Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Baruch]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... comic books and their movies (as well as the occasional culture-changing pieces like LotR or Harry Potter) are the modern day equivalent of the mythological heroes our ancestors have revered for thousands upon thousands of years.

We have lost the mythical, but our Tony Starks and Supermans are just a way for the modern man to enjoy the world the way humans did for all of civilization before the "Enlightenment".

If anything, we don't take comic book movies seriously enough, because there is something amazingly magical about that imo.

Both imaginary.  But one forward looking, the other backword looking.  But to tradition, looking to the past, is forward.  It is the autistic Enlightenment that reversed it ... to secular heaven, once Christian heaven was gone, there was nothing to look forward to.

[Baruch]

I don't take any magic seriously.

I don't take secular reality too seriously either .. it is too nihilistic.  Modernity = Albert Camus = "the only serious question is suicide or not".

What is post-modern?  We already killed ourselves, but being a zombie is reals.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I think you have a shaky relationship with reality.

[Baruch]

I think you have a shaky relationship with reality.

I think you have a real relationship with Shakey's Pizza .. or am I just dating myself? ;-)

Romantic movement vs Classical movement, Dionysius vs Apollo ... aka Nietzsche was right.  I and a few others here are Dionysian.  And I take a hammer to smash your Apollonian classicism.

[Hydra009]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... comic books and their movies (as well as the occasional culture-changing pieces like LotR or Harry Potter) are the modern day equivalent of the mythological heroes our ancestors have revered for thousands upon thousands of years.

They're basically folk/cultural heroes, like Heracles or King Arthur or Beowulf.

The thing that a lot of non-fans often miss is that this stuff is not just two costumed weirdoes brawling.  These characters are often have enormous symbolic qualities that resonate with people (Spider-Man is an everyman burdened with the moral duty of helping everyday people, Captain America is the idealized form of American values, Iron Man is American ingenuity/technological progress, etc)

There's a lot more going on than meets the eye.

[Shiranu]

I don't take any magic seriously.

My condolences, then.

They're basically folk/cultural heroes, like Heracles or King Arthur or Beowulf.

The thing that a lot of non-fans often miss is that this stuff is not just two costumed weirdoes brawling.  These characters are often have enormous symbolic qualities that resonate with people (Spider-Man is an everyman burdened with the moral duty of helping everyday people, Captain America is the idealized form of American values, Iron Man is American ingenuity/technological progress, etc)


There's a lot more going on than meets the eye.

Exactly. The "magic" of these characters is not really what matters; it's the struggles they go through, the moral lessons they teach, what they represent and what we learn about humanity or the universe that is the true core of a superhero story.

Yes, they are entertaining and their magic is a large part of that... but I don't think any author or director actually expects you to take the fact they have superhuman strength, can shoot lasers from their eyes, can fly, shoot spiderwebs or whatever seriously. To focus on those powers as the "serious" bit of the story is to miss the story entirely.

Magic is a plot device, not the plot itself.

[Shiranu]

On a related note, I just finished watching Watchmen... I don't understand all the shit talk I have always heard about it, it was honestly a really fucking good movie and makes me want to go and read the actual comic now.

[Hydra009]

I recently saw Into The Spiderverse.

Absolutely loved it.  9/10, possibly 10/10.  It's a very tough call between this and Homecoming for my favorite Spider-Man movie.

Animation: phenomenal.  I've never seen anything like this.  It's so crisp and fluid.  I don't know what's CGI, what's drawn, etc.  And it has a very comic-booky aesthetic that works really well.

Characters: good.  Miles is okay, but the secondary characters really steal the show.  Spider-Gwen was jaw-dropping.  Hobo Spider-Man was good for a gag or two.  And Peni Parker was absolutely adorable.  There were absolutely no other Spider characters that I can recall.

Story: decent.  I've seen this one at least a dozen times before, and this one did a competent job with it, with a twist or two.  Easily the weakest part of the movie.  If the movie weren't stunning, I'd have a couple gripes here.  Speaking of...

Gripes:  Kingpin's physique has been exaggerated over and over again to the point that now I wonder if he can even use the bathroom without external aid or walk down hallways without peeling the paint off the walls.

[spoiler]


Pick the one that doesn't belong.[/spoiler]

Tombstone is far less intimidating than he is in the comics.  Almost to "am I a joke to you?" levels.

Is it okay to say I didn't care for the music?

And finally, the Post-Credits scene:

[spoiler]Spider-Man 2099 in all his memey glory.  Hopefully, he's intended for more than just a quick gag, cause I would love to see him in another Spider-Man movie.[/spoiler]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

My condolences, then.

I've lost nothing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Atomic Zombie Space Creeps" (on Prime) -10/10. Really horrible. Loved it.

[GSOgymrat]

On a related note, I just finished watching Watchmen... I don't understand all the shit talk I have always heard about it, it was honestly a really fucking good movie and makes me want to go and read the actual comic now.

Watchmen deconstructed comic book heroism using a comic book format and some fans feel translating the story to film will alway miss what made Watchmen exceptional.

[Shiranu]

I've lost nothing.

I feel on a philosophical level the fact you feel that way only goes to reinforce why I feel sorry for your loss, but to each their own.

Watchmen deconstructed comic book heroism using a comic book format and some fans feel translating the story to film will alway miss what made Watchmen exceptional.

I have to be honest, that makes absolutely no sense to me, but whatever floats their goats. Their loss, not mine.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I feel on a philosophical level the fact you feel that way only goes to reinforce why I feel sorry for your loss, but to each their own.

You take comic books too seriously. I dropped them like a bad habit when I discovered Heinlein, Simak, Asimov, et al. If you're "sorry" for me then you're just sorry.

[GSOgymrat]

You take comic books too seriously. I dropped them like a bad habit when I discovered Heinlein, Simak, Asimov, et al. If you're "sorry" for me then you're just sorry.

Some people take comic books and graphic novels very seriously.



Doctoral dissertation in graphic novel form

https://boingboing.net/2015/06/21/doctoral-dissertation-in-graph.html

Columbia University awarded a doctorate in education to Nick Sousanis for Unflattening, a graphic novel about the relationship between words and pictures in literature.

It was published by Harvard University Press and got a starred review in Publishers Weekly the journal Comics Grid wrote that it demonstrated "the viability of a comic book as doctoral scholarship in its own right, rather than a separate work requiring some accompanying critical paratext." ...

[Shiranu]

You take comic books too seriously. I dropped them like a bad habit when I discovered Heinlein, Simak, Asimov, et al. If you're "sorry" for me then you're just sorry.

My bookshelf is filled with Dostoevsky, Philip K. Dick, Dumas, Poe, Lao Tzu, Marcus Aurelius, Dickens Homer, Chekov, Cervantes. I have great cultural works like the Shahnameh, the Koran, Suzuki's work on Zen Buddhism, Beowulf, Le Morte d'Arthur. I have historical examinations of the Boxer Rebellion, the British Raj, the Aztec and Mayan empires, the Byzantine Empire.

My appreciation of comic books does not in anyway effect my appreciation of those works, nor do those works effect my appreciation of comic books. You do not have to hate something just because you like something else.

My brain is very musically oriented, so for me this is how I see it... you are telling me that you like classical music, and rock and roll isn't "real" music and anyone who thinks it is is kinda stupid.

Even amongst genres I dislike (country music, for example), I am not going to deny that there are plenty of country musicians who are extremely talented... I just don't aurally enjoy it. But I'm not going to run around and say that country musicians aren't "real" musicians or don't have meaning to their works... and if I did, I would expect people to feel sorry for me as well for having such a judgmental world view.