My favorite is still when Jennifer Lawrence claimed with total and complete sincerity that there had never once been a female action hero before she starred in Hunger Games. These people are such deluded and self-aggrandizing lunatics.
She's just a kid, and I think her problem is that she's just a kid; Hollywood gets its claws into these young women early and only lets go once they are thoroughly depleted. Jodie Foster, an exception, seems to have had the mettle to defend herself.
I say: Bring back Kim Basinger and Michelle Pfeiffer. Valkyries. Women, not girls.
“Women, not girls…” What are you, Prince? I mean, it’s okay if you are.
The “She’s just a kid” excuse goes so far. At some point people have agency, even Hollywood starlets. I’m sure Ms. Lawrence can think on her own and she is a-okay with being a wacko.
Dec 3, 2023·edited Dec 3, 2023Liked by Alexander Hellene
I seem to recall her starting to go off the rails around the time she was dating Darren Aronofsky and starring in his movie "Mother!". That's when she did the infamous interview in which she implied that Hurricane Irma was caused by "Mother Nature‘s wrath" at the election of Donald Trump.
It can and often does. Some people seem to be able to work there without getting corrupted, though. A lot of it has to do with the ability to see the dangers and avoid them. A lot of people who work there don't have that level of wisdom and insight and get sucked into one or more of the traps.
This seems to be what happened to Jennifer Lawrence. She went from being popular precisely because people saw her as normal and relatable to being the type of out-of-touch Elite that people had initially liked her for NOT being.
The same thing happened to Brie Larson. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine a time when she wasn't constantly annoying, humorless, and thin-skinned in interviews. But that time existed. Here's her 2010 Craig Ferguson appearance:
It's like watching a different person. She had a sense of humor back then, and her eyes didn't have the dead look that they have now (Jennifer Lawrence has that same dead-eyed look now, by the way).
I think that a lot of whether someone gets corrupted by Hollywood depends on how much wisdom and foresight that person has when going into the industry.
For example, I've noticed that even though she's been working in Hollywood for over a decade, Karen Gillan seems to be just as normal as when she started, and every anecdote I've ever heard from people who have met her has painted her as a nice, down-to-earth person. She also isn't thin-skinned like many celebrities, and has a self-deprecating sense of humor (including making "I want to see the manager" jokes because of her first name).
I recently discovered what I think is the reason why she still seems normal. I happened across an independent short film called "Conventional" that she wrote, directed and starred in. At first, my reaction was "what is this, and what's up with the lips", but by the end I understood it all. It's a biting satire on narcissism and Hollywood's propensity to chew people up and spit them out. Her acting in the final monologue might be the best I've ever seen from her.
After watching that, I realized that Karen Gillan must have a level of insight into at least some of the dangers of Hollywood. There's no way that she could make something like that if she didn't. That's probably why she still seems normal and humble, while Brie Larson and Jennifer Lawrence have turned into dead-eyed, snooty Elites.
Chainmail bikinis offer an unprecedented level of protection to the important bits. Right to there with magic loincloths worn by Barbarian swordsmen—only the most vital areas need cover, because we’re not SAVAGES here.
Confession time: I’ve only ever seen the first Alien film. But I agree. She is a good character because she was written by good writers who understand sexual dimorphism.
Literally nobody serious thinks women aren’t brave or noble or capable. Women and men are just DIFFERENT. And that’s not only okay, it’s wonderful.
"Women and men are just DIFFERENT. And that’s not only okay, it’s wonderful."
How has this come to be a controversial statement in the modern world? I, a man, love women PRECISELY BECAUSE they are different and crazy and unpredictable; it can be frustrating, but it gets you off your ass. It's all God's design.
The first ALIEN is arguably the only one worth seeing. ALIENS has its moments.
It is a very controversial statement. Even back in college circa 2000-2004 the idea that men and women ON AVERAGE had different brains, different ways of thinking, was anathema.
Oddly, isn’t it odd that it’s women constantly trying to prove they’re the same as men and not men trying to prove they’re the same as women? The best, and sexiest, women embrace the differences—all the differences—and, you know, flaunt them.
Ripley was written as a last name, as I understand it. Ripley was CAST as Sigourney Weaver, who is a woman. The writing is great, but it has nothing to do with sexual dimorphism. Again, per my recollection. ALIEN is my favorite of the trilogy (there are no further movies after the three, of course).
In ALIENS, Ripley is explicitly written as a woman and a mother. She wakes up from cryosleep with her daughter dead at 86 or something and no other descendants and later takes Newt on as a surrogate daughter. The final confrontation is one of mothers (Ripley, the alien queen) fighting to protect their progeny (Newt, the hive); a movie that is indeed well written by people thinking about real themes like motherhood.
I am an apologist for ALIEN 3, but that's a discussion for another day.
I liked everything Roger Stern did with Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) in "The Avengers" in the 1980s. He, a white man, was attempting to boost Black female characters at a time when they were underrepresented in the genre. (It cannot be understated that comic books made vastly more money in the 1980s -- when they were present at every spinner rack in drugstores, grocery stores and cigar shops -- than they do today. Also, do cigar shops still exist?) Now the money is all in the IP.
I, an aging fanboy, should theoretically be the target audience for THE MARVELS. I do not want to touch it with a ten-foot-pole. I wonder if Roger Stern is making a dime off of it; in a fair universe, he would.
You cannot disagree with anything I said here because I am so right it hurts. Every once in a while that happens to all of us.
Roger Stern was that old-school writer who made inclusive entertainment that was good first from a technical and emotional standpoint, and got “political” only in the sense that he was a decent person and, like many writers of his vintage, white or not, probably said “You know, it’d be cool to have a black female character” so wrote a good one everyone liked (yes, when white dudes) because he’s a skilled writer. See also: Chris Claremont. The problem now is writers go “Let’s make a black woman character and use her as a self-interest to take out our resentment against white men!” and when white men react by criticizing or not reading, they get called racist. It’s so stupid. No wonder comic books (a) suck now and (b) nobody reads them (see (a)). The industry deserved all the unemployment it gets.
Unless she’s taking down evil white gangsters and evil corrupt racist white police chiefs and other officers, of course, who are naturally railroading poor PoC so said white gangsters can get away with it.
Nov 14, 2023·edited Nov 14, 2023Liked by Alexander Hellene
"if you don’t like what the mainstream is giving you, stop giving the mainstream your time and attention."
That is why I stopped reading mainstream news and watching Hollywood movies. Most of the time, both are so annoying that my blood starts to boil.
Regarding Marvel Movies, I have the feeling that in addition to the inclusion of stupid political messages we have reached a saturation point due to the sheer amount of movies released the past two decades.
I think the saturation point is AN element, but if the movies were still objectively good, they’d still do gangbusters. Didn’t the most-recent few Spider-Man movies still make tons of money? They also got near-universal audience and critical acclaim. And we’re talking just a year or two ago.
Hollywood never blames the product for poor performance, but I sure do.
Maybe it is more of a personal thing. I cannot watch them anymore. They seem to get more stupid with each passing year but in general I am pretty much burned out regarding Hollywood movies. My favourites are mostly from the 80ies and 90ies.
I also have the impression that my standards were much lower when I was younger. Many films that I enjoyed 20-30 years ago are now also in the Marvel Movie category of completely stupid movies, especially Hollywood comedies from that period. My conclusion is that I am sick of the reign of quantity, but where is the quality? Any ideas?
Solipsism and stupidity don't do well together. Add that these writers have no life nor personality, and you get why they can picture nothing but emptiness.
They represent everything that is bad about the Last Man.
You nailed it. Boring people with boring lives and, maybe more importantly, NO IMAGINATION, write characters based on two things: 1., the garbage pop culture they consume written by other awful boring dorks, and 2., their garbage politics, likely informed by stupid “studies” classes they took in college. Zzzzzzzzz…
Imagination is one of the highest human faculties, and as all others, needs to be nurtured. Imagination thrives on a full existence: loving your neighbors, experiencing the world around you, fulfilling your spiritual and existential needs, etc.
I don't know how or why it is, maybe because of their social background, but these people lack all of this. I believe sometime they sacrifice it because they've been taught to. All they have left is their Netflix shows and online VIPs to fill the void, and the politics (of which they will always be tourists, anyway) to convince themselves and the world they have something to say or contribute.
Their major mistake is believing everyone is like this.
Yes. The terrible tragedy of being unable to see the world through someone else’s eyes is a function of a lack of imagination, logic, critical thinking, and empathy. Very, very sad.
Even the so-called “good writers”, if the local NYT bestseller-loving book clubs are anything to go on, have these awful characters. See - or better yet, don’t - “lessons in chemistry” or its ilk.
Woman here. The way I look at it, is that things were so far the other way for so long (little positive rep for women or diverse characters) that we're now in a 'catch up' period where centuries of cultural backlog are hitting us all at once. Once people calm down/tire of oversaturation, I like to think we'll see a proper balance emerge, where sex and race take a backseat to a good story. I'm an optimist though.
Thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you're an optimist! I think you might be on to something--I recall a recent article where an Indian-American actor, who is ultra-progressive, expressed his consternation at how hard it was to get a role as the villain in a movie where some of the protagonists were white, which was ridiculous enough, but was made extra ridiculous because the character he wanted to pay was (drumroll, please), based on an ACTUAL INDIAL GUY. Amazing.
Yeah, I've heard similar complaints from other POC actors as well. I think, at the end of the day, those are the voices that will bring things into a healthy balance (ie. it has to come from within the historically-wronged communities)
My favorite is still when Jennifer Lawrence claimed with total and complete sincerity that there had never once been a female action hero before she starred in Hunger Games. These people are such deluded and self-aggrandizing lunatics.
Very few actresses have burned through so much goodwill so quickly as Jennifer Lawrence.
She's just a kid, and I think her problem is that she's just a kid; Hollywood gets its claws into these young women early and only lets go once they are thoroughly depleted. Jodie Foster, an exception, seems to have had the mettle to defend herself.
I say: Bring back Kim Basinger and Michelle Pfeiffer. Valkyries. Women, not girls.
“Women, not girls…” What are you, Prince? I mean, it’s okay if you are.
The “She’s just a kid” excuse goes so far. At some point people have agency, even Hollywood starlets. I’m sure Ms. Lawrence can think on her own and she is a-okay with being a wacko.
I seem to recall her starting to go off the rails around the time she was dating Darren Aronofsky and starring in his movie "Mother!". That's when she did the infamous interview in which she implied that Hurricane Irma was caused by "Mother Nature‘s wrath" at the election of Donald Trump.
That does not sound like someone in a healthy frame of mind. Also: Hollywood corrupts absolutely.
"Hollywood corrupts absolutely."
It can and often does. Some people seem to be able to work there without getting corrupted, though. A lot of it has to do with the ability to see the dangers and avoid them. A lot of people who work there don't have that level of wisdom and insight and get sucked into one or more of the traps.
This seems to be what happened to Jennifer Lawrence. She went from being popular precisely because people saw her as normal and relatable to being the type of out-of-touch Elite that people had initially liked her for NOT being.
The same thing happened to Brie Larson. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine a time when she wasn't constantly annoying, humorless, and thin-skinned in interviews. But that time existed. Here's her 2010 Craig Ferguson appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgOYrl8ZzIY
It's like watching a different person. She had a sense of humor back then, and her eyes didn't have the dead look that they have now (Jennifer Lawrence has that same dead-eyed look now, by the way).
I think that a lot of whether someone gets corrupted by Hollywood depends on how much wisdom and foresight that person has when going into the industry.
For example, I've noticed that even though she's been working in Hollywood for over a decade, Karen Gillan seems to be just as normal as when she started, and every anecdote I've ever heard from people who have met her has painted her as a nice, down-to-earth person. She also isn't thin-skinned like many celebrities, and has a self-deprecating sense of humor (including making "I want to see the manager" jokes because of her first name).
I recently discovered what I think is the reason why she still seems normal. I happened across an independent short film called "Conventional" that she wrote, directed and starred in. At first, my reaction was "what is this, and what's up with the lips", but by the end I understood it all. It's a biting satire on narcissism and Hollywood's propensity to chew people up and spit them out. Her acting in the final monologue might be the best I've ever seen from her.
Here's the link to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpJNocDhijU
After watching that, I realized that Karen Gillan must have a level of insight into at least some of the dangers of Hollywood. There's no way that she could make something like that if she didn't. That's probably why she still seems normal and humble, while Brie Larson and Jennifer Lawrence have turned into dead-eyed, snooty Elites.
Um, Wonder Woman. Red Sonja. There are earlier examples.
I say: bring back chainmail bikinis.
Chainmail bikinis offer an unprecedented level of protection to the important bits. Right to there with magic loincloths worn by Barbarian swordsmen—only the most vital areas need cover, because we’re not SAVAGES here.
Ellen Ripley...the most awesome female action hero. I never thought of her as a male with boobs...
Confession time: I’ve only ever seen the first Alien film. But I agree. She is a good character because she was written by good writers who understand sexual dimorphism.
Literally nobody serious thinks women aren’t brave or noble or capable. Women and men are just DIFFERENT. And that’s not only okay, it’s wonderful.
"Women and men are just DIFFERENT. And that’s not only okay, it’s wonderful."
How has this come to be a controversial statement in the modern world? I, a man, love women PRECISELY BECAUSE they are different and crazy and unpredictable; it can be frustrating, but it gets you off your ass. It's all God's design.
The first ALIEN is arguably the only one worth seeing. ALIENS has its moments.
It is a very controversial statement. Even back in college circa 2000-2004 the idea that men and women ON AVERAGE had different brains, different ways of thinking, was anathema.
Oddly, isn’t it odd that it’s women constantly trying to prove they’re the same as men and not men trying to prove they’re the same as women? The best, and sexiest, women embrace the differences—all the differences—and, you know, flaunt them.
Ripley was written as a last name, as I understand it. Ripley was CAST as Sigourney Weaver, who is a woman. The writing is great, but it has nothing to do with sexual dimorphism. Again, per my recollection. ALIEN is my favorite of the trilogy (there are no further movies after the three, of course).
In ALIENS, Ripley is explicitly written as a woman and a mother. She wakes up from cryosleep with her daughter dead at 86 or something and no other descendants and later takes Newt on as a surrogate daughter. The final confrontation is one of mothers (Ripley, the alien queen) fighting to protect their progeny (Newt, the hive); a movie that is indeed well written by people thinking about real themes like motherhood.
I am an apologist for ALIEN 3, but that's a discussion for another day.
I cannot disagree with anything you say here.
I liked everything Roger Stern did with Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) in "The Avengers" in the 1980s. He, a white man, was attempting to boost Black female characters at a time when they were underrepresented in the genre. (It cannot be understated that comic books made vastly more money in the 1980s -- when they were present at every spinner rack in drugstores, grocery stores and cigar shops -- than they do today. Also, do cigar shops still exist?) Now the money is all in the IP.
I, an aging fanboy, should theoretically be the target audience for THE MARVELS. I do not want to touch it with a ten-foot-pole. I wonder if Roger Stern is making a dime off of it; in a fair universe, he would.
You cannot disagree with anything I said here because I am so right it hurts. Every once in a while that happens to all of us.
Roger Stern was that old-school writer who made inclusive entertainment that was good first from a technical and emotional standpoint, and got “political” only in the sense that he was a decent person and, like many writers of his vintage, white or not, probably said “You know, it’d be cool to have a black female character” so wrote a good one everyone liked (yes, when white dudes) because he’s a skilled writer. See also: Chris Claremont. The problem now is writers go “Let’s make a black woman character and use her as a self-interest to take out our resentment against white men!” and when white men react by criticizing or not reading, they get called racist. It’s so stupid. No wonder comic books (a) suck now and (b) nobody reads them (see (a)). The industry deserved all the unemployment it gets.
Note also that Monica was a cop in her day job.
Whoo boy, couldn't do that now.
Unless she’s taking down evil white gangsters and evil corrupt racist white police chiefs and other officers, of course, who are naturally railroading poor PoC so said white gangsters can get away with it.
"if you don’t like what the mainstream is giving you, stop giving the mainstream your time and attention."
That is why I stopped reading mainstream news and watching Hollywood movies. Most of the time, both are so annoying that my blood starts to boil.
Regarding Marvel Movies, I have the feeling that in addition to the inclusion of stupid political messages we have reached a saturation point due to the sheer amount of movies released the past two decades.
I think the saturation point is AN element, but if the movies were still objectively good, they’d still do gangbusters. Didn’t the most-recent few Spider-Man movies still make tons of money? They also got near-universal audience and critical acclaim. And we’re talking just a year or two ago.
Hollywood never blames the product for poor performance, but I sure do.
Maybe it is more of a personal thing. I cannot watch them anymore. They seem to get more stupid with each passing year but in general I am pretty much burned out regarding Hollywood movies. My favourites are mostly from the 80ies and 90ies.
No, it’s not just you my secret-faced friend: they are pretty dumb.
I also have the impression that my standards were much lower when I was younger. Many films that I enjoyed 20-30 years ago are now also in the Marvel Movie category of completely stupid movies, especially Hollywood comedies from that period. My conclusion is that I am sick of the reign of quantity, but where is the quality? Any ideas?
I don’t watch that many movies per year, but when I do, it’s usually because Alexandru Constantin pointed me in the right direction. I’d ask him.
Solipsism and stupidity don't do well together. Add that these writers have no life nor personality, and you get why they can picture nothing but emptiness.
They represent everything that is bad about the Last Man.
You nailed it. Boring people with boring lives and, maybe more importantly, NO IMAGINATION, write characters based on two things: 1., the garbage pop culture they consume written by other awful boring dorks, and 2., their garbage politics, likely informed by stupid “studies” classes they took in college. Zzzzzzzzz…
Imagination is one of the highest human faculties, and as all others, needs to be nurtured. Imagination thrives on a full existence: loving your neighbors, experiencing the world around you, fulfilling your spiritual and existential needs, etc.
I don't know how or why it is, maybe because of their social background, but these people lack all of this. I believe sometime they sacrifice it because they've been taught to. All they have left is their Netflix shows and online VIPs to fill the void, and the politics (of which they will always be tourists, anyway) to convince themselves and the world they have something to say or contribute.
Their major mistake is believing everyone is like this.
Yes. The terrible tragedy of being unable to see the world through someone else’s eyes is a function of a lack of imagination, logic, critical thinking, and empathy. Very, very sad.
And they will never realize it.
Even the so-called “good writers”, if the local NYT bestseller-loving book clubs are anything to go on, have these awful characters. See - or better yet, don’t - “lessons in chemistry” or its ilk.
That plot just sounds implausible.
The Left is eating itself in a confused fit of paranoia like the final act in Goodfellas.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Woman here. The way I look at it, is that things were so far the other way for so long (little positive rep for women or diverse characters) that we're now in a 'catch up' period where centuries of cultural backlog are hitting us all at once. Once people calm down/tire of oversaturation, I like to think we'll see a proper balance emerge, where sex and race take a backseat to a good story. I'm an optimist though.
Thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you're an optimist! I think you might be on to something--I recall a recent article where an Indian-American actor, who is ultra-progressive, expressed his consternation at how hard it was to get a role as the villain in a movie where some of the protagonists were white, which was ridiculous enough, but was made extra ridiculous because the character he wanted to pay was (drumroll, please), based on an ACTUAL INDIAL GUY. Amazing.
Yeah, I've heard similar complaints from other POC actors as well. I think, at the end of the day, those are the voices that will bring things into a healthy balance (ie. it has to come from within the historically-wronged communities)
One can only hope, because things have just gotten so preposterous.
You admit to not having read a piece in full, then you go on to write a hit piece on it anyway. Deeply, deeply rookie mistake.