And what a giant clusterfuck these past four years have been...

[the_deep_magic]

Got my ticket for tomorrow (well, later today) night!  I felt weird going to a midnight screening by myself, and besides, May 16 marks four years to the day since I saw ST:XI.

No Twitter or Tumblr until after I get home.  I'll probably just be grading crap all day tomorrow anyway, but I have made it four fucking years with no major spoilers -- I can make it another 15.25 hours.

I might be poking at something I don't want to poke here, but what's with all the JJ hate on Tumblr?  Yeah, he's said some stupid things... but he said most of those same things four years ago.  Is it just because I'm on Tumblr now, and that's where the wank happens?  Franchises don't set out to change the world.  Did the reboot miss some stellar (hurr) opportunities to push the envelope and resist typical action movie tropes?  Of course it did.  But with a movie this size, it's not just the director making the decisions.  It's producers and marketers and focus groups.  I would say JJ has significantly more clout with this movie, so more of the artistic choices rest on his shoulders this time around, but still, you're lucky to depart from any kind of formula with a tentpole movie these days.

TV is actually the place to push boundaries these days.  Remember that TOS wasn't a "franchise," it had a persuasive visionary backing it up, and still, I think people look at its boundary-pushing through star-shaped glasses.  (Note: I think, I don't know for certain.)  I wonder if people feel betrayed by JJ's decision to helm the new Star Wars movies and that's what's fueling this anger.  I can understand that; my drama teacher back in high school suddenly dropped us completely my senior year to teach English and journalism because that was what she had wanted to teach all along (and the guy they hired to replace her turned out to be a pedophile, so).  And I have veered wildly off-subject now, but I just wanted to say I'm uncomfortable with all the hating on JJ.  By all means, discuss the problems you have with the movies, but don't let it devolve into screaming "FUCK THIS GUY."

Comments

[bbuttercup.livejournal.com]

Avoiding spoilers has really been tough these last couple of weeks. People just can't seem to help themselves, even in their story summaries.... grrrrrrr.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty lucky I managed to avoid them. :oP

[creampuffsteph.livejournal.com]

I think on top of that, it's also because of a decision that is a huge spoiler and lucky you if you haven't seen it at all. It makes me ad whenever i see the fuck jj Abrams on people's avis and everything. I mean, it's a little frustrating but I think people are forgetting that for a lot o fans, jj is responsible for drawing them into the Star Trek fandom. How any people started watching TOS because of him, stupid comments and all?
That being said, I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. Obviously it's not perfect. But so entertaining. And chockful of beautiful kirk/spock moments. I hope you enjoy yourself!!

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

If you're talking about the spoiler I think you're talking about, that seemed to be primarily the writers' decision. And you make a good point about JJ drawing them into the fandom in the first place. I enjoyed the new movie a lot!

[anivad.livejournal.com]

this. I don't like JJ Abrams much from what I've seen, but those avatars make me really uncomfortable. There are so many worse people in the world; JJ's main crime seems to be general oblivion and possible ADHD. Regardless of his more questionable choices, I don't think he's done anything worthy of that level of passionate hate that's been going his way. And he does make good movies (plus I love Fringe to bits), and he seems, at heart, to be a decent person. I especially like how he reacted after Zach came out publicly, where he was reportedly really awesome and supportive about it.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

"JJ's main crime seems to be general oblivion and possible ADHD"

Ha ha, pretty much.

[anivad.livejournal.com]

:D
He strikes me as the kind of person who means well but still keeps doing it wrong. I'd imagine he gets really confused at the hate. I'd probably be extremely frustrated and/or annoyed with him if I knew him IRL, but I can't hate him; that's reserved for people who know full well what they are doing and where there's actual malice involved. Whereas JJ is just bouncing through life being too excited at everything to notice when he's messing up. It's almost adorable in a very weird way.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Plus, at this point, he's had a fuckton of success and probably doesn't hear (or listen to) "Errr... maybe that's not such a great idea" at this point.

[anivad.livejournal.com]

haha yeah.

I find that I'm oddly unbothered by the Khan casting, though. I found it disappointing, but nowhere near super-major-ragey-upset the way so many people are being. and that's despite being a non-white person who has been annoyed at how my race does present barriers to my dreams of Hollywood success, even just as a scriptwriter.

I think it's partly because I remember how concerned JJ was about casting John Cho because he's Korean instead of Japanese, which suggests that he's not completely ignorant about these things, and does, on some level, care quite a lot. Which suggests that him deciding on Cumberbatch was probably not a decision he made lightly.

or he could have also gone all the way into colour-blindness and decided that Cumberbatch just happened to be the best actor for the role. I know that if I'd been in a situation like that, competing against people more socially-privileged than me in whatever way, while I always welcome affirmative action I'd also hate to know that the only reason I got picked would be for my race/sexual orientation/etc rather than actual ability, if there were people who could do a better job than I could.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, from what I understand, Benicio Del Toro was signed on first, and several other Spanish or Hispanic actors were considered. I did wonder if there was pressure from the producers because BC is becoming such a big name now, but it would have been a completely different part if someone else had played the character. Cumberbatch definitely brings something very specific to the part, something that put him on a level with Kirk in a similar way that Ricardo Montalban did with Shatner, particularly in "Space Seed," so I hesitate to jump in on the whitewashing rage. I'm not a huge Cumberbatch fan, but I can't imagine anyone else playing that role as it was written, and that's a real testament to his talent.

[anivad.livejournal.com]

oh yes, I remember that thing about Benicio Del Toro being initially cast. I can't remember why he left, though. But if that were the case, then it would have been a matter of other contenders being turned away for him, and once he dropped out it might have seemed to be making a step backwards if they had called up one of those who had previously been rejected (presumably for some good reason).

Although technically Khan shouldn't even be Hispanic, but Indian. /o]

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but at this point it's almost tradition to have a Hispanic Khan. ;o)

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

Nah, the JJ stuff is very specific things he has said and the attitude he represents and his disdain. Everyone is aware that it takes a village, as it were, to make the movies, and we're glad they're getting made, but if you haven't clicked the links to read/listen to J.J.'s own words, then you haven't heard what will offend you yet.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

I admit that most of what I've seen has been gifs from JJ's interview with Jon Stewart about not being a Trek fan growing up/not understanding it, but he definitely said similar things the first time around.

[lousy-science.livejournal.com]

Not to sound a million years old, but: Is it just because I'm on Tumblr now, and that's where the wank happens?

This.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

::shakes fist:: TUMBLRRRRRRRRRRRR! You don't even have the appropriate vowel for me to yell at you!