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Stephen Robinson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5835
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| Posted: 23 June 2014 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | 1
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Actual official interviews can be exhausting because you have to
consider every word you say. Perhaps JB does this for every post on
the forum (if so, I'm impressed), but I appreciate that we have the
opportunity to engage with a creator essentially "off the cuff."
Instead, people online insist on parading around an almost 10-year-old
quote about Jessica Alba as Sue Storm as if he was making a
statement at a Comic-Con panel.
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Robert White
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4560
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| Posted: 24 June 2014 at 12:05am | IP Logged | 2
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QUOTE:
| There are more than 1200 opera productions in North America every year. 359 new operas have debuted since 2000 (more than a third of the 825 operas composed since 1900), which is less than 3% of total productions. I don't have the numbers, but I suspect the majority underperformed in ticket sales. Audiences have made it clear they want the classics. There's not a market for new work, let alone new work dedicated to minority roles. |
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It's amusing to see the parallel between opera fans and most superhero fans; they both seem to want the same characters/stories told over and over again only draped in superficial modernity.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133280
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| Posted: 24 June 2014 at 5:02am | IP Logged | 3
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Instead, people online insist on parading around an almost 10-year-old quote about Jessica Alba as Sue Storm as if he was making a statement at a Comic-Con panel.•• Doesn't really matter how old the quote is, if it's in context, I stand by it. Jessica Alba was absurd casting for Sue. But then, ALL the FF were badly cast, as was Doom, as was Alicia, etc. (I wonder, would those who claimed outrage at my comment about Miss Alba's casting have cheerfully embraced her as Storm?)
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Jesus Garcia
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 April 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 2414
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| Posted: 24 June 2014 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 4
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I suspect a great deal of race-/gender-swapping aims at (1) modernizing to reflect current demographics and (2) reaching out to the audience so that people can more readily identify with a character.
Thinking about the Elementary TV series: as a fan of the original Holmesian tales, casting Liu as Watson surprised but delighted. The thing to remember is that the original tales are intact and available for re-consumption.
The same as comics. I would blow my nose with what is being produced by Marvel/DC these days but this doesn't cause a heart murmur because thanks to the Essentials/Archives/Internet the comics I love are accessible to me any time. And, like classic Star Trek, every viewing of the material makes me discover things I had not noted before.
Anyway, the natural human tendency is to think "it's too much work studying history: I'd rather invent it!"
Which is why humanity keeps making the same errors over and over. Can't fight the mob/tribe/herd.
95% of everything is shit: including people.
Edited by Jesus Garcia on 24 June 2014 at 10:07am
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Pete Carrubba
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 June 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2767
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 4:28am | IP Logged | 5
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When I think of "faithful adaptations" I almost always think of Christopher Reeve as Superman. His uncanny resemblance to the actual comic book character he was playing has been unsurpassed.
I have yet to see an actor or actress portray a comic book charcter where I didn't find something lacking, particularly in aesthetics.
So I wanted to post the following images to show that if Hollywood would pay attention to a crop of unknowns, they might actually find some better casting choices than they have made.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133280
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 4:44am | IP Logged | 6
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I suspect a great deal of race-/gender-swapping aims at (1) modernizing to reflect current demographics and (2) reaching out to the audience so that people can more readily identify with a character.•• Last night I introduced a friend to BOSTON LEGAL, showing her the first episode. As some may recall, one of the plot lines involved a little Black girl who had been passed over for the roll of Annie in a local production of the eponymously yclept musical. Her mother was suing the production company. At one point, during the trial, the judge asks if making Annie Black would have an effect on the story being told. Unfortunately, she gets no answer to this central and significant query, as the drama of the scene quickly causes the question to be lost. This is a question that needs to be asked every time race swapping is considered. Is this still the same character, in the same story? Making Nick Fury Black turned him into a different guy, one who could not have had the backstory of the comic book hero. The same is true of James West becoming Black, or Johnny Storm, or Heimdahl (!!!!!!). Race is not merely a question of skin color. Putting a White character into blackface does not make that character Black. If Character A becomes Black without any other attendant modifications, isn't that insulting to Black people? Aren't they being told their race is of no real significance, and that could not have altered the character? And if the character IS altered, then isn't s/he a different character? And if so, why not create a NEW CHARACTER? There are nowhere near enough minority characters in movies, comics, TV shows, etc. Race swapping in no way addresses that issue. It's putting a band-aid on a gangrened limb!
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Kip Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 March 2011
Posts: 2880
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 6:31am | IP Logged | 7
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"Is it still the same character in the same story?"
I think most of the time today, the answer is, "even if
the character is the same race and looks like the
original version of the character, it's still not the
same character or story." When they change 30 other
things, it's already a different character and story.
For example, on Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck may have
changed genders, but Apollo was different than his
original version. The Cyclons were different; the whole
storyline was different too.
Of course, I think in Hollywood's mind and in much of the
general audience, if 5% is the same, than it's the same.
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Jeff Patterson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 January 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 225
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 7:18am | IP Logged | 8
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I wrote an essay for SF Signal about reboots which should go up this week. In it I say:
"Dirk Benedict’s Starbuck was a shallow, risk-taking, egotistical, opportunistic manwhore whose motivation in EVERY EPISODE (go back and watch them) was to employ his roguish skill-sets to get laid and make money. Reboot Starbuck was a damaged soul-scarred military brat carrying around a lifetime’s worth of trauma and survivor guilt while nursing a significant drinking problem. She was a great, nuanced, well-written, compelling, and (on every meaningful narrative level) far superior character. But she wasn’t Starbuck. Not even close."
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Kip Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 March 2011
Posts: 2880
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 7:29am | IP Logged | 9
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And you could have put almost all of that modern Starbuck
storyline on a male character, and it still would not have
been Starbuck. Changing gender was one of several changes,
so why not change gender if you are going to change so many
other things. It never would have been the same
character.
Edited by Kip Lewis on 10 August 2014 at 7:31am
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Jeff Patterson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 January 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 225
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | 10
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Precisely. Keep the character and gender, change the name. Give Starbuck a formidable foil/reality check, something the ladies of the original BSG never did as they tended to be written as eye candy.
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 14854
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| Posted: 10 August 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | 11
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The 2003 Battlestar Galactica series is not an adaptation.
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Marin Balabanov
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2005
Location: Austria
Posts: 195
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| Posted: 11 August 2014 at 4:51am | IP Logged | 12
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It would be so cool, if we could get a good movie adaptation of the "Fantastic Four" as told by Lee and Kirby or JB. All changes should be logical and only made necessary by the time that has passed since the characters' creation.
Their original origin stands now more than it has in the last couple of decades, since the US does not have the capability to put a person in space any more. So the origin could be "updated" to be an experimental new US space craft. Another tiny change could be, that the cosmic rays are a unique event that only happened, when they were in space.
Other than that, I guess things could be kept the way they are: Reed Richards, an egg head, who learns humility by working in a team. The insecure Sue Storm who learns her inner strength because her family/team depends on her. Johnny Storm, the hotheaded kid who learns responsibility. Ben Grimm, the former jock who learns to accept his ugly appearance. Basically their adventure as a team would provide them with a form of "group therapy".
And it would be great to keep the explorer/adventurer aspects of the team intact. So instead of a head-on antagonist like Doctor Doom, it could be a trip to the Negative Zone where they confront Annihilus. Perhaps the cosmic event leading to the FF's powers could the shock wave caused by tearing open a portal from the Negative Zone to our universe. Or perhaps the FF could explore the Mole Man's realm and confront the Mole Man himself. They could venture into the Microverse and discover the Psychoman.
The FF were never about revenge (exemplified by Doctor Doom's grudge against Reed Richards), but about going where no-one has gone before and getting into a heck of trouble, before saving the day.
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Topic Closed)
