Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Hollywood co-op

Molly Shortcake

17:54 / 14.08.01

So how does everyone feel about the vastly increasing number of films based on comic/animation/video game properties? Off the top of my head - Soul Calibur, Spider Man, new Bat Man, Hulk, Resident Evil, new Superman, Duke Nukem, Aeon Flux, Tomb Raider 2, Blade 2, X-men 2....

Ritualised, prophetic storytelling, fascist metaphors, hyperreal/fetishistic/homoerotic imagery, role playing, insane power fantasies, visual heroin, fatalistic genre takes.....why are these so popular now?

(uh-oh, I made a mis-post, feel free to move this, powers that be)

[ 14-08-2001: Message edited by: Ice Honkey ]

Ronald Thomas Clontle

20:23 / 14.08.01

Well, I'd like to suggest that the sort of thing yr talking about has been around in major studio films for a long time now, and so has the outsourcing of material from comic books and video games is nothing new either. After all, they are both a rather natural place to find source material for this sort of thing - built in audience and all. I think that it has a lot more to do with the companies that produce comic books and video games becoming more savvy to Hollywood, and understanding that big budget movies can bring in a lot of revenue. I mean, it's no accident that Marvel Comics is aggressively pushing their characters in Hollywood at a time when they are far beyond gone financially.

Big Male Power Fantasy stories are nothing new. Neither is Big Angry Dumb Cock Rock. It's just that people have learned to market them better than ever before.

[ 14-08-2001: Message edited by: Flux = Rad ]

Molly Shortcake

01:38 / 15.08.01

But it's not just better marketing. Despite the built in auidence, studios grind their teeth for months, sometimes years, trying to figure out how to market the darn things outside of the target group. It's one of the most difficult things in Hollywood.

It's true the video game/comic companies are more sensitive to Hollywood, but this is also true on the other end. And there are countless middle men hacks promoting the hell out of this stuff. It's the new, hot thing.

Paramounts been draging their feet on Aeon Flux for almost four years now. They were waiting to see how Tomb Raider did before they went ahead (or so the rumor goes) and even now, it's still tentative. Tron 2.0 only got the go ahead when Disney exzecs saw how much money a similar film, the Matrix, made.

These types of properties provide tons of absolutely fantastic source material. Hollywoods even gained a bit of respect for them and are sticking closer to the source than ever before. Are these mediums starting to being accepted as legitimate as more traditional sources? What about the cultural shift? Are capitalists simply willing to comodify almost anything for profit? Why are we so attracted to seing these things converted to film?

In my mind, it's amazing that a film like Resident Evil would ever get made. A shadow war between multinational conglomerants, using bio-technology to enslave the masses and take over the world, featuring Milla Jolovich in fetish gear running around blasting zombies with a machine gun. I can't wait for all the po-mo, feminist theorising.

Granted, the machines vastly accelerated but, I think they're other things at work here, although I'm not exzactly sure what.

[ 15-08-2001: Message edited by: Ice Honkey ]

07:08 / 15.08.01

>>Despite the built in auidence, studios grind their teeth for months, sometimes years, trying to figure out how to market the darn things outside of the target group. It's one of the most difficult things in Hollywood.

Thats just Hollywood. Its not about concepts or characters, its about starpower.

>>...there are countless middle men hacks promoting the hell out of this stuff. It's the new, hot thing.

Or so they hope. My prediction: the first superhero movie to bomb kills any superhero movie that hasen't already entered production (unless another superhero movie quickly follows with a blockbuster opening weekend).

>>Paramounts been draging their feet on Aeon Flux for almost four years now. They were waiting to see how Tomb Raider did before they went ahead (or so the rumor goes) and even now, it's still tentative.

This is America. "Cartoons are for kids." Aeon Flux would be a big risk.

>>These types of properties provide tons of absolutely fantastic source material.

Agreed.

>>Hollywoods even gained a bit of respect for them and are sticking closer to the source than ever before.

Hollywood realised that everyone wanted to see Batman but no one wanted to see rubber nipples.

>>Are these mediums starting to being accepted as legitimate as more traditional sources?

As long as they make $$.

>>Are capitalists simply willing to comodify almost anything for profit?

HaHaHa. Take away the almost and I'll say "yes."

>>Why are we so attracted to seing these things converted to film?

It validates our sad and pointless comicbook reading lives?

>>Milla Jolovich in fetish gear running around blasting zombies with a machine gun.

Leather boots alone do not qualify as fetish gear.

07:11 / 15.08.01

But leather boots and nothing else would.

[ 15-08-2001: Message edited by: Biologic K-9 ]

Ronald Thomas Clontle

15:04 / 15.08.01

Something I left out of my original post is that the technology is finally at a place where these sorts of stories and characters can be translated into film at a reasonable cost to the studios. The reason a lot of these films are being made NOW is because they simply CAN be made, and people are falling all over themselves to get them made, because they sell well when done in a way that is in some way impressive.

Also, 'serious' 'big name' actors are much more likely to star in these sorts of films now, they've been given a lot more credibility, if in just that the ammount of money they make off them can be lorded over the studios the next time they want to make a more 'serious' film.