Girls in Action Movies / Bad SW Spaceships

@Marvey
I like to think I know you well enough by now to see what you're doing: you're stirring the pot, using a chaos spell or two, trying to get people to speak their minds. You're happiest when things are kept edgy, just not *too* edgy. That's fine. I can dig it.

Like @shipsupt said, there's a self appointed police squad of about 20 people who take headphones waaaay too seriously, and they are far too anal about where things should be posted and how they should be posted. They post the same mantras over and over, make the same suggestions about gear, and yeah the forum is too uptight. People need to f'ing relax a spell.

But at the same time, I can't help but feel like the political stuff in the shout box on CS was the beginning of the end for me. Arguments became bullying, especially from certain higher ups. A lot of folks didn't feel comfortable there, myself included. I'm sure someone at this point is thinking "tuff titties." And maybe they have a point; so I think it better for me to just go into avoidance mode, y'know?

Really, I've spent quite a lot of time discussing gender roles in film and yadda yadda... But on the Internet, arguing about gender politics has just become this thing. You can't go *anywhere* on the 'tubes without encountering it. And it's usually ugly. If we were sitting down in person having a chat, that would be a whole 'nother deal.

 

Something about the way @Marvey does his thing reminds me of Liam Neeson explaining the League of Shadows:
"The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence we return to restore the balance."

 

To be honest, I was not aware that gender politics has become this "thing" on the Internet. I didn't even know this topic was considered politics. Keep in mind that I am near 50 and largely avoid the Internet with the exception of this site. I still read newspapers like the WSJ (which BTW has turned into complete shit, but at least it's still better than the Post). I don't watch TV (other than maybe Flash or Arrow). I work in a environment where working with transgendered people or even people in-transition is common to the point where it doesn't even cross my mind who or what people are. I don't even remember who is gay or who is not or who is what anymore.

All I wanted was a good movie that my daughter and I could both identify with. Disney / SW set up great expectations, but failed miserably. Not giving Disney any more of my money.

@knerian said I was like the Ed Harris character in Snowpiercer.

 

Back to the spaceships:

Many of you know that I was not pleased with SW: The Farce Awakens, saying that the movie consisted of too much pew pew pew and boom. Someone was kind enough to remind me that perhaps I was being too harsh, and that the essence of these sci-fi movies is the pew pew pew and boom. OK, good point. (Although my daughter did fall asleep during the movie).

But what goes with the pew pew pew and boom is the sense of the wonderment of the vehicles that go pew pew pew and boom. The first three classic Star Wars movies did not fail in this regard. I remembered as a kid going wow! when that Rebel Blockade Runner panned across the screen. What was that - I thought to myself? It has a lot of engines in the back! And then seeing the Star Destroyer from a distance, firing lasers at the Block Runner. That's big. And then... The Star Destroyer swallowing the Blockade Runner in its belly. Holy mother of jebus! This is fricking awesome. That grand scale, the designs! And that was just the beginning of the movie.

So just when I think that can't be topped, out comes Empire Strikes Back. Fricking Imperial Walkers! And those little Snowspeeders circling around them getting blown to bits until the Rebels figure out a unique way to take some of the Walkers out, buying time for the Rebels to escape. And Cloud City! Wow. Bespin police fighters. Stuff that looks Arabic in design. And Boba Fett's ship - that flies and lands in an odd way. Not just that, but we get a hint of that ... what SUPER STAR DESTROYER. We get little hints of how big that thing is, until we see how massive that thing is. It's just cool cool cool.

Obviously, they couldn't make things any bigger tin ROTJ, but they made up for it with the Imperial Shuttle, B-Wing, a partially constructed Death Star, the Medical Frigate, the Calamari Cruiser, again taking cues from Arabia. Every piece the creative team put into play was unique and interesting. And not only that, they did it in volume in the final space battle.

 

I was being Facetious on the Rey thing.

I'm sorry, but I did not experience the same sense of wonder as I did with the first three films from seeing these new, I mean "new" creations:






This below was ghey. I guess the artists were hearkening back to the days of WWII. But it looks stupid. I don't want to buy the Lego. They should have thought of the modern day Chinook or Osprey instead. Maybe even some of those Russian transport / attack helicopters. If anyone thinks this is awesome, please prove it by puchasing a model of it and posting a photo of it sitting on your desk.

I'm sure they did, but JJ and his design team can go f**k themselves. They should keep getting fired until they make something where I want to buy a Lego of it. The guys who created the vehicles in the 70s and 80s were betterer. Heck, even the vehicles in the prequels were betterer, like the Clone Trooper Gunships or Padme's Nubile Royal Starship.

 

To be fair, this was nice. Don't know how, but kind of reminds me of a skinny stretched version of of the armored version of Baymax from Big Hero 6.

 

OK you win.

 

The point of all this:

Nope. It's not about gender politics. It's not even about spaceship designs.

It's about malaise* in the movie making business. Putting profits ahead of vision and artistry.

Same thing is happening to Apple.

That is all for today.

*and too rigid creative processes, design by committee, focus groups, etc.

 

Well, technically, if you want to be logical, since it was a troop insertion, and not an amphibious landing, the troopers should have been dropped from airships above, like in Edge of Tomorrow or in the ill-fated WWII operation Market-Garden. Maybe something more like this.


It doesn't make much logical sense anyway because the SS never really had paratroopers. I'm sure units existed, but that wasn't their thing. I dunno, I'm not an expert in WWII, but when I read war books as a kid, I never read about SS paratroopers.

JJ's creative team should have brought back AT-ATs, painted them purple, added a few panels, and called it day.

 

Despite @OJneg's school of hard knocks approach, he is secretly the most kind-hearted loving guy that I know. He's actually very girly inside. He went to extreme lengths to talk to @MoatArts via Skype. That makes him a far better man (and woman) than I. I would have just let @MoatsArt kill himself and not felt a thing; but @OJneg actually cared enough to personally make sure @MoatsArt was OK.

Just saying because these kinds of things don't come through and aren't commonly known outside of the Krytonian Ruling Council.

 

@Marvey
"he's actually very girly inside"


Come on, Marv. You can't fool me. I know what you're up to with this thread.
We've known each other for too long.
I can see thru the smoke and mirrors.