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.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Magia Record thoughts so far
I enjoyed the latest Toonami aired episode of Alicization, but I don't have any comments on it right now.
I just watched episode 8 of Magia Record, so I'm behind because I follow the Dub, it's first cour has actually already ended from what I've gathered elsewhere.
The first thing that's interesting to me is how it follows a Monster of the Week format in a way that the modern Dark Magical Girl shows usually don't, however they are all two parters making it like the Adam West Batman, same Mahou Time, same Mahou Channel.
Madoka proper, Yuki Yuna, the more Battle Royal inspired ones, none of them follow much of a Monster of the Week format. Daybreak Illusion as I'd already observed comes closer then most, but only after an origin story arc.
The latest episode made me think of "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" a classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode, but that turned out to seemingly not be the main plot of this two parter.
One thing about the Madoka Spin Off stories based on other characters I've noticed is how they seem to feel like the "twist" was why Maodka worked, or more specifically them being "twists". Yes all the stuff about the Soul Gem and becoming Witches being so shocking was part of how the show originally caught people's attention, but the reason it holds up on repeat viewing is because of the characters, it was about how those characters reacted to those reveals.
So what I wanted from a Madoka Expanded Universe was simply to see how different characters would react differently to the same dark secrets, but instead they frequently feel the need to shock the audience as much as they shock the characters, so instead they come up with new shocking reveals that make the original core shocking reveals into mundaneities that these characters mostly shrug off.
Now this problem isn't a deal breaker, I thoroughly enjoyed Tart Magica in-spite of how this absolutely does apply there. But Madoka's lore and universe mechanics work because of how really quite simple it was, just simple in a way that can lead to emotionally complex storytelling. So every time a spin off messes with those mechanics for the sake of making new even more shocking twists, I feel like it kinda breaks the Madoka Universe a bit.
It's Ironic really, while others are complaining about Madoka rip offs I love, I've come to feel it's the Madoka franchise itself that is riding it's own coattails with a misunderstanding of it's own appeal.
Magia Record isn't done, so I can't yet judge how much this issue applies here.
It is the first Madoka EU story to get an Anime, so the first time Anime only viewers have to potentially face this issue. So I figured I should talk about it before I actually get to finish it.
I just watched episode 8 of Magia Record, so I'm behind because I follow the Dub, it's first cour has actually already ended from what I've gathered elsewhere.
The first thing that's interesting to me is how it follows a Monster of the Week format in a way that the modern Dark Magical Girl shows usually don't, however they are all two parters making it like the Adam West Batman, same Mahou Time, same Mahou Channel.
Madoka proper, Yuki Yuna, the more Battle Royal inspired ones, none of them follow much of a Monster of the Week format. Daybreak Illusion as I'd already observed comes closer then most, but only after an origin story arc.
The latest episode made me think of "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" a classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode, but that turned out to seemingly not be the main plot of this two parter.
One thing about the Madoka Spin Off stories based on other characters I've noticed is how they seem to feel like the "twist" was why Maodka worked, or more specifically them being "twists". Yes all the stuff about the Soul Gem and becoming Witches being so shocking was part of how the show originally caught people's attention, but the reason it holds up on repeat viewing is because of the characters, it was about how those characters reacted to those reveals.
So what I wanted from a Madoka Expanded Universe was simply to see how different characters would react differently to the same dark secrets, but instead they frequently feel the need to shock the audience as much as they shock the characters, so instead they come up with new shocking reveals that make the original core shocking reveals into mundaneities that these characters mostly shrug off.
Now this problem isn't a deal breaker, I thoroughly enjoyed Tart Magica in-spite of how this absolutely does apply there. But Madoka's lore and universe mechanics work because of how really quite simple it was, just simple in a way that can lead to emotionally complex storytelling. So every time a spin off messes with those mechanics for the sake of making new even more shocking twists, I feel like it kinda breaks the Madoka Universe a bit.
It's Ironic really, while others are complaining about Madoka rip offs I love, I've come to feel it's the Madoka franchise itself that is riding it's own coattails with a misunderstanding of it's own appeal.
Magia Record isn't done, so I can't yet judge how much this issue applies here.
It is the first Madoka EU story to get an Anime, so the first time Anime only viewers have to potentially face this issue. So I figured I should talk about it before I actually get to finish it.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
The Princess Bride vs Robin Hood: Men In Tights
These are two movies that are interesting to compare to each other, they came out relatively close to each other, have the same actor as the male lead, and are both parodies of swashbuckling low fantasy adventure stories.
Robin Hood: Men In Tights is the only Mel Brooks movie I've watched in recent memory, and it became the first time I re-watched something I liked when I was younger and now kind of don't like it.
Is this one generally considered one of his weakest or is this a sign that his style of Humor just isn't my thing anymore? As someone who's own preferences are very Meta, I feel like in this movie Mel definitely falls back on Fourth Wall breaking as a crutch, like he's doing it because he can't think of any actually clever joke. Also near the end it falls back on referencing other Mel Brooks films a few times.
Though one of the main things bugging me about it is all the humor that is rather transphobic and homophobic and misogynist. Those are all issues I've becomes much more sensitive to over the years I've been writing this blog. But I feel people more directly effected by those issues are more qualified then me to talk about them in depth.
The Princess Bride I just re-watched even more recently, and that one held up. Yes it's also pretty normative in it's handling of gender, but Buttercup is just so spunky that it's hard to care that she's technically a Damsel in Distress.
It's an interesting movie to revisit as an Otaku. It's got a lot of Shonen qualities in the way Wesley makes friends with Inigo and Andre by defeating them. And it's ablity to be like a Parody but still sincere is like a lot of my favorite Fantasy Anime.
So yeah, that is a movie that everyone needs to see at some point.
Robin Hood: Men In Tights is the only Mel Brooks movie I've watched in recent memory, and it became the first time I re-watched something I liked when I was younger and now kind of don't like it.
Is this one generally considered one of his weakest or is this a sign that his style of Humor just isn't my thing anymore? As someone who's own preferences are very Meta, I feel like in this movie Mel definitely falls back on Fourth Wall breaking as a crutch, like he's doing it because he can't think of any actually clever joke. Also near the end it falls back on referencing other Mel Brooks films a few times.
Though one of the main things bugging me about it is all the humor that is rather transphobic and homophobic and misogynist. Those are all issues I've becomes much more sensitive to over the years I've been writing this blog. But I feel people more directly effected by those issues are more qualified then me to talk about them in depth.
The Princess Bride I just re-watched even more recently, and that one held up. Yes it's also pretty normative in it's handling of gender, but Buttercup is just so spunky that it's hard to care that she's technically a Damsel in Distress.
It's an interesting movie to revisit as an Otaku. It's got a lot of Shonen qualities in the way Wesley makes friends with Inigo and Andre by defeating them. And it's ablity to be like a Parody but still sincere is like a lot of my favorite Fantasy Anime.
So yeah, that is a movie that everyone needs to see at some point.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Looks like Coronavirus has messed up the entire 2020 Anime Schedule.
The Toonami shows still aired on the 21st, of which I currently only watch SAO, it was a good.
So I have no idea what to expect going forward. I intend to spend plenty of time watching stuff, hopefully I'll have things to say on this blog.
Update: Episode 7 of Magia Record's Dub did drop, it was good too.
So I have no idea what to expect going forward. I intend to spend plenty of time watching stuff, hopefully I'll have things to say on this blog.
Update: Episode 7 of Magia Record's Dub did drop, it was good too.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
We Anime fans need to spend more time Rewatching stuff
Since we're gonna be self isolating anyway.
Re-watching stuff is important, there are always details you won't notice till the second, fifth or even tenth viewing. Digibro likes to say the re-watch is the real watch, and that sometimes you won't really know what your opinion on something is till the third viewing.
But we Otaku I think because we're such database animals are constantly trying to increase our MAL numbers. With the ones making a living off talking about Anime only re-watching what they think they can devote a good video or podcast to.
Back when there was only a handful of Anime I was into I re-watched them constantly, I re-watched, Noir, and Witch Hunter Robin and Code Geass more times then I can count, same with my favorites of the Pokemon movies. And it was likewise with the non Anime stuff, back when I owned most seasons of Buffy and Angel and the first season of One Tree Hill on DVD I re-watched all those episodes constantly.
Then in 2014 I started watching Anime more often, in 2016 I first started qualifying as an Otaku and in 2017 I started following seasonal Anime while searching for everything I missed that might interest me. And so when I did devote time to re-watching what I'd seen before it was mostly the ones I'd already re-watched, perhaps I only felt safe re-watching what I knew was re-watchable since starting this blog afraid to wind up turning on stuff I had publicly praised. Still it was of course good to return to the roots of my Anime fandom now that I was understanding it's context better, so I gave more re-watches to Noir and Witch Hunter Robin, and revisited old Sailor Moon and Pokemon memories.
Last year, in 2019 I finally gave a re-watch to Steins;Gate and it held up great as I expected it to. And I also gave more re-watches to some of the shows mentioned above, Pokemon and Sailor Moon certainly helped me get through some stuff. But what was really significant was Raildex.
Getting into the Raildex franchise near the end of 2018 felt great, I'd been watching lots of new Anime in the prior years but I hadn't gotten truly immersed in a new fictional world like that for a long time. Getting into Raildx made me feel like a Nerd again. By the end of 2018 I still hadn't re-watched any episodes yet. But in 2019 I didn't wait long at all to start giving those some re-watches. With A Certain Magical Index proper some arcs I found more re-watchable then others. But I've now seen most episodes of the first two seasons of A Certain Scientific Railgun three times, and thus many parts of the Sisters arc 5 times.
Now this year I've already revisited Citrus. And I'm primed to binge the Raildex franchise again once Railgun T is almost over. I'm still following however many current shows keep me interested, and spending some time watching old shows I at least haven't completed yet, chiefly I wanna get myself up to speed on certain late 90s Mahou Shoujo. But I want to focus more on re-watching stuff, some stuff I've already re-watched but also wanting to test the re-watchability of some stuff I only first watched in the last few years.
Re-watching stuff is important, there are always details you won't notice till the second, fifth or even tenth viewing. Digibro likes to say the re-watch is the real watch, and that sometimes you won't really know what your opinion on something is till the third viewing.
But we Otaku I think because we're such database animals are constantly trying to increase our MAL numbers. With the ones making a living off talking about Anime only re-watching what they think they can devote a good video or podcast to.
Back when there was only a handful of Anime I was into I re-watched them constantly, I re-watched, Noir, and Witch Hunter Robin and Code Geass more times then I can count, same with my favorites of the Pokemon movies. And it was likewise with the non Anime stuff, back when I owned most seasons of Buffy and Angel and the first season of One Tree Hill on DVD I re-watched all those episodes constantly.
Then in 2014 I started watching Anime more often, in 2016 I first started qualifying as an Otaku and in 2017 I started following seasonal Anime while searching for everything I missed that might interest me. And so when I did devote time to re-watching what I'd seen before it was mostly the ones I'd already re-watched, perhaps I only felt safe re-watching what I knew was re-watchable since starting this blog afraid to wind up turning on stuff I had publicly praised. Still it was of course good to return to the roots of my Anime fandom now that I was understanding it's context better, so I gave more re-watches to Noir and Witch Hunter Robin, and revisited old Sailor Moon and Pokemon memories.
Last year, in 2019 I finally gave a re-watch to Steins;Gate and it held up great as I expected it to. And I also gave more re-watches to some of the shows mentioned above, Pokemon and Sailor Moon certainly helped me get through some stuff. But what was really significant was Raildex.
Getting into the Raildex franchise near the end of 2018 felt great, I'd been watching lots of new Anime in the prior years but I hadn't gotten truly immersed in a new fictional world like that for a long time. Getting into Raildx made me feel like a Nerd again. By the end of 2018 I still hadn't re-watched any episodes yet. But in 2019 I didn't wait long at all to start giving those some re-watches. With A Certain Magical Index proper some arcs I found more re-watchable then others. But I've now seen most episodes of the first two seasons of A Certain Scientific Railgun three times, and thus many parts of the Sisters arc 5 times.
Now this year I've already revisited Citrus. And I'm primed to binge the Raildex franchise again once Railgun T is almost over. I'm still following however many current shows keep me interested, and spending some time watching old shows I at least haven't completed yet, chiefly I wanna get myself up to speed on certain late 90s Mahou Shoujo. But I want to focus more on re-watching stuff, some stuff I've already re-watched but also wanting to test the re-watchability of some stuff I only first watched in the last few years.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Ides Of March Anime 2020
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
In BOFURI episode 8 Maple went full Murican.
One of the interesting things about the first two seasons of Railgun are how they ignore the Magick parts of the franchise and so can in isolation be viewed as purely SciFi. As of episode 7 of Railgun T I’m increasingly unsure if this season is sticking to that, the girl with the skull necklace doesn’t seem like an Esper to me. I’d be okay with it but would prefer them to hold off on going there.
Kuroko with her memory altered is basically acting like a Tsundere which is adorable.
Episode 8 of SAO Alicization WarOfUnderworld has a moment that reminds me exactly of the founding principle of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Also ASUNA FINALLY!
Episode 6 of Magia Record introduces Magical Girl Eren Jeager. It’s unclear to me how much Yuki Kajiura is involved in the Music for this one, but it certainly still feels like her.
Healin’ Good Precure episode 7 was pretty funny. Looks like they said this is the last one before the movie, we in the West won’t be able to see the movie for months however.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
In BOFURI episode 8 Maple went full Murican.
One of the interesting things about the first two seasons of Railgun are how they ignore the Magick parts of the franchise and so can in isolation be viewed as purely SciFi. As of episode 7 of Railgun T I’m increasingly unsure if this season is sticking to that, the girl with the skull necklace doesn’t seem like an Esper to me. I’d be okay with it but would prefer them to hold off on going there.
Kuroko with her memory altered is basically acting like a Tsundere which is adorable.
Episode 8 of SAO Alicization WarOfUnderworld has a moment that reminds me exactly of the founding principle of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Also ASUNA FINALLY!
Episode 6 of Magia Record introduces Magical Girl Eren Jeager. It’s unclear to me how much Yuki Kajiura is involved in the Music for this one, but it certainly still feels like her.
Healin’ Good Precure episode 7 was pretty funny. Looks like they said this is the last one before the movie, we in the West won’t be able to see the movie for months however.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Anime 2020 slow start for March
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
BOFURI episode 7 was pretty eventful and still quite fun.
The delay of Railgun T episode 7 inevitably affected the Dub.
SAO Alicization War Of Underworld episode 8 was good.
Healin’ Good episode 6 felt kinda dull. They started throwing movie clips into the OP, so maybe I've seen all I actually need to see before seeing the movie.
Magia Record episode 5 was a trip. Early in the episode I started thinking “is a good deal of this franchise's animation inspired by the Student Council scenes of Utena?” (The scene in the original Anime usually referred to as a visual Utena Homage is based on the Shadow Girls segments.) Then later in the episode when we saw the Witch proper I found myself oddly thinking of Frank Miller’s art style in Dark Knight Strikes Again.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
BOFURI episode 7 was pretty eventful and still quite fun.
The delay of Railgun T episode 7 inevitably affected the Dub.
SAO Alicization War Of Underworld episode 8 was good.
Healin’ Good episode 6 felt kinda dull. They started throwing movie clips into the OP, so maybe I've seen all I actually need to see before seeing the movie.
Magia Record episode 5 was a trip. Early in the episode I started thinking “is a good deal of this franchise's animation inspired by the Student Council scenes of Utena?” (The scene in the original Anime usually referred to as a visual Utena Homage is based on the Shadow Girls segments.) Then later in the episode when we saw the Witch proper I found myself oddly thinking of Frank Miller’s art style in Dark Knight Strikes Again.
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