New ill LYTeracy column is up at GEEKWEEK. Here’s a sample:
Now, can you make an argument that hey, Bram Stoker’s original DRACULA featured some stupid and arbitrary rules too? Yes, I’ll give you that you could: there is no decent explanation given as to why Dracula cannot cross running water, save old superstitions about demons. We give Stoker a pass on that because the vampire iconography was still being developed, and because back then superstitions still ruled the day…it was the 19th century, remember. But once the rules are established, they are consistent and followed.
Which brings us to our other fanboy examples: are TRANSFORMERS and SAW as stupid in their own way as TWILIGHT is in its? I am biased as a fan of both, but I’m gonna try to look at it as objectively as possible.
TRANSFORMERS – which we will use here to refer only to the Michael Bay movies, though certainly the property is a lot bigger than that – is, first off, pretty much DESPISED by fanboys. Don’t believe me? Read any AICN talkback on the matter, or ask Devin Faraci. Viewers of the old cartoons cannot stand that Optimus Prime now has flames painted on, or that Devastator has two giant wrecking balls hanging from his crotch area…not that the old cartoons didn’t feature massive contradictions to begin with, as they were just there to sell toys. The people who go to these are mainstream moviegoers, much more so than self-proclaimed geeks.
I’m disabling comments here, because I want you to comment there. Go read the rest.
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