In the history of adaptations being done "in name only", the Alexandre Dumas novel called La Tulipe Noire (The Black Tulip) sparks an interesting chain.
The original novel is not what we most stereotypically associate with Dumas, even for those of us who are familiar with more then just his big two. It is neither a Swashbuckler or a Revenge Fantasy. It is also not set during the French Revolution but about a century before, and it doesn't seem to feature a masked vigilante or any other actiony elements. It basically seems from the description like the modern definition of a romance novel.
In 1964 a French-Italian-Spanish film was produced with the same name. It's plot is not actually based on the novel at all, but definitely seems like a homage to Dumas over all legacy. It is set during the French Revolution, and involved a masked Vigilante called The Black Tulip fighting on behalf of the peasantry against the Nobles.
Alexandre Dumas did write a novel about a Vigilante operating during the French Revolution, in Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge. A Novel most well known for being a key inspiration for The Scarlet Pimpernel, and for the Prequels Dumas wrote for it that are more well known for their villains then heroes. But the thing is both the Redhouse Knight and the Pimpernel were more operating on the Royalist side. Ironically however The Black Tulip's politics more reflect Dumas own views, he was not a Royalist in-spite of how many Royalty aligned heroes he wrote.
Dumas was not the only influence on this film, it's Zorro connection is clear, in fact the lead actor went on to play Zorro. And the Twin aspect interestingly enough makes me think of Paul Feval's Le Fils du Diable (The Three Red Knights) which was a masked vigilante swashbuckling novel that involved triplets.
This film went on to inspire an Anime, the full title of which is La Tulipe Noire: La Seine no Hoshi, which tends to just be called by the subtitle, because the character refereed to there is the real main character. It predates The Rose of Versailles as an Anime set during the French Revolution. At the beginning a male Masked Vigilante called The Black Tulip is already active, but it is the young girl who decides to become one herself the story follows. And once again this time the vigilantes are on the rebel side.
This Black Tulip has a different real name then in the movie, since I haven't watched all of either I don't know if their canons can be reconcilable.
This Anime is super rare, I have gotten to view only the first episode. I'm pretty sure there is no official Sub much less a Dub. Once I can view all of it, I may write my own Crossover Fan Fiction with the main character. I think someone should consider doing an MCU style shared universe bringing the various fictional characters of the French Revolution together, the classic ones are all Public Domain so the copyright wrangling would just have to be with certain Anime studios in Japan and whoever owns the above film which could easily have become one of those ambiguous ones.
As a final anecdote, in the Pokemon made for TV movie Mewtwo Returns (a direct sequel to Mewtwo Strikes Back) the character known as Domino is also known as The Black Tulip, I wonder now if a direct homage was intended?
Friday, June 3, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
The Witches 5 go one last round
Cyprine and Pitiol are doing the full Shining now.
The Foe Yay was strong in this episode. Eudial pinned Mars down and I was like "that's hot" and then they all basically put their counterparts under an Enchantress spell. Tellu remains my favorite going off Crystal. Anyone not slashing the Witches with the Inners already should start now.
They switch to a Tuxedo Mask ending song right when the plot sidelines him.
Mistress 9 is fabulous.
I like CrunchyRoll's subtitles better then Hulu, they're bigger and automatic. But why do their ad breaks have to be so random? First one was during the opening theme song and the next was almost mid-sentence. This was was written for television, it has designated ad break points.
The Foe Yay was strong in this episode. Eudial pinned Mars down and I was like "that's hot" and then they all basically put their counterparts under an Enchantress spell. Tellu remains my favorite going off Crystal. Anyone not slashing the Witches with the Inners already should start now.
They switch to a Tuxedo Mask ending song right when the plot sidelines him.
Mistress 9 is fabulous.
I like CrunchyRoll's subtitles better then Hulu, they're bigger and automatic. But why do their ad breaks have to be so random? First one was during the opening theme song and the next was almost mid-sentence. This was was written for television, it has designated ad break points.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
About Captain America being Hydra and the fan reaction
I'm pretty sure this story-line is going to be stupid, like what they did to Cassandra Cain during One Year Later. And will not at all be a serious thoughtful exploration of what I'm going to discus below. And it's particularly insulting they did this the day after Marvel said it'd be inherently out of character for him to ever have a male lover.
The thing is the argument has always existed that what Captain America is unwittingly reinforces Fascist and Aryan ideology. This was mentioned like a decade or more ago in the History Channel documentary Comic Book Superheros Unmasked.
And the argument I keep seeing even from liberals when this is acknowledged is "but that's the point, it's the Irony of Hitler's ideal Aryan punching him in the face". And hearing it expressed that way only makes me more uncomfortable with it, defeating Fascism with Fascism is actually a victory for Fascism. (And yes Fascists can be in conflict with each other, Mussolini actually hated Hitler, under slightly different conditions they'd have been on opposite sides.)
And it kind of is an unintentional SciFi analogy to my more cynical outlook on the real history of WWII. The Allies did commit virtually all the same offenses the Axis did, especially in our treatment of Japanese Americans, and then one upped them with dropping the Bomb. (And the concentration camp was actually invented in America under the Andrew Jackson administration to deal with the Cherokee.) but History is written by the winners. Nazism lost, but Fascism merely changed it's face.
Oliver Stone's Secret History of the United States critiques the conventional view of WWII from a liberal perspective. Pat Buchanan's The Unnecessary War does so from a Conservative perspective. I as a truly Bi-Partison Libertarian-Communist see value in both their takes so I recommend both, though I ultimately agree with neither on everything.
Acknowledging this about Captain America has become less popular since his movies became big hits. My fellow SJWs currently love MCU Steve Rogers, so the idea of condemning his basic archetype as inherently problematic the way the same websites do James Bond and Indian Jones is currently unthinkable to them.
I'm not saying the character should be rejected, the movies are a lot of fun, I personally took on Winter Soldier's harshest critic on this blog.
But an Elseworlds kind of story exploring the logical conclusion that perhaps the Aryan who punched Hitler in the face actually believes a similar Nationalism just for a different nation, I think is a very valid concept. The founders of the CIA fought Nazism during WWII but then worked with Fascist groups to oppose the USSR during the Cold War, like the whole P2 scandal in Italy, Hydra could easily be used as an allegory for that inconvenient truth. Again I don't think that's what this current twist is actually doing.
But I keep seeing the meme repeated that this is especially gross because Captain America's creators were Jewish. As if Jewish writers couldn't possibly write something problematic. A lot of American Jews are on the Trump bandwagon right now, so they are not inherently immune to the appeal of Fascism. And many Palestinians Arabs feel for very valid reasons that the Israeli Government is no better then Nazi Germany.
But I'm not going to suggest Jack Kirby was a Fascist. Just that it's valid to criticize him. And that Death of the Author applies to all Authors not just privileged ones.
The Golden Age comics never addressed the Holocaust or other real War Crimes of the War. They just depicted Germans as mustache twirling villains and the Japanese as demons. Cap punching Hitler was always designed to appeal to American Tribal Patriotism, whatever deep down motivated the authors, on the page it was never about the real reason that war is now considered a just one.
The thing is the argument has always existed that what Captain America is unwittingly reinforces Fascist and Aryan ideology. This was mentioned like a decade or more ago in the History Channel documentary Comic Book Superheros Unmasked.
And the argument I keep seeing even from liberals when this is acknowledged is "but that's the point, it's the Irony of Hitler's ideal Aryan punching him in the face". And hearing it expressed that way only makes me more uncomfortable with it, defeating Fascism with Fascism is actually a victory for Fascism. (And yes Fascists can be in conflict with each other, Mussolini actually hated Hitler, under slightly different conditions they'd have been on opposite sides.)
And it kind of is an unintentional SciFi analogy to my more cynical outlook on the real history of WWII. The Allies did commit virtually all the same offenses the Axis did, especially in our treatment of Japanese Americans, and then one upped them with dropping the Bomb. (And the concentration camp was actually invented in America under the Andrew Jackson administration to deal with the Cherokee.) but History is written by the winners. Nazism lost, but Fascism merely changed it's face.
Oliver Stone's Secret History of the United States critiques the conventional view of WWII from a liberal perspective. Pat Buchanan's The Unnecessary War does so from a Conservative perspective. I as a truly Bi-Partison Libertarian-Communist see value in both their takes so I recommend both, though I ultimately agree with neither on everything.
Acknowledging this about Captain America has become less popular since his movies became big hits. My fellow SJWs currently love MCU Steve Rogers, so the idea of condemning his basic archetype as inherently problematic the way the same websites do James Bond and Indian Jones is currently unthinkable to them.
I'm not saying the character should be rejected, the movies are a lot of fun, I personally took on Winter Soldier's harshest critic on this blog.
But an Elseworlds kind of story exploring the logical conclusion that perhaps the Aryan who punched Hitler in the face actually believes a similar Nationalism just for a different nation, I think is a very valid concept. The founders of the CIA fought Nazism during WWII but then worked with Fascist groups to oppose the USSR during the Cold War, like the whole P2 scandal in Italy, Hydra could easily be used as an allegory for that inconvenient truth. Again I don't think that's what this current twist is actually doing.
But I keep seeing the meme repeated that this is especially gross because Captain America's creators were Jewish. As if Jewish writers couldn't possibly write something problematic. A lot of American Jews are on the Trump bandwagon right now, so they are not inherently immune to the appeal of Fascism. And many Palestinians Arabs feel for very valid reasons that the Israeli Government is no better then Nazi Germany.
But I'm not going to suggest Jack Kirby was a Fascist. Just that it's valid to criticize him. And that Death of the Author applies to all Authors not just privileged ones.
The Golden Age comics never addressed the Holocaust or other real War Crimes of the War. They just depicted Germans as mustache twirling villains and the Japanese as demons. Cap punching Hitler was always designed to appeal to American Tribal Patriotism, whatever deep down motivated the authors, on the page it was never about the real reason that war is now considered a just one.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Palpatine's Plan in The Phantom Menace
The TVtropes page for Xanatos Gambit defines it mainly as a plan where no mater what happens the planner wins. I think there is some accuracy to that, but from my analysis of the plans done by the Trope Namer, and the other villain who's most strongly linked to this Trope, Palpatine in The Star Wars Prequels, I think it could be more accurate to say that what the Heroes are dealing with isn't the main plan at all, and the villain has usually got what he wanted by the time the heroes even start fighting the immediate threat.
In fact I'd say not only does the Heroes succeeding at their immediate objective not hurt his plan, it is if anything preferable, since they've just tied up a potential lose end for him.
This trope defines most of what Palatine does in the Prequels, but perhaps when viewed in hindsight it is most interesting to look at it in Episode I.
Palpatine's only goal in this film is to become Chancellor via a vote of no Confidence in the current one. Any other ways events of this film play into the following Episodes are him taking advantage of those developments. But the goal here was just to become Chancellor.
Number 1, that means his plan is arguably dependent on the Queen making it to Corusant. He could have called for the vote himself in response to something tragic happening to her like being forced to sign a treaty, but her doing it helps keep his hands cleaner.
Now some critics of the film I've seen think he genuinely really wanted the Treaty signed because of what he says to Newt. The Trade Federation leaders are not in on his real plan. In the long run he was going screw them over no mater what, they probably didn't know Sidous was senator of the planet they're invading. Signing the treaty would not have hurt because then he could point out it was obviously signed under coercion.
One criticism is how the Trade Federation could have honestly thought such a Treaty would be held up. But that's what shows the manipulative persuasive power of Sidious, he convinced them he'd "make it legal", and maybe he could have but I'm certain he never intended too.
After calling for the vote, some people think he was genuinely trying to stop Amidala from going back to Naboo. He was trying to talk her out of it as part of his mask, but he didn't actually care. His surprise at her making that decision could have been genuine, but it was in no way even hypothetically a threat, he'd already achieved his goal.
And then the Heroes succeeding in liberating Naboo on their own just means Palpatine doesn't have to worry about actually doing the first thing he was elected to do.
Even losing Maul wasn't a real loss to him, I suspect he already had his eyes on Dooku. And was certainly now putting them on Anakin by the end. But Dooku's role was always going to be needed for phase two, even if not Dooku specifically the Separatist cause needed a respected Jedi. Maul was already a failed apprentice from Sidous' viewpoint I suspect.
However early on Amidala could have made a decision that would have avoided Palpatine getting what he wanted. Though my pointing out this option may go against what we usually assume Lucas political agenda was, but I believe in Death of the Author. Either way it's overlooked simply because it's never verbalized.
That option was to not seek the Republic's help to begin with, since she wound up saving her planet with what the Planet already had all along, the key piece being the Gungan Army.
You might ask "How could Maul have been dealt with without the Jedi there?" but Maul wouldn't have been sent if the Jedi weren't there. Again pretty much the only role Sidious ever planed for him was to announce the Sith's existence to the Jedi, because he wanted them to know.
Now from a narrative standpoint I understand that she needed to meet and develop a friendship with Jar Jar in order to realize she had that option. (And that is why Jar Jar is in fact very important to the story, of this film as a stand alone, way more then Anakin or the Jedi.) But my observation still remains, she never needed the Republic.
Basically I'm of the view that a Galactic Government is a bad idea, period. I'm not sure Lucas would like that viewpoint, but it's one I'm able to interpret his work in support of.
In fact I'd say not only does the Heroes succeeding at their immediate objective not hurt his plan, it is if anything preferable, since they've just tied up a potential lose end for him.
This trope defines most of what Palatine does in the Prequels, but perhaps when viewed in hindsight it is most interesting to look at it in Episode I.
Palpatine's only goal in this film is to become Chancellor via a vote of no Confidence in the current one. Any other ways events of this film play into the following Episodes are him taking advantage of those developments. But the goal here was just to become Chancellor.
Number 1, that means his plan is arguably dependent on the Queen making it to Corusant. He could have called for the vote himself in response to something tragic happening to her like being forced to sign a treaty, but her doing it helps keep his hands cleaner.
Now some critics of the film I've seen think he genuinely really wanted the Treaty signed because of what he says to Newt. The Trade Federation leaders are not in on his real plan. In the long run he was going screw them over no mater what, they probably didn't know Sidous was senator of the planet they're invading. Signing the treaty would not have hurt because then he could point out it was obviously signed under coercion.
One criticism is how the Trade Federation could have honestly thought such a Treaty would be held up. But that's what shows the manipulative persuasive power of Sidious, he convinced them he'd "make it legal", and maybe he could have but I'm certain he never intended too.
After calling for the vote, some people think he was genuinely trying to stop Amidala from going back to Naboo. He was trying to talk her out of it as part of his mask, but he didn't actually care. His surprise at her making that decision could have been genuine, but it was in no way even hypothetically a threat, he'd already achieved his goal.
And then the Heroes succeeding in liberating Naboo on their own just means Palpatine doesn't have to worry about actually doing the first thing he was elected to do.
Even losing Maul wasn't a real loss to him, I suspect he already had his eyes on Dooku. And was certainly now putting them on Anakin by the end. But Dooku's role was always going to be needed for phase two, even if not Dooku specifically the Separatist cause needed a respected Jedi. Maul was already a failed apprentice from Sidous' viewpoint I suspect.
However early on Amidala could have made a decision that would have avoided Palpatine getting what he wanted. Though my pointing out this option may go against what we usually assume Lucas political agenda was, but I believe in Death of the Author. Either way it's overlooked simply because it's never verbalized.
That option was to not seek the Republic's help to begin with, since she wound up saving her planet with what the Planet already had all along, the key piece being the Gungan Army.
You might ask "How could Maul have been dealt with without the Jedi there?" but Maul wouldn't have been sent if the Jedi weren't there. Again pretty much the only role Sidious ever planed for him was to announce the Sith's existence to the Jedi, because he wanted them to know.
Now from a narrative standpoint I understand that she needed to meet and develop a friendship with Jar Jar in order to realize she had that option. (And that is why Jar Jar is in fact very important to the story, of this film as a stand alone, way more then Anakin or the Jedi.) But my observation still remains, she never needed the Republic.
Basically I'm of the view that a Galactic Government is a bad idea, period. I'm not sure Lucas would like that viewpoint, but it's one I'm able to interpret his work in support of.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Season 2 of The Flash
Spoiler Warning!!!!
Well I was wrong on the real Jay Garrick being a new actor. It's fine, JWS fits the costume well.
I'm not fond of them ending with the Flashpoint set up. I was really hoping the end of Season 1 meant we weren't going to go there.
It's not normal for me to say this, but the second really was inferior to the first.
I highly doubt they actually wrote the first 10-12 episode planning for that Jay to be Zoom. And when they went there, it felt way to much to me like repeating the same basic "twist" of season 1, the mentor is the villain.
The show was still a lot of fun, unlike Arrow which has become indistinguishable from the film verse.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
I've watched Code Geass: Akito of the Exiled
The decision to tell it as 5 hour long OVAs makes it effectively a 5 act play, which I find awesome.
Akito is the title character, but I feel like Leila is the real lead, in both the POV character sense and who the story's about sense.
I'm always intrigued by the Japanese interest in the French Revolution. In this case it is the legacy of an alternate history version of the Revolution that lingers over much of the plot.
The story was good and I highly recommend it.
But it is much darker in tone then the Series. Not as much of the fun scenes. But doesn't feel like it's egregiously doing that for the pretentiousness of it the way Batman V Superman did.
I watched them Subbed because that's all we have right now. The Code Geass series I've still only seen dubbed. The first thing I notice in that regard is how kind of weird it is to see characters expressing racist attitudes towards the Japanese, when they're speaking Japanese.
I also find it amusing that the Eleven designation it used outside Britannia, by people at war with Britannia. That doesn't seem logical to me.
Spoilers Ahead!!!!!!
I'm really unsure whether or not the story might have been better if they didn't shoehorn Suzaku and Lelouch into it.
They only contribute anything substantial to episode 3, and even there could have been done differently. They never interact with the protagonists, just the villains, they are basically there for the Worf Effect, and to reference things potential new viewers wouldn't get.
Still the potential is there for their scenes to be really good for their fans. From what I can gather in Japan they have the same voice actors they always did. But for me I won't really be able to connect them to the characters I know and decide if they're in-character or not till I hear Johnny Yong Bosch and Lowenthal perform these scenes.
Thing is, C.C.'s scene is the ideal way to do a Cameo from the original main cast in an EU spin off, for something of this genre with this kind of lore. But her Cameo may have felt more meaningful if they hadn't already dangled the other two stars in front of us.
Then Rollo shows up at the very end to help sell the idea that this bridges the gap between R1 and R2. I never perceived there to be a gap, but whatever.
Akito is the title character, but I feel like Leila is the real lead, in both the POV character sense and who the story's about sense.
I'm always intrigued by the Japanese interest in the French Revolution. In this case it is the legacy of an alternate history version of the Revolution that lingers over much of the plot.
The story was good and I highly recommend it.
But it is much darker in tone then the Series. Not as much of the fun scenes. But doesn't feel like it's egregiously doing that for the pretentiousness of it the way Batman V Superman did.
I watched them Subbed because that's all we have right now. The Code Geass series I've still only seen dubbed. The first thing I notice in that regard is how kind of weird it is to see characters expressing racist attitudes towards the Japanese, when they're speaking Japanese.
I also find it amusing that the Eleven designation it used outside Britannia, by people at war with Britannia. That doesn't seem logical to me.
Spoilers Ahead!!!!!!
I'm really unsure whether or not the story might have been better if they didn't shoehorn Suzaku and Lelouch into it.
They only contribute anything substantial to episode 3, and even there could have been done differently. They never interact with the protagonists, just the villains, they are basically there for the Worf Effect, and to reference things potential new viewers wouldn't get.
Still the potential is there for their scenes to be really good for their fans. From what I can gather in Japan they have the same voice actors they always did. But for me I won't really be able to connect them to the characters I know and decide if they're in-character or not till I hear Johnny Yong Bosch and Lowenthal perform these scenes.
Thing is, C.C.'s scene is the ideal way to do a Cameo from the original main cast in an EU spin off, for something of this genre with this kind of lore. But her Cameo may have felt more meaningful if they hadn't already dangled the other two stars in front of us.
Then Rollo shows up at the very end to help sell the idea that this bridges the gap between R1 and R2. I never perceived there to be a gap, but whatever.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Haruka's Sword grew larger because of Usagi
Someone un-followed me on Twitter this week because they found my Sailor Moon Tumblr reblogs to be"Childish", I suppose this title won't help that.
Sailor Moon finally evolved into Super Sailor Moon.
Then we got our first taste of Mistress 9.
Then we got the whole Sailor Saturn backstory and exposition. And I have a reference I'm holding off on.
And then we got full on Mistress 9.
This Episode was awesome.
So for two weeks now these Crystal reactions have been all I've done on this blog. I'm gonna try to make up for that soon, this may not be the only post I make today.
And you can expect before the week is over my thoughts on Season 2 of the Flash, which I don't expect to be too articulate.
Sailor Moon finally evolved into Super Sailor Moon.
Then we got our first taste of Mistress 9.
Then we got the whole Sailor Saturn backstory and exposition. And I have a reference I'm holding off on.
And then we got full on Mistress 9.
This Episode was awesome.
So for two weeks now these Crystal reactions have been all I've done on this blog. I'm gonna try to make up for that soon, this may not be the only post I make today.
And you can expect before the week is over my thoughts on Season 2 of the Flash, which I don't expect to be too articulate.
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