call it good lol. The new She-Ra took mostly the same characters and overall plot and tweaked it into a totally different story with some wonderful moments.
Should they have just taken the nostalgic but objectively not very good original and ran with it? I mean- come on. When most people start talking about not wanting characters changed- especially online- we know what that means.