I am a happy ending junky. Mostly because I've long ago accepted the fact that we're all going to die. Life doesn't really get a happy ending, just quiet acceptance--if you're lucky enough to figure it out. Or if you, like Michael Keaton in My Life, know ahead of time and have the money and resources to make pithy educational videos about yourself. So yeah, happy endings are nice. They don't have to be syrupy sweet, but I rarely complain when the guy gets the girl or the heist is pulled off with a minimum of casualties. But of course, movies with happy endings never truly examine what happens after (that's what fanfiction is for). Luckily, we have Cracked.com' s The 6 Most Depressing Happy Endings in Movie History to inform us:
Back to the Future - while the movie wants us to cheer Biff becoming a menial laborer for the McFlys as a nice bit of karmic comeuppance, we can't help but think that it's a bad idea to give a house key to the guy who once tried to rape your wife.~~~~~
How is it the Joker kicked so much evil ass in the Dark Knight? Why do I keep reading fandom secrets in which little girls (and possibly boys) post pictures of Ledger's Joker with the words "I'd So Totally Hit That" scrawled over his face? Why do I find most superhero movies boring? io9 attempts to answer these questions with an excellent commentary about the rise of mediocre villainy in Why We Deserve Better Villains:
The problem of villain suckage is endemic in heroic narratives, where villains get redeemed, become sympathetic, or lose their menace too easily.My favorite reasoning:
Good villains make great stories. A truly chilling villain makes the hero seem more important because the stakes are important, and the hero's actions matter.~~~~~
Why do I--a quasi-intellectual spiritual seeker that can find as many reasons to defy an organized religion as follow it--read the God's Politics Blog? Because it seems politically aware Christians are less afraid to point the finger (just as Jesus did) when Big Government stomps all over people. I get more news from this blog than I do almost anywhere else. What I truly love about them is they offer steps beyond praying and finger-pointing, and instead offer actions, contacts, and steps one individual can take to help right wrongs. In a recent article, The Jungle in Postville Affects Us All, we are reminded the action and inaction of everyone can make a difference:
We should also care because "we" are "them." "Our" lives outside of Postville are bound up in "their" lives inside of Postville. Martin Luther King Jr. said: "We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny." The apostle Paul said: "If one member of the body suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." Our actions and inactions affect one another. Together we must act so honor can replace the suffering of us all.~~~~
And finally, fans of the movie Soylent Green my be unaware it is based on a book, or that there is so much more to this story than "Soylent Green is people!!!" Now is your chance to find out in a beautiful reissue.
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Okay, not so finally because I realize this was way less frivolous than I wanted. So for those who've always suspected there was something fishy in Batman's relationship to Robin, I offer you my tasteless comic panel of the day:
4 comments:
Well, LOCI has the odd "good" villain, but unfortunately the be-otch won't let our Bobby alone!
I thought the website's commentary on Back to the Future was quite intelligent. It's always bothered me that Marty now has alien parents with different personalities, but I never really considered the fact that they have different memories than him and that their family interactions would be based on a reality Marty didn't know. That's extremely interesting.
Also, if George is making so much money, what are the chances the McFlys would live in the same house as before? Hmm...
I had no idea soylent green was based on a novel..
aren't they also a band of some sort??
heath ledger's joker did legitimately creep me the hell out, and I think he was that movie's saving grace. he was nastly, ugly, and unnerving.
BUT...because I must be devil's advocate, I do have to wonder...would his performance be getting the extreme hype it's getting now if he was still in this timestream??
The choice of tasteless comic is beautiful.
I love God's Politics, too, ever since I saw you mention it here.
I am a sucker for happy endings too.
And I loved the comic. I've always thought there was something odd there with Batman and Robin. LOL
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