How to Criticize Capitalism

Having bad guys who are greedy rich people isn't enough.  Believe it or not conservatives are anti corporate at times.  Republicans don't think there are no Lex Luthors, to them Lex Luther is George Soros and Ted Turner and Warren Buffet.  The Conspiracy Theory community is often all about trying to claim what most liberals think will hurt the corporations is actually exactly what they want, and they're not always entirely wrong.

While Hollywood and Anime do create a lot of genuinely anti Capitalist content in-spite of themselves due to how a Communist Utopia is what most people want, they just refuse to admit it to themselves. There is definitely a lot of media that seems to have potentially Anti-Capitalist themes but is really just coming down as saying this one CEO or group of them are individually Greedy ass holes.

A lot of Media analysis being produced by Breadtube is very offended every time there is a "Good Billionaire" in a movie or TV show.  And yes sometimes it seems like they are there specifically to vindicate Capitalism, especially when one serves as a Deus Ex Machina at the end, like the roles Kings sometimes played in stories produced under Feudalism.

I however feel like it is far more of a demonstration of Capitalism as a system if the CEO or Billionaire is at least not a card carrying mustache twirling one dimensional villain, but their business winds up doing evil regardless of that.

This is what the first Jurassic Park and the first Jurassic World do very well.  John Hammond and Massrani are both perfectly likable chaps, they have tragic flaws, but they are not monsters.  Spielberg I suspect feels similarly to George Lucas about Capitalism, so these movies wind up doing a great job of showing how a system that prioritizes profits over everything else leads to reckless, bad and dangerous decision making even when under a leader who personally seems to not care about profits that much.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom are also movies I like (The Lost World I can definitely say I like as much as the two praised above, Fallen Kingdom I need to re-watch before I can make a final verdict).  But one thing I have to observe about both is how they default right back to having an utterly unsympathetic Corporate villain.

Of course the Jurassic franchise are not the ones usually singled out when people get offended by the idea of a "good billionaire".  A lot of it is directed at Billionaire Superheroes, and that is a complicated discussion to get into given how each individual of these characters isn't even depicted consistently.

We are told Bruce Wayne spends a lot of money on charity and stuff.  But it sure seems like it can't be nearly as much as he spends on having an endless supply of military grade bat themed vehicles.  And sometimes Wayne Enterprises winds up doing some pretty bad stuff because of how little attention he pays to it.  The first Professor Pig episode of Beware The Batman kind of unintentionally vindicated environmental terrorism due to how the villains' actions made Bruce aware of the situation they were protesting.

Leftists argue that the very existence of Billionaires is immoral, that hording that much wealth in the hands of only a few thousand people when millions are starving is wrong.  And it's impossible to make that much money without being directly responsible for a lot of exploitation.

I don't disagree with that.  We are producing more then enough food to feed the entire population of the Earth twice over, but we don't because doing that isn't profitable.  America also has more empty houses then we have homeless people.

But not everyone is willing to see it that way and being a wealthy and/or privileged person, even one far from billionaire status, biases you against seeing things that way.  And the fact is no single Billionaire giving up all their wealth to the poor is going to make a long term impact, that can really only happen if they all do it together.

Corporations are not people, but the people running them are.  So you can make fiction about how the system is fundamentally wrong and immoral while still depicting some of the rich people unwilling to see it that way as at least not utterly inhuman goblins.

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is Dope

It's what I've been wanting from a Jurassic Park sequel since The Lost World.

People are gonna hate on it, but I don't care, it's different from prior movies and a lot of fun.

A few things bugged me.  Mainly that common sequel trope where the couple who got together at the end of the first film we find out broke up somewhere in between so now the romantic plot is them getting back together rather then the more difficult for writers task of continuing the relationship.  Ghostbusters II was the first time I saw it so it still doesn't bother me there, but I started seeing it as a pattern with National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

What I want from Jurassic Park films is like what I want from Pokemon films, they don't need to be perfectly flawless pieces of art like the very first JP film and Spell of The Unnown though it is great when they are.  What I want is to have fun with the titular monsters.  Now with Jurassic Park what I expect is much grittier while Pokemon is a Cartoon, but still there is a lot of ridiculousness I'm fine with.

Now that said, this movie did have more emotional resonance then I was expecting, even as someone who already loved the first Jurassic World film.

We could have had Colin do Star Wars Episode IX, instead we got Abrams again, someone who's good at starting things but not at finishing them.

If you like the previous film you'll probably like this one even more.  If you're a snob about your Dinosaur blockbuster films then you'll probably nitpick this to death but I don't care.

I'm not falling in love with NEW Movies as easilly as I used to.

That I have been watching and liking so much Anime kind of makes up for that.  But as someone who choose to at the start of 2017 brag about how easy I am to please, I don't like that I haven't truly been able to be that enthusiastic about the Blockbuster movies I've watched.

Infinity War has possibly broken this trend.  So many past movies I've raved about on this Blog after first watching them I was already starting to sour on by this point since seeing it, whether I admitted that publicly or not.  So that I still feel the same as what I said about that movie two weeks ago, maybe even appreciating some aspects more, is important.  Before that the last Live Action film that I kept loving as much as when I first saw it in the theater was Jurassic World.

Even Wonder Woman, which because of my Feminism I actively refused to say anything negative about while it was still fresh because we needed a Female lead Superhero film to be a hit.  The truth is it didn't take me long to realize that I think it's in the same place Superman The Movie and Batman 89 were, good enough that it'll be treated as perfect as long as there isn't another take on Wonder Woman to compare it to, but once there is, the conversation about it will change.

One factor might be I haven't been rewatching stuff as much I used to (that's true for both Anime and western cinema).  Becoming a regular Anime follower has caused me to have a lot more to watch then I used to.  And in terms of Films, I used to make a point to always give a film I liked a second theatrical viewing.  But now with ticket prices going up while I have had a lot less money, I don't think I've done a repeat theatrical viewing since before I started this Blog.   There was a time when I would never fail to see a Comic Book Superhero film in theaters, but in 2017 I skipped out on all the Marvel movies till home video.

The Dark Knight I saw 10 times before 2008 was over, 6 times in theaters and 4 on DVD.  For the next few years I wouldn't go more then 6 months without watching it.  But Batman V Superman I've still only seen twice and those viewings were not of the same edit.  Maybe if during the gestation period of my opinion on The Dark Knight I allowed myself to go over a month only thinking about it without watching it again my mind would have poked more holes in it.

Digibro likes to say the re-watch is the real watch of something.  In fact he's specifically said it can take till the third viewing to be certain what your opinion is, that the second viewing you'll notice more flaws then you did the first time but then the third viewing be back to loving it as much as the first.  That describes my relationship with The Force Awakens somewhat, I certainly enjoyed my third viewing of it more then I did the second.

But why have I watched TFA more times then BvS? When I care about that franchise less to start with and ultimately feel like I probably like BvS more?  Something about BvS has been making me afraid of coming to terms with it.

The lack of repeat viewings can't be the only explanation however.  Cause I still only watched 2008's Speed Racer twice when I first saw it last year and I still love it and honestly think it might be able to compete with The Dark Knight as my favorite western movie period, being perhaps the opposite side of the same coin.

Now some of you might say "dude it's because you like things so much you watch it more" even though I kind of already addressed that. Even with the Anime I've been watching, a decade ago something I enjoyed as much as I did In Another World With My Smartphone or Princess Principle I have have watched 3 or even 4 times by now.  But I simply have less viewing time available.

None of my issues with Batman V Superman are of it as a stand alone film. The complexity of my relationship with that film is on a purely Meta level.  (I'll be talking more about this in future posts.)  As a complete film and a work of Art I still think it's the best the DCEU has made and will probably stand the test of time better then most MCU films.  I predict 20 years from now the general perceptions of it and Captain America: Civil War will have swapped places.

This post may make good context for a number of upcoming posts I want to make about DC and MCU films, and films in general that have come out since the start of 2015.  But those posts will be less personal exploration and more like actual points.

It might be this is a natural consequence of getting so into Anime, the Anime I've watched has raised my standards and perhaps spoiled me to even the best of what America has to offer.  Both for escapist popcorn fun and for deep philosophically challenging tragedies. After all some of what I may have to say about Infinity War in the near future is about comparing it to Anime.

Update:  Since first posting this I have seen Batman V Superman a third time.  Some of the Jump scares and explosions still make me Jump even though I knew they were coming.  That's something that's never happened with my home viewings of any MCU films.

Jurassic World still holds up on repeat viewing

I watched it again yesterday and I still love it.

The ruins of the original park are a nostalgic highlight, but they also serve a poetic purpose.  That scene makes me think of "My name is Ozymandias King of Kings, look on my works ye mighty and despair".  And it foreshadows how the new park is in the process of suffering the same fate.

A lot of people have been really hard on the film for being Sexist.  I get the whole woman not wanting kids being told she does thing is problematic, but the fact remains the first film did the same story-line with a male lead, they're actually evening out the gender treatment here.

The female lead of this movie is brave and smart, she's the one who gets the idea to release the T-Rex.

A lot of other things come down to expected gender roles, I kinda wish the "guy who has the common sense all the more powerful people around him don't" trope that Chris Pratt plays out could be a woman character for a change.

But the fact that it's being held against this film more so then prior JP films or the MCU films I think is really unfair.

One thing some people complain about is the protagonists not being archaeologists this time.  I think that's it's strength, the right way to do this movie differently, as in this setting these creatures being alive again isn't quite so new anymore.

In this movie the substance is new while the Nostalgia is Superficial, that's how it should be.  In The Force Awaken, which I did love but hasn't yet proven as re-watchable, the differences are superficial while the substance is telling the same story.  Again Star Wars should be repetitive, but the Prequels I feel got the balance better.

This movie is still ultimately inferior to the original, and probably even to The Lost World Jurassic Park.  But I have a hunch it will in the long run hold up better then a lot of other current films critics are being less dismissive of.

The new Star Wars Trilogy needs to do something NEW

I'm repeating myself here somewhat but it bears repeating.  A few things so far give me hope we're not getting pure Nostalgic rehashing in The Force Awaken, but the over all picture isn't hopeful.

I'd be satisfied even if what's new is largely Superficial.  Just showing us new worlds and new species like the Prequels did, even though the Prequels didn't elaborate a lot on much of what it introduced, it gave a young imagination something to work with.

I've had people mock me lately for praising what was new and inspiring about Jurassic World.  Giving it the most bare bones plot summery possible to say "see, same thing as the first movie", but those are mostly similarities required for it to even still be the same genre much less franchise.  By that standard King King (1933) is a rip off of The Lost World (1925) and Godzilla a rip off of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

Haters can easily if they want to write off what was new and different about Jurassic World as "gimmicks", but those gimmicks sparked my imagination, and that's why I fell in love with Jurassic Park, and Star Wars to being with, their ability to spark my imagination.

What does NOT spark my imagination is showing me the same thing but calling it something different.  That Desert Planet isn't Tatooine, it's Jakku, that Snowy planet isn't Hoth, that Forest Planet isn't Endor, that Planet shaped Super Weapon/Battle station isn't a Death Star, and that Villain dressed in black using the dark side of the force and wielding a Red Lightsaber isn't a Sith.

I'm fine with the trilogy having all those things, mostly, but they need to also have more.

You want to say that the Jedi and the Sith aren't the only Force Users, that's great, but you need to have an actual substantial difference.  Otherwise there is no point is trying to sell us on Kylo Ren not being a Sith.

Tatooine was the only OT world revisited in the PT.  Because of that it's the only world I really cared about the new Tirlgoy revisiting.  It's at the narrative center of the Star Wars story.  But I'd be fine with it not being in Episode VII if the reason was they wanted to not revisit any prior worlds to assure the audience the new films weren't gonna be all rehashes.  Instead we get Jakku, which is different because there are ruins of an old battle there, that could still have been done on Tatooine, there was plenty of room.  And it sounds like the Jakku battle took place after ROTJ ended anyway.

From what we've been shown so far, every location in this movie is just a reminder of something from the OT.  And I would honestly be less upset by that if they didn't pretend they were different places.

BrosWatchPLLToo said in their podcast about people complaining about the Death Star similarity "who cares if it's another Death Star, your getting a new Star Wars movie" and my response is, no the pseudo Death Star is evidence we are NOT getting NEW Star Wars, we're getting old Star Wars with different actors.  If I want to see the Rebels destroy a planet shaped Super Weapon/Battle Station, I have two movies I can see that in already.

It is part of Star Wars that a lot of it's ideas repeat, but they repeat differently.  In the Prequel Trilogy everything that echoed the OT was at the same time introducing something new.  The Force Awakens needs to do the same thing if it will keep Star Wars alive.  If it does, Abrams is making a point of hiding it.  But what he made a point of hiding about Star Trek: Into Darkness was that he was rehashing an old villain.  So I have good reason to be worried.

Prequel Nostalgia is coming sooner then you might think

Think about it Jurassic World has been a massive success (in-spite of some people's whining) largely because Jurassic Park is now a film people look back on Nostalgically.  20 years latter tends to be a common benchmark for that.

Well The Phantom Menace will be 20 years old in only four years.

I've personally been proclaiming it and other 1999 films what I'm most Nostalgic for for at least five years now.  Since then as I've gotten even older what I look back on Nostalgically has expanded to include Episodes II and III, as well as all three LOTR films, hence why I loved experiencing The Hobbit movies so much in-spite of some of my complaints, most of which were purely about Desolation of Smaug.

Maybe that's why Disney is so determined not to have 3 years between films now.  They don't want to be running SW off a purely OT Nostalgia based franchise to deep into the time Nostalgia for the Prequels will be jumping off.  I think they are running a major risk burning out SW by having not even a year and a half between Episodes, and that's not including the spin offs.

Maybe once this Trilogy is done Disney is planning to do some Prequel based SW projects.

The people at Disney aren't complete idiots, I think it's unwise how they are catering to Prequel haters now, but there is a reason they're being subtle about it.  I think they do know the Prequel fans are a massive market, maybe's they are just holding off on trying to tap that till they think the timing is just right.

If not, if they are really planning to keep this only the OT matters approach going indefinitely.  It will still be past 2019 when Episode IX comes out.  That is when I expect this lack of respect for Prequel fans could start really biting them.

But at any-rate as I said before the New Trilogy needs to bring more Nostalgia to the table if it wants to truly bring new life to Star Wars.  Wouldn't matter which aspects of SW the Nostalgia is based on.

Update after seeing The Force Awakens, no spoilers.

The Movie was not like it's marketing, it embraced the Prequel and this person who feels Nostalgia for the Prequels felt this movie spoke to me just as much as the OT fans do.

Jurassic World was Amazing!!!

I rarely tear up in the theater.  I did for the 3D re release of The Phantom Menace, and I did at the end of The Dark Knight Rises.  And now I've done it for Jurassic world.  Best movie of this year by far, probably best I've seen since 2012.  It can't truly beat the first movie but as someone who is a huge Lost World fan I think this may have done better then it even.

Early on I was reminded how we should never underestimate a good score.  It brought the emotions of the first film back beautifully.  It appealed to Nostalgia for the original films but also did new things and introduced new ideas.  That's what the Star Wars prequels did right and what I am still hopefully optimistic The Force Awakens will do.

It like other sequels brought back things from the original book things the first movie didn't have time for. Like Wong's explaining how none of these dinosaurs are truly natural.

Seeing the Park fully operational was so much fun, then seeing it all descend into Chaos, it was handled very well.  It had everything superficial you want from a film like this but also intelligence, the InGen corporate politics, and the emotions, it was all masterfully done.  All the humans characters were interesting, likable or unlikable exactly how they were meant to be.

I was iffy when I heard about the hybrid thing at first but it does make sense and they handled it very well.

I highly recommend the film.

Now I want to discus the culmination so.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!

The Raptor stuff was a lot of fun.

I knew they were gonna let out the T-Rex, and I loved every minute of the build up for it.  It was so wonderful.  Then the fight happens and it looks awesome.

Then we see there is a Raptor left.  I thought I had accounted for all 4 being taken out, but I guess the rumors of Blue's demise were greatly exaggerated.

The Deus Ex-Machina of the original movie was the T-Rex saving them from the Raptors.  Now it's the T-Rex and a Raptor teaming up against at the man made hybrid.  It was awesome, I felt like a kid again.

And then I did not expect that water Dinosaur to pop up and finish it off.  It was just Perfect.  This director was a genius.  He should be entrusted with a Star Wars film.

The movie was way better then I expected.  I Love It.