Friday, August 2, 2013

Putting Myself Out There Again

I was reading something a bit ago about the recent film release "Pacific Rim". I haven't seen it (though I have seen the rip-off "Atlantic Rim"), so maybe I'm not as qualified to write about it as some, but something did occur to me. The article was about how the early box office seemed likely to discourage the prospects of a sequel. I guess the returns weren't enormous enough, which is a risk when you bet so big on films.

A subsequent development was that the film did especially well in China (whose status as a burgeoning film market has previously led filmmakers to eagerly tailor their works to that nation in what are to me regrettable ways). That being the case, they are now apparently more interested in a sequel, which is natural. I hardly fault film studios for acting in their nature. Raccoons bust into trash cans and film studios chase dollars.

The thing that bugged me a bit was the assertion of the article that a sequel borne from China's fondness for the original was a victory for original films. The article said this and the commenters on the article's page said so. Once again I was a lone dissenter, questioning how people could claim they wanted original films when their action was to clamor for yet another sequel. A sequel is anything but an original film, right? If anything, the film's failure is what would lead to an original film, as Guillermo Del Toro would make something else instead of another Pacific Rim.

I posed my very simple question because I couldn't keep it to myself. I wish I could have, because I have no expectation of being satisfied that putting myself out there was worth the reward. I expect no reward, but rather the same sort of lack of understanding that has met every other such foray that I've made. That's how different I am from people. To paraphrase what I read in some political article about the feud between Chris Christie and Rand Paul, they and I are so different from each other that neither can understand the monumental wrongness of the other.

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