Okay, apparently I am finding things to rant about lately more so than usual. I'm typically a very laid back, I-don't-get-my-knickers-in-a-twist kind of person, but occasionally I need to point out a few things.
Recently, Marvel announced that someone new was going to be
wielding Thor’s hammer in the comics. In a nutshell, the new “Thor” is going to
be a woman. Here's an article about it: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/the-new-thor-isnt-the-first-woman-to-wield-the-hammer-91872704082.html
As much as I always want to see new superheroines in the
comic book market, this touched a nerve for me. First, if Marvel wanted to have
a new female superhero that is like Thor, why not use one of the Norse goddesses
to create a new, interesting focal character for the Marvel Universe rather
than just lazily taking an already established franchise and slapping a
different gender onto it? Heck, the Thor
comics and movies established that the goddess Sif is as strong, stubborn, and
skillful in combat as Thor, and she has personality to boot. And Thor himself would
still tie in to the story; so why not just make Sif her own superheroine? Or
they could create a completely new superheroine from any of the dozens of other
Norse goddesses: Freyja (goddess of battle, also a character in the Marvel universe),
Hlin (goddess of protection), Vor (goddess of wisdom)…there’s plenty to choose
from if you want a “Thor-like” superheroine who isn’t actually assuming the
role of Thor.
But I’m getting off track. What got me irked isn’t some
feminist agenda—this isn’t the first time Marvel or DC have taken established
male superheroes and passed along the role to a new female counterpart—it’s
that rather than taking the effort to create an original superheroine, they
instead ripped the packaging off another character and slapped it on a woman in
order to appeal to the cosplay audience (apparently, it’s popular for women at
sci-fi conventions to cosplay as their own version of Thor). Hey, Thor’s
popular, so that instantly guarantees the female Thor will be too, right?
Which segues into my broader question: why has the
entertainment industry become so cowardly?
I apply this to almost every facet of the entertainment
industry. Every movie nowadays is based on either a pre-existing franchise—whether
it’s a book series, television show, a movie reboot, or it plagiarizes a
previous movie so grossly you can barely call it its own idea—I can’t think of
the last time a (GOOD) original screenplay came to theaters. Looking at what is
currently in movie theaters, the few movies that look like original screenplays
have gotten such atrocious ratings and poor audience turnout that it shows that
Hollywood isn’t even trying with originality anymore.
There are still hundreds of great stories out there to be
turned into excellent, one-of-a-kind films. Why is the entertainment industry
picking the absolute worst ones to put on screen? It’s almost like they want
audience to think that originality is dead, and good material can only be
harvested from what came decades before.
Television shows sometimes produce some good original
programming, but it’s few and far between as well. And sadly, the book
publishing industry suffers from this cowardice too. How many “Hunger Games,” “Twlight,”
“Harry Potter” and “Divergent” rip-offs have there been since the boom of these
books’ popularity? Why aren’t bigger strides being made to find the next great never-before-seen
storyline?
So Entertainment Industry: Stop. Being. Lazy.
Take risks. I know it’s just business—you want to make money
and you know what audiences respond to. But you’re also not giving them much to
choose from. You’re giving us rehashes of the same thing so of course we’re
going to go see them because everything else you’re throwing at us is
half-baked.
None of those pre-existing franchises would even be here if
their creators hadn’t pursued their own visions—not what numbers and ratings
dictated—and brought them into existence. If you put as much time and
dedication into originality as you do into some of these “based-on” franchises,
you could produce some truly era-defining work.
How will people fifty years from now remember our time? What
memorable movie, book, or media will be what symbolizes our social, emotional,
and personal outlook on life? (Dear God, do not have Twilight or Shades of Gray
be the only phenomenons that “represent” the early 2000s)
Create. Discover. Defy the odds. And give original
characters a chance rather than making them doppelgangers of already well known
characters. Who knows, you might just create a brand new icon for a generation
who can be truly super.
Thank you.
