Today, a website was shut down on the internet.
If you ask why, I’d usually answer “Um… it’s a Saturday.” Yet this particular case has opened what is one of the biggest (non-sexual) Internet Pandora’s Boxes, which is the relationship between copyright holders, artists, and the Internet.
The site was in actuality a Livejournal community called “Scans_daily”, which as you may surmise was a discussion community for posting scans of Comic Books. The frequency at which this happened was, in fact, daily. It started as a slash fiction community, but grew to a discussion of all comics, then to what defenders of the site are now calling a “review site”.
In recent issues of Marvel Comics’ “X-Factor”, writer Peter David has begun a campaign of begging fans to refrain from spoiling the twist endings of the monthly installments on the internet, in hopes that the buzz it generates would help the title’s sagging sales. It seems that this extended beyond the comic page and resulted in David actually checking out major Comic sites to see if fans were listening. This led him to arguably the Internet’s most respected Comic News site, Comic Book Resources, where a fan on their forums linked back to a “Scans_daily” post about “X-Factor #40”.
What David found through the link is really the linchpin of the case. He not only found scans of the issue’s shock ending, but a disproportionate amount of the entire story. He deemed this in violation of the Fair Use Doctrine, and reported it to the copyright holder (Marvel Comics). When Marvel checked back, the scans were gone, pulled offline by Photobucket, the website being used to host the pictures. In the morning, Livejournal had deleted the community for violating it’s terms of use.
Although it seems a fairly regular occurrence, the difference is that the “Scans_daily” was popular in an under-the-radar way, numbering 8,000 Livejournal users. Some of them have emerged and dispersed into the rest of the online Comic community, a few with pitchforks and torches.
One has asked, politely, that Peter David die in a fire. On the man’s own website, no less.
The comic community is relatively small, when put head-to-head with let’s say Jonas Brothers fans and people trying to buy Hondas on Craigslist. What they are, however, are vocal and tightly knit. Everybody knows everybody, and everybody reads everything. The are nerds on the internet after all, and when something happens that affects them, they rally around a keyboard to talk about it.
In a relatively minor way, the “Scans_daily” situation speaks to the trouble the world has had adjusting to the ubiquitous rise of the Internet. Copyright holders are desperately trying to hold onto their professions in world where people are so smart they can reproduce and disseminate anything. Artists are trying to understand how they can continue to exist where everything can be had for free. Consumers are trying to keep in touch with a culture that is increasingly expensive while becoming increasingly broad in its reach. Finally, there is a gap between generations. Not necessarily “Old vs. Young”, rather a generation who had to adapt to the internet and one that’s only known a world with the internet in it.
There’s really no one to blame if you wanted to, for a couple of reasons. One, it’s impossible to know who’s directly responsible for the site’s demise. Certainly, Livejournal is the one who took the community down directly, but it’s impossible to mount a case against them, even if its out of irrational rage. Consumers use Livejournal’s hosting and customization services for free as long as they comply with the terms of use, which are the farthest thing from fascist. Users have a pretty autonomous existence, as long as their not doing anything illegal, including violating copyright.
The users of “Scans_daily” are hurt, because in their minds, many have lost an important outlet for creative and critical expression. As the refugees have said on other sites, they had friends in the community and memories of discussions now gone. It may be a bit hard to understand how angry they are, because all though it’s pervasive, the depth of Internet-only friendships and events are still difficult to grasp. The only thing important to their side, however, is that they feel a powerful sense of loss.
They’re reacting in a normal way to loss – lashing out. With no one to truly blame but themselves, they’re attacking everybody else, but mostly Peter David. It must be stated, however, that no one is disputing David’s involvement was merely telling Marvel, and it became a non-issue when the specific “X-Factor #40” post was removed. He’s high-profile though, and he’s taking the blame for bringing “Scans_daily” down.
They’re taking a lot of different routes to try and justify their outrage, but unfortunately, they can’t win. They’ve tried to state that they weren’t violating Fair Use, which is untrue no matter how you look at it. The Fair Use Doctrine, like much of copyright and art-based laws, use a “balancing test” allowing for various interpretations:
1) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2) The nature of the copyrighted work;
3) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4) The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
If someone were to interpret that half an issue of a comic book was insubstantial in terms of Fair Use (you can’t, but the users sure are trying), it’d still be difficult to prove you were not harming the potential market for the work. It comes down to a single event being enough to cause legal ramifications. Sure, the site wasn’t always like that, and certain readers are crying that they only bought comics because they were spurred to by posts on the site. Yet, if one person didn’t buy a comic because they read the ending on “Scans_daily” or one member posted enough of an issue to defy Fair Use, then it’s illegal.
It’s been brought up that “Scans_daily” was providing a service like the previews companies release of upcoming titles. Intention doesn’t matter, however. Copyright laws don’t break down when you’re trying to help sell something you care about. Companies can release 5 or so preview pages of a comic book because they own the copyright. If they wanted to, they could send the entire issue to a specific website.
It’s a moral question, but stealing a loaf of bread to feed your family is still stealing.
Even though the Internet makes it easy to manipulate copyrighted material, doesn’t make it Thunderdome. It’s hard to police electronic media, but that doesn’t mean the rules no longer apply. If you want to consume pirated material, very few people, including myself, will cast a moral judgment on you. I understand that we all do it, but our collective action doesn't make it a new paradigm for copyright laws. We rationalize it as we will, but the price that comes along with it is this: if we get caught, we have no legal recourse.
No one in the “Scans_daily” situation is being brought up on legal charges, even though it’s in multiple people’s legal rights to do so. All that is happening is that they’ll move to a different location – nothing is even stopping them from moving somewhere else on Livejournal.
The reality of the Internet is that a new generation of fans has been given a place where they feel community based around things they may be mocked for in their everyday lives. We have dedicated fans who are constantly backed-up when it comes to their entitlement issues, and they’ve created a kind of a hive mind that tells them that they’re not merely consumers of their favorite media – they’re a substantial part of it. This is where legality breaks down, especially when stretched over the breadth of something as large and feral as the Internet.
“Scans_daily”, for some of these fans, was a daily part of their routine for five years. That shouldn’t be ignored – these people have lost something important. We also cannot ignore how many of them have reacted at its loss, though… if it was only the community, and not the free comics they felt so strongly about, then there are easy and obvious ways to keep that going.
None of those include setting one of Comics most passionate creators, and eloquent ambassadors, on fire.
Follow the discussion here, on Peter David's blog
Read more!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Welcome To The New Administration: Superheroes Vs. Obama
The United States are in a state of flux. It’s a very different place than it was only two months ago – chief amongst the changes being that we’re in the “Honeymoon Period” of Barack Obama’s presidential term. It seems that America has at the very least, a tempered enthusiasm, which we can attribute to the fact that the voting public hasn’t seen anything outwardly bad coming from the new administration.
To put it in a different way: if Obama farted in public, people would call it a rainbow, and all those caught in the cloud would be deputized as “America Happy Elves”.
It’s odd then, to see that some of our escapism have taken a darker term. The television show “Heroes” shows a group of well-meaning super-powered folks on the run from an oppressive government detention program – including a President obviously meant to be Barack Obama.
We’ve also got the new status quo of the Marvel Comics Universe, the so-called “Dark Reign”. In most Marvel titles, the heroes are also on the run from the government, whose super-powered defenses are now under the purview of Spider-Man’s archnemesis, Norman “The Green Goblin” Osborn. Although Osborn was installed by former President Bush, he’s already ran head-to-head with Obama… and allowed to continue his activities.
If Dick Cheney were more honest.
Our superheroes have gone to war – against the United States Government.
It’s been said that Superheroes are American Mythology, taking the place of the didactic Greek pantheon or cautionary tales of the European supernatural. If that’s so – and the case can be made that it’s largely true – why are shadowy, corrupt governments becoming a normalized setting in genre fiction?
An important distinction must be stated right away: neither story arc has outright said their President is our Barack Obama. This is largely a feint, however, because every move they make with their President character is designed to make the reader associate him with the current American President.
The most important tell is, of course, that each character is Black. Now, genre fiction is usually ahead of the curve in diversity, even if only in singular moments. The President has largely been different, though – Presidents, as the were throughout history, were White. Switching to African-American Presidents at the dawn of the first to take the office is not an instant change in modus operandi. It was an automatic response, designed to force the reader into making real world identification.
Yes, Obama famously met Spider-Man in a recent comic. It’s been pointed out by Marvel brass that this is out-of-continuity… all while they continue to make it known that the President of the Marvel Universe is always the same as the current President of the United States. They’re just trying to have it both ways; get some mainstream publicity for being “relevant”, and still tell the “Dark Reign” story they think will make them tons of cash.
The History of the genre further muddles the picture. When Ronald Reagan was President, Alan Moore delivered “Watchmen”, which tore down the entire superhero paradigm and put it back together in a more cynical format. Reagan was so divisive that the old rules no longer applied – if Superheroes were purely American, and thus the de facto mythology, they had to stop merely telling stories and become relevant.
When Bill Clinton took power in the ‘90s, comics shifted to meet the pulse of the country. Although Clinton himself was a morally ambiguous figure, his politics resulted in a boom period, typified by a collective consciousness of wealth and security. Superheroes didn’t have a big villain to fight, so just followed the curve. Comics in the ‘90s are legendary for their excess; bigger guns, bigger breasts, flashier covers… less story. Superheroes almost didn’t survive the crash that nearly ruined the comic industry, and their presence in larger mainstream culture largely fell away as their home medium lost the slight air of importance that came with “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns”.
Somewhere along the way, literary superhero fiction became synonymous with darkness. The lone mainstream success of the 1990s was “Sandman”, a universally acclaimed masterpiece from gothic genius Neil Gaiman. “Sandman” is the “Dark Side of the Moon” of Comic books – it sells in perpetuity, creating new fans on a continuing basis. Writers came out of the ‘90s renewed in their dedication to legitimizing the genre, because they had to… the money had dried up.
Also to Hot Topic as free candy to that guy's van.
Escapism is defined by it’s ability to help people forget their problems, but superhero fiction has decided it’s not Escapism anymore. Their audience has changed, from the children people always assumed were reading to the lifelong, sophisticated adults that always were.
Superheroes are, however, driving towards another shift in focus. The “Fugitives” arc of “Heroes” has been largely maligned, and although “Dark Reign” has sold well, it’s conceit isn’t entirely accepted as interesting. Vocal critics have maintained that although the main books have been decent, it’s not a sustainable status quo, and it will run its course sooner rather than later.
To be honest… the “Heroes” thing may not be a sign of the realignment of superheroes. Those writers couldn’t find their assholes if they had a roadmap, asshole sniffing dogs, and Indiana Jones, who had gone back to school and got a degree in asshole finding.
Indiana Jones at the Crack of Doom: AVN Best Picture (1986)
What is a possible sign is DC Comics’ “Final Crisis”. It’s written by Grant Morrison, arguably the most respected writer regularly creating comics. It has been controversial, but most first salvos against the norm usually are. “Final Crisis” was confusing in its theme when taken piecemeal, but taken as a collected story, it is about the triumph of story over the sturm und drang of modern superhero storytelling. Yes, as the advertising for the series said “Evil Won”, but it was defeated, through a song and a wish by the ultimate symbol of Superhero Escapism, Superman.
That song? Disco Duck by Rick Dees
It may be nothing. It may turn out that the intricacies of “Final Crisis” are merely a blip on the radar, brought down by its failure as a month-to-month adventure and the fact that it demands closer than the brisk reading so often assigned to event books of its type. Thus the proliferation of superheroes vs. government in modern genre storytelling can mean two things: that the darkness has one in pursuit of artistic legitimacy, or the minds of Americans have been lost by years under a cloak-and-dagger oligarchy.
Dark comics in an Obama world seem to say that hope must always be tempered and even with brightly clad warriors patrolling the skies to save us, darkness is only a whisper, or a panel, away.
Read more!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Dad Vs. The Jonas Bros.: The Oscars, Twittered
Here's an archive of my twittered thoughts from the Oscars.
#andhereswhy Great Oscars, everybody. 'Nite.
#andhereswhy The quality of the speeches tonight was generally high.
#andhereswhy Although the kids coming up on stage is sweet.
#andhereswhy Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire. It was going to happen, but I'm still dissapointed. Nice movie, but way too many deep flaws to win
#andhereswhy Nice montage of previous Best Picture winners. If you're so inclined, it's a nice meditation on the connections between stories
#andhereswhy In a year where he made "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", he still gets on the Oscars. That's power.
#andhereswhy So, I was wrong about him. Great speech from Penn.
#andhereswhy Penn seems to realize that he's been a little full of himself lately, and is appropriately self-deprecating. I approve.
#andhereswhy "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns". Sean Penn has a sense of humor again?
#andhereswhy Best Actor: Sean Penn. I love Harvey Milk so much that I'm not even mad that one of my archenemies gets to be more egotistical.
#andhereswhy Mickey Rourke looks like your friend's Dad. The one who sneaks you a case of Coors and asks where the party's at
#andhereswhy Anthony Hopkins is swaying so much he can't stay in frame. British dudes sure know how to party
#andhereswhy Quick, somebody make fun of Jude Law. See if Penn makes a b-line for Chris Rock
#andhereswhy Whenever I see Sean Penn, I can't help but scream "YOU RUINED ROBIN WRIGHT"
#andhereswhy If Frank Langella wins, they're just making up for not giving him the award for Dracula
#andhereswhy Who will Adrien Brody make out with this year? Is he young enough for Michael Douglas?
#andhereswhy Here's a game for the eternity while Winslet is talking: name a Sophia Loren movie. I DARE YOU.
#andhereswhy Best Actress: Kate Winslet. Dad: "The new Meryl Streep. I don't hate her yet".
# andhereswhy Sophia Loren sounds like she just threw a bachelor party for her frat brother
# andhereswhy Dev Patel keeps poking his head into people's shots. Hilarious.
# andhereswhy The 5 women presenting Best Actress are like a list entitled "Things Mike Hates"
#andhereswhy I totally forgot Marion Cotilliard was a thing. huh.
#andhereswhy For the first time, I've just heard the term "Green Collar Job" this is getting riDICulous.
#andhereswhy HAHA He just said DWARF! Sorry, again
#andhereswhy Boyle commits a faux paux by forgetting to thank Gandalf. Okay, I'm done.
# andhereswhy Director: Danny Boyle. This is how he must have felt when he overtook the Shire with his friends.
# andhereswhy I refuse to acknowledge Reese Witherspoon exists.
# andhereswhy Nice touch having Queen Latifah accompany the montage live, but terrible camerawork
# andhereswhy Don't know how I feel about the foreign winners being made to stumble through English versions of their speech. Are they being made fun of?
#andhereswhy Foreign Language: Departures, from Japan. Now everyone can forget about this before the DVD comes out and never see it
#andhereswhy Liam Neeson and Freida Pinto: the new Brangelina. Friam? Leida? Liamfreida?
#andhereswhy Danny Boyle loves music. He cried when Merry sang that song to Theoden
#andhereswhy Original Song: A.R. Rahman, again for "Jai Ho". Good pick, but I gave up on the academy's music tastes when they dissed "Walk Hard"
#andhereswhy My destiny is to fight Zac Efron in a field, with white flowers raining down all around us. Sadly, he'll probably win
#andhereswhy The Legend + Choir version of "Coming Down" is actually pretty sweet
# andhereswhy John Legend is a step up from the overrated Peter Gabriel, anyway
#andhereswhy Original Song. With Gabriel refusing to play, looks like they're just bleeding all three nominees into one segment
#andhereswhy Danny Boyle is physically incapable of not being excited. He even faced down the Nazgul while giggling.
#andhereswhy He is dying.
#andhereswhy Original Score: A.R. Rahman, fo Slumdog. He sure is a cute lil' guy
#andhereswhy Zac Efron and Alicia Keyes? The Disney Channel just shat a brick
#andhereswhy Musical Score. Another Frank Langella pee break
#andhereswhy Hey, a Seal sighting! I remember when I used to think he got his face scars via saving kids from a fire. Man's got a righteous publicist
#andhereswhy Good for you Jerry Lewis. Now tell Tina Fey she can't be funny because she was born with a vagina
# andhereswhy Man, Coldplay is all up on the Oscars this year. It's the soundtrack of our lives... if you happen to be a tool. Like me.
# andhereswhy Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis
# andhereswhy "Please Welcome Academy Award Nominee Eddie Murphy"
# andhereswhy Heidi Klum's Diet Coke commercial proves that no one looks good in a hoop skirt.
# andhereswhy Film Editing: Slumdog. Well, it certainly was a movie, so... good job Film Editor who looks like Grant Morrison.
# andhereswhy Danny Boyle is just as excited about Sound Mixing as he was when he threw the one ring into the Cracks of Doom
# andhereswhy Mixing: Slumdog. I have no idea if that was good or not.
# andhereswhy Will Smith is far too charming. He must be some sort of Norse trickster
# andhereswhy Sound Editing: THE DARK KNIGHT. Hey, it's something
# andhereswhy Will Smith: "Boom Goes The Dynamite" is now hollywood shorthand for fuckup
# andhereswhy Never has 66% been so small
# andhereswhy Outstanding Visual Effects: FUUUUCCCCKKKK
# andhereswhy Outstanding Visual Effects: 2/3 are comic movies, so Button will win
# andhereswhy and that, friends, is the only time Jason Statham will ever be on the Oscars
# andhereswhy This Action Movie montage only reminds me how Speed Racer was a decent movie, and people who aren't me are d-bags
# andhereswhy It's about 3rd world children with clefts. I'm a dick.
# andhereswhy Documentary Short: Smile Pinki, a film about a talking finger. Directed by Ron Howard
# andhereswhy Man On Wire guy steals the Oscars in a couple of seconds. Nice.
# andhereswhy Documentary: Man On Wire. Now I can see the one documentary I see a year.
# andhereswhy Bill Maher plugs his movie in lieu of presenting. Asshole.
# andhereswhy Best Supporting: Heath Ledger. Anticlimactic, but had to happen
# andhereswhy Cristopher Walken's tie is super crooked, and he looks like he just got out of a VW Bus in 1974. He may be the world's greatest man.
# andhereswhy Way to get a black guy to talk about Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Touche, Oscars
# andhereswhy Anthony Hopkins is WASTED in the background
# andhereswhy The round of best supporting actors is less impressive than the actresses. You couldn't get somebody who wasn't in "Boat Trip"?
# andhereswhy That was actually a really great tribute to musicals. You win this round, Zac Efron!
# andhereswhy Beyonce's even singing AT LAST. This show is all about people pissing each other off
# andhereswhy Beyonce is singing with Jackman. Somewhere Etta James is strangling a male prostitute
# andhereswhy Meryl Streep's daughter is pretty, but she's spending a lot of time looking at her own cleavage
# andhereswhy apparently, it's parenthetically called "Toyland"
# andhereswhy Live-Action Short: Something James Franco couldn't pronounce, and I cannot spell
# andhereswhy Because it's Hollywood, nothing exists if Seth Rogen isn't in it
# andhereswhy Why are stoners laughing at inappropriate things hilarious
# andhereswhy this is the best sequel Pineapple Express could hope for
# andhereswhy Judd Apatow movie!
# andhereswhy Science Award run down, so Frank Langella can go pee
# andhereswhy Jessica Biel is wearing some sort of shiny trash bag.
# andhereswhy Humboldt County on the Oscars! Well, in a commercial anyway
# andhereswhy If you're going to the Oscars, you'd think you'd at least wash your hair
# andhereswhy Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog. Say what you want, that movie is at least gorgeous
# andhereswhy "you look like you work at a hassidic meth lab"
# andhereswhy First Joaquin Phoenix reference. Stiller's doing better than whoever that was at the Spirit awards last night
# andhereswhy Dad is now under the impression that any group of one or more pretty boys are Jonases.
# andhereswhy That kid from Twilight is the least charismatic man alive
# andhereswhy This guy's speech is boring, but at least it's quick
# andhereswhy Make-Up: Button. Fuck the Academy
# andhereswhy Make-Up: 2/3 are comic book movies, so Button has to win
# andhereswhy Of course the costume guy is about to cry
# andhereswhy It can't be that hard to dress Keira Knightly. Just shop in the junior miss section.
# andhereswhy Costume Design: The Duchess. Upset? Don't know, don't care.
# andhereswhy SJ Parker is about to fall out of her dress. No one wants to see that.
# andhereswhy First people they had to play off. Not bad.
# andhereswhy This guy slams producers in his speech. does not go over well
# andhereswhy Art Direction: Benjamin Button. Man, you can't give DK anything, can you
# andhereswhy Craig explains Gotham: "Chicago, through a glass, darkly". Fantastic
# andhereswhy James Bond just walked out with Skeletor. I wish they'd make that movie. Langella is available
# andhereswhy This how to make a movie thing is kind of masturbatory
# andhereswhy Kunio Kato admirably tries to do his speech in English, the ends with "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto". I love him so much
# andhereswhy Animated Short: La Maison French Word French Word.
# andhereswhy 2nd shot of Jolie. WE GET IT, SHE STOLE HER HUSBAND
# andhereswhy Philip Seymour Hoffman: already bored. Also, may be wearing a skull cap. Weird.
# andhereswhy Animated: Wall-E. Right on.
# andhereswhy Space Chimps on the Oscars. Hell hath frozen over
# andhereswhy Shot of Jolie during Aniston's presentation. Very snide, Oscar Director Man
# andhereswhy "Each year, I do a picture for Dreamworks. Then I take the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar"
# andhereswhy Danny Boyle looks like a Hobbit
# andhereswhy Kind of sucky, they take 10 minutes to talk about supporting actress, both screenwriting awards done in same time
# andhereswhy Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog. IT BEGINS
# andhereswhy Great speech.
# andhereswhy Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk. In Bruges got robbed, damnit
# andhereswhy Scientology burn from Fey. Cruise conspicuous by his absence
# andhereswhy Quit now. Not getting better than Fey and Martin
# andhereswhy Fun Fact: the screenplay they're "writing" looks nothing like a screenplay
# andhereswhy Only category I've seen everything in: Animated. Sad? Yes.
# andhereswhy Kate Winslet is already crying? WTF.
# andhereswhy Almodovar reference! Good girl.
# andhereswhy Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz. Deserving more for past career than performance
# andhereswhy They, of course, were not the Jonas Bros.
# andhereswhy Dad sees three youngish guys standing next to each other: "Shut the fuck up, Jonas Brothers"
# andhereswhy Haha. They screwed up the curtains already. Does Jackman have to do everything?
# andhereswhy The list of people my Dad has hated so far: Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep
# andhereswhy "I'm Wolverine!" Best opening in years.
# andhereswhy First "Dark Knight was snubbed" reference : 4 min
# andhereswhy "that's the way I roll" sounds lamer in an Australian accent
# andhereswhy Jackman calls out Academy on it's "nominating people who play other nationalities thing" Read more!
#andhereswhy Great Oscars, everybody. 'Nite.
#andhereswhy The quality of the speeches tonight was generally high.
#andhereswhy Although the kids coming up on stage is sweet.
#andhereswhy Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire. It was going to happen, but I'm still dissapointed. Nice movie, but way too many deep flaws to win
#andhereswhy Nice montage of previous Best Picture winners. If you're so inclined, it's a nice meditation on the connections between stories
#andhereswhy In a year where he made "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", he still gets on the Oscars. That's power.
#andhereswhy So, I was wrong about him. Great speech from Penn.
#andhereswhy Penn seems to realize that he's been a little full of himself lately, and is appropriately self-deprecating. I approve.
#andhereswhy "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns". Sean Penn has a sense of humor again?
#andhereswhy Best Actor: Sean Penn. I love Harvey Milk so much that I'm not even mad that one of my archenemies gets to be more egotistical.
#andhereswhy Mickey Rourke looks like your friend's Dad. The one who sneaks you a case of Coors and asks where the party's at
#andhereswhy Anthony Hopkins is swaying so much he can't stay in frame. British dudes sure know how to party
#andhereswhy Quick, somebody make fun of Jude Law. See if Penn makes a b-line for Chris Rock
#andhereswhy Whenever I see Sean Penn, I can't help but scream "YOU RUINED ROBIN WRIGHT"
#andhereswhy If Frank Langella wins, they're just making up for not giving him the award for Dracula
#andhereswhy Who will Adrien Brody make out with this year? Is he young enough for Michael Douglas?
#andhereswhy Here's a game for the eternity while Winslet is talking: name a Sophia Loren movie. I DARE YOU.
#andhereswhy Best Actress: Kate Winslet. Dad: "The new Meryl Streep. I don't hate her yet".
# andhereswhy Sophia Loren sounds like she just threw a bachelor party for her frat brother
# andhereswhy Dev Patel keeps poking his head into people's shots. Hilarious.
# andhereswhy The 5 women presenting Best Actress are like a list entitled "Things Mike Hates"
#andhereswhy I totally forgot Marion Cotilliard was a thing. huh.
#andhereswhy For the first time, I've just heard the term "Green Collar Job" this is getting riDICulous.
#andhereswhy HAHA He just said DWARF! Sorry, again
#andhereswhy Boyle commits a faux paux by forgetting to thank Gandalf. Okay, I'm done.
# andhereswhy Director: Danny Boyle. This is how he must have felt when he overtook the Shire with his friends.
# andhereswhy I refuse to acknowledge Reese Witherspoon exists.
# andhereswhy Nice touch having Queen Latifah accompany the montage live, but terrible camerawork
# andhereswhy Don't know how I feel about the foreign winners being made to stumble through English versions of their speech. Are they being made fun of?
#andhereswhy Foreign Language: Departures, from Japan. Now everyone can forget about this before the DVD comes out and never see it
#andhereswhy Liam Neeson and Freida Pinto: the new Brangelina. Friam? Leida? Liamfreida?
#andhereswhy Danny Boyle loves music. He cried when Merry sang that song to Theoden
#andhereswhy Original Song: A.R. Rahman, again for "Jai Ho". Good pick, but I gave up on the academy's music tastes when they dissed "Walk Hard"
#andhereswhy My destiny is to fight Zac Efron in a field, with white flowers raining down all around us. Sadly, he'll probably win
#andhereswhy The Legend + Choir version of "Coming Down" is actually pretty sweet
# andhereswhy John Legend is a step up from the overrated Peter Gabriel, anyway
#andhereswhy Original Song. With Gabriel refusing to play, looks like they're just bleeding all three nominees into one segment
#andhereswhy Danny Boyle is physically incapable of not being excited. He even faced down the Nazgul while giggling.
#andhereswhy He is dying.
#andhereswhy Original Score: A.R. Rahman, fo Slumdog. He sure is a cute lil' guy
#andhereswhy Zac Efron and Alicia Keyes? The Disney Channel just shat a brick
#andhereswhy Musical Score. Another Frank Langella pee break
#andhereswhy Hey, a Seal sighting! I remember when I used to think he got his face scars via saving kids from a fire. Man's got a righteous publicist
#andhereswhy Good for you Jerry Lewis. Now tell Tina Fey she can't be funny because she was born with a vagina
# andhereswhy Man, Coldplay is all up on the Oscars this year. It's the soundtrack of our lives... if you happen to be a tool. Like me.
# andhereswhy Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis
# andhereswhy "Please Welcome Academy Award Nominee Eddie Murphy"
# andhereswhy Heidi Klum's Diet Coke commercial proves that no one looks good in a hoop skirt.
# andhereswhy Film Editing: Slumdog. Well, it certainly was a movie, so... good job Film Editor who looks like Grant Morrison.
# andhereswhy Danny Boyle is just as excited about Sound Mixing as he was when he threw the one ring into the Cracks of Doom
# andhereswhy Mixing: Slumdog. I have no idea if that was good or not.
# andhereswhy Will Smith is far too charming. He must be some sort of Norse trickster
# andhereswhy Sound Editing: THE DARK KNIGHT. Hey, it's something
# andhereswhy Will Smith: "Boom Goes The Dynamite" is now hollywood shorthand for fuckup
# andhereswhy Never has 66% been so small
# andhereswhy Outstanding Visual Effects: FUUUUCCCCKKKK
# andhereswhy Outstanding Visual Effects: 2/3 are comic movies, so Button will win
# andhereswhy and that, friends, is the only time Jason Statham will ever be on the Oscars
# andhereswhy This Action Movie montage only reminds me how Speed Racer was a decent movie, and people who aren't me are d-bags
# andhereswhy It's about 3rd world children with clefts. I'm a dick.
# andhereswhy Documentary Short: Smile Pinki, a film about a talking finger. Directed by Ron Howard
# andhereswhy Man On Wire guy steals the Oscars in a couple of seconds. Nice.
# andhereswhy Documentary: Man On Wire. Now I can see the one documentary I see a year.
# andhereswhy Bill Maher plugs his movie in lieu of presenting. Asshole.
# andhereswhy Best Supporting: Heath Ledger. Anticlimactic, but had to happen
# andhereswhy Cristopher Walken's tie is super crooked, and he looks like he just got out of a VW Bus in 1974. He may be the world's greatest man.
# andhereswhy Way to get a black guy to talk about Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Touche, Oscars
# andhereswhy Anthony Hopkins is WASTED in the background
# andhereswhy The round of best supporting actors is less impressive than the actresses. You couldn't get somebody who wasn't in "Boat Trip"?
# andhereswhy That was actually a really great tribute to musicals. You win this round, Zac Efron!
# andhereswhy Beyonce's even singing AT LAST. This show is all about people pissing each other off
# andhereswhy Beyonce is singing with Jackman. Somewhere Etta James is strangling a male prostitute
# andhereswhy Meryl Streep's daughter is pretty, but she's spending a lot of time looking at her own cleavage
# andhereswhy apparently, it's parenthetically called "Toyland"
# andhereswhy Live-Action Short: Something James Franco couldn't pronounce, and I cannot spell
# andhereswhy Because it's Hollywood, nothing exists if Seth Rogen isn't in it
# andhereswhy Why are stoners laughing at inappropriate things hilarious
# andhereswhy this is the best sequel Pineapple Express could hope for
# andhereswhy Judd Apatow movie!
# andhereswhy Science Award run down, so Frank Langella can go pee
# andhereswhy Jessica Biel is wearing some sort of shiny trash bag.
# andhereswhy Humboldt County on the Oscars! Well, in a commercial anyway
# andhereswhy If you're going to the Oscars, you'd think you'd at least wash your hair
# andhereswhy Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog. Say what you want, that movie is at least gorgeous
# andhereswhy "you look like you work at a hassidic meth lab"
# andhereswhy First Joaquin Phoenix reference. Stiller's doing better than whoever that was at the Spirit awards last night
# andhereswhy Dad is now under the impression that any group of one or more pretty boys are Jonases.
# andhereswhy That kid from Twilight is the least charismatic man alive
# andhereswhy This guy's speech is boring, but at least it's quick
# andhereswhy Make-Up: Button. Fuck the Academy
# andhereswhy Make-Up: 2/3 are comic book movies, so Button has to win
# andhereswhy Of course the costume guy is about to cry
# andhereswhy It can't be that hard to dress Keira Knightly. Just shop in the junior miss section.
# andhereswhy Costume Design: The Duchess. Upset? Don't know, don't care.
# andhereswhy SJ Parker is about to fall out of her dress. No one wants to see that.
# andhereswhy First people they had to play off. Not bad.
# andhereswhy This guy slams producers in his speech. does not go over well
# andhereswhy Art Direction: Benjamin Button. Man, you can't give DK anything, can you
# andhereswhy Craig explains Gotham: "Chicago, through a glass, darkly". Fantastic
# andhereswhy James Bond just walked out with Skeletor. I wish they'd make that movie. Langella is available
# andhereswhy This how to make a movie thing is kind of masturbatory
# andhereswhy Kunio Kato admirably tries to do his speech in English, the ends with "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto". I love him so much
# andhereswhy Animated Short: La Maison French Word French Word.
# andhereswhy 2nd shot of Jolie. WE GET IT, SHE STOLE HER HUSBAND
# andhereswhy Philip Seymour Hoffman: already bored. Also, may be wearing a skull cap. Weird.
# andhereswhy Animated: Wall-E. Right on.
# andhereswhy Space Chimps on the Oscars. Hell hath frozen over
# andhereswhy Shot of Jolie during Aniston's presentation. Very snide, Oscar Director Man
# andhereswhy "Each year, I do a picture for Dreamworks. Then I take the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar"
# andhereswhy Danny Boyle looks like a Hobbit
# andhereswhy Kind of sucky, they take 10 minutes to talk about supporting actress, both screenwriting awards done in same time
# andhereswhy Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog. IT BEGINS
# andhereswhy Great speech.
# andhereswhy Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk. In Bruges got robbed, damnit
# andhereswhy Scientology burn from Fey. Cruise conspicuous by his absence
# andhereswhy Quit now. Not getting better than Fey and Martin
# andhereswhy Fun Fact: the screenplay they're "writing" looks nothing like a screenplay
# andhereswhy Only category I've seen everything in: Animated. Sad? Yes.
# andhereswhy Kate Winslet is already crying? WTF.
# andhereswhy Almodovar reference! Good girl.
# andhereswhy Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz. Deserving more for past career than performance
# andhereswhy They, of course, were not the Jonas Bros.
# andhereswhy Dad sees three youngish guys standing next to each other: "Shut the fuck up, Jonas Brothers"
# andhereswhy Haha. They screwed up the curtains already. Does Jackman have to do everything?
# andhereswhy The list of people my Dad has hated so far: Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep
# andhereswhy "I'm Wolverine!" Best opening in years.
# andhereswhy First "Dark Knight was snubbed" reference : 4 min
# andhereswhy "that's the way I roll" sounds lamer in an Australian accent
# andhereswhy Jackman calls out Academy on it's "nominating people who play other nationalities thing" Read more!
Premise and Motivation: "Dollhouse"
Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” never had a chance, did it?
It’s not talking about it’s well-documented trouble with FOX, or even Whedon’s problems with his own original pilot. It’s about the premise itself.
If you’re a nerd who lives under a rock, or in Canada or something, here’s “Dollhouse” in a couple of sentences:
“The Dollhouse is the headquarters of an organization that provides clients with high-priced “Actives”, brain-dead humans with personalities that can be “built” for any situation the client requires. Also, they’re kind of mysterious, so of course some FBI guy is trying to expose them. He’s largely inconsequential, but he’s played by Tamoh Penikett, so, you know… AWESOME.”
There’s a litmus test for good fiction, which is you must never question whether or not a premise makes sense. It doesn’t matter if it’s science fiction, or fantasy, or real world drama, because a competently crafted story world has its own rules for viewers to follow – realistic or not.
“Dollhouse” unfortunately, runs into the most fundamental flaw in genre fiction. When a viewer questions why someone would pay a large sum of money to have a Hostage Negotiator built from the ground up rather than pay considerably less money for an actual hostage negotiator, the only possible answer is “because otherwise, there’d be no show.”
The viewer is doing too much of the work. Yes, great shows are challenging, but that challenge is a reward for deep viewing. In “Dollhouse”, the viewer is asked to keep the show together on an almost mechanical level, rather than interact with it on an emotional one. In the first episode aired, “Ghost”, a viewer would have a hard time actually growing to care about Eliza Dushku’s Echo, because they’re spending too much time subconsciously rationalizing her very existence.
That’s unfortunate, because Dushku is doing a decent job, with a role that will never pay off. A viewer can’t get into any of the characters she plays weekly because they’re gone so quickly, and the speed at which a viewer must identify with them necessitates that they be broadly constructed stereotypes. Echo herself, is difficult too – she plays on the parts of the human psyche that want to protect weak or childlike creatures, which limits the depth of involvement. It’s reacting instinctively, rather than with true emotion. When Echo only understands death as “sleeping”, it doesn’t beg someone to care, it makes them sad because they’re only caring in the same way they’d care about someone else’s child.
The rest of the acting is a big problem. The secondary players are all Whedon stock types, but the actors this time around aren’t up to the challenge. The best of them is Harry Lennix’s turn as Echo’s handler, Boyd Langdon. There’s nothing to the character outside of a warm father figure, but Lennix plays it well. He’s touching when he needs to be, and alternatively physically intimidating to villains and coworkers who threaten Echo’s safety. It works just fine.
Now that we’ve had three Whedon-created TV shows, it’s become abundantly clear that the impact of the show hinges on one of his regular characters, the wisecracking friend. Whedon shows are all about complex emotions, and that character – Xander in “Buffy”, Wesley in “Angel”, Wash in “Firefly” – grounds the viewer emotionally. He can disarm a situation with a joke, and his status as a joke factory means he has the most emotional gravity when called on to act dramatically. That character is Topher Brink, played by the – there’s really no other word for it – terrible Fran Kranz. Kranz plays Topher with no range, thus he loses the most important function of the character. Kranz just reads jokes, instead of given the viewer an immediately relatable protagonist.
Tamoh Penikett is a huge star in the making, but the determined Paul Ballard isn’t really showcasing the range he showed as Karl “Helo” Agathon on “Battlestar Galactica”. Penikett has the stoic action hero thing down, but that’s all “Dollhouse” is really asking of him. Ballard is an emotional brick wall – he shows up, grunts at some people, then races off to find the Dollhouse, motivated by apparently nothing but duty. A character driven by duty can work, but it relies on the viewer knowing why. Duty isn’t a motivation in a vacuum, it’s a motivation created by… a second motivation. You’re driven by duty because of lineage, trauma, moral outrage, etc...
Look at Spider-Man. He’s definitely duty-centric (“With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”), but that loyalty stems from the trauma of Uncle Ben’s death. Ballard may very well have an interesting backstory, but there’s not a single second where he’s allowed to show any depth.. His best scene is actually worse for his being in it:
Miracle Laurie nails every second of this scene, but she’s up against the black hole of emotion that is Paul Ballard. He gives her absolutely nothing. There’s not even a sense that he’s missing her obvious come-ons. He’s either incredibly mean, or has an inability to relate with humans. That could be interesting, if they go with it as a character trait rather than a lack of depth. It’s a tough line to walk, but it’s worked before.
Although its future is currently pretty bleak, “Dollhouse” looks like it may have an outside chance of success. The second episode “The Target”, is considerably better than the pilot, if only due to the fact that the “engagement” Echo is sent on seems like it makes a little more sense. Couple that with the fact that the commercials make it seem like next weeks episode is going to be dead-on correct – where else are you going to find someone with bodyguard skills that can also sing and dance like a professional backup dancer? – it certainly looks to be on a more suitable path. It just may turn out that the flaws are too numerous, and the cracks too deep, for there to be a reason to stick around.
Then there’s this scene, while a little condescending, really nails a watchable and intriguing dynamic. Damn, though, does it have to work its ass off to do so.
Read more!
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