Man goes to a doctor and says "Doc, I'm so depressed, the world is dark and hopeless, I can't go on."
The Doc says, "My prescriptions is this: there's a great AI simulation of the clown Pagliacci playing downtiwn. I want you to go-"
"But, doc, I *am*....wait, what?"
Doc: "..."
Man: "wtf?"
There's prob an essay (or book! Lol) to be written about superheroes as cultural archetypes (also see: James Bond, Bon Cop Bad Cop, but *super*heroes are especially utilized this way). By creators from in a culture & creators outside it and can any culture be defined by a handful characters? 1/4
Why superheroes! The bright costumes? They are already metaphors? Because the genre was incubated in war time patriotism? All non-American comic fans want *our* Captain America...but does even he embody "America"? 3/4
All cultures and countries are diverse (the idea of a monolithic culture is a myth) and often break down along similar splits (rural/urban, rich/poor, prog/consv, etc);and funnily a lot of folk define their culture in similar ways while insisting their culture/country is unique lol
4/4
This was well-made w/ good performances (esp. the lead) and good dialogue. I can be mixed on horror (tho I've written some) but this nicely mixed light & dark, characterization, n creepiness. What struck me (for a "horror" tale) was the humanity, the empathy of the piece; Rod Serling (on acid! lol)
Creators in a culture strive to represent their ideal of their culture while those outside employ a perception of the culture. Jack Staff v Captain Britain or Union Jack, Captain Canuck v Alpha Flight, etc. Even Black Panther (employed both as an "African" symbolic hero and "African-American") 2/4
There's a film critic I oft see cited as a great modern critic...yet I often find his pieces confusing (I have to re-read paragraphs), his commentary kind of shallow, his essays not that engaging. A good review can be interesting even if you havent seen the film!
I just feel...old...out of touch :(
Hey Bluesky, could you help me signal boost my Big Cartel shop? Jeremy Creatures are designed and hand-sewed by me, and they take many hours to create.
jeremycreature.bigcartel.com
Just to be shameless: my story, "The Sea's Bone," in the anthology From the Depths (Wyldblood Press) riffed on the theme of a sea beast graveyard (plus there's an airship with a Sasquatch purser & a pulp hero bandaged like mummy! - and that's just *my* story) :)
www.amazon.com/Depths-Mark-...
I *still* have the treasury size ed. w/ a Simonson/Janson cover (at least the Whitman reprint) that my mom bought me when I was a kid :)
(Actually, been a while since I re-read but iirc one of the better movie-to-comics adaptations in terms of how effectively they translated/condensed the story)
