BEDA #13: Superhero Movies and DC

So I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night, and it got me thinking about superhero movies and stuff about DC and Marvel, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about them..

Big disclaimer here: These are my opinions. I am going to be blunt about them because I get pretty passionate about these movies. It's perfectly fine if you like a movie that I didn't or if you disagree with me on certain points. Also, keep in mind that my knowledge of comics comes mostly from the movies and a little bit of research for fun. I haven't really read DC or Marvel comics. I am a fan of both DC and Marvel by the way, so this isn't a partisan attack for either side.

Also, there will probably be spoilers here, besides Captain America: The Winter Soldier probably because that just came out, but I'm just warning you that if you care about spoilers for past superhero movies, then DO NOT READ FURTHER!


Now then...

I loved the new Captain America movie. It's better than the original, which I liked as well. If you like superhero movies, I recommend it because the events that occur during it will shape the landscape of Marvel movies for years to come.

But something is really bothering me. Almost all the good superhero movies that have come out recently have been Marvel. Where is DC?

Marvel is a movie making machine. They are like rabbits multiplying. Not only that, but most of their recent superhero movies have been great. Sure there have been some hiccups. *cough* Iron Man 3 *cough* But for the most part, Marvel has been solid, and more than that, they have a well orchestrated plan of attack and they have delivered. They have movies planned into the next decade at least!

So I ask again, where is DC? What in the world are they doing that's so important that they've let Marvel had the field all to themselves?

Another Batman movie. Another Superman movie.

Marvel may have had its screw ups, but they at least are zooming around the track and have their head in the game. DC hasn't even put its foot on the gas pedal.

Why do I say this? Do I hate Batman or Superman? No! But look at what Marvel is doing with it's movies and now its TV show Agents of Shield, they are creating a universe with stories that are intimately linked to one another and broadening their scope to give even their lesser known heroes and villains a place in their shared universe. Ten years, no one seriously thought that Marvel could make an Avengers movie work. There are just two many pieces you have to movie together, and if it falls flat then you've ruined your chance at making it for at least a generation.

Then Iron Man happened. It was a great film in its own right and established the character well. Then after the credits, out of nowhere, Samuel Jackson appeared to tell Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative. All bets were off and it was going to happen. Marvel was going to try to do the impossible, and you know what? They did it. The Avengers was awesome and they continue to impress with their boldness, especially after the second Captain America movie.

On the other hand, DC hasn't made a non-Batman or Superman movie in decades besides Green Lantern (and that movie sucked). Why? Because they're scared. They know that if they keep remaking Batman every few years, they will rake in millions because of the Batman brand. Same with Superman, even if the movies are terrible. They have been totally unwilling to branch out to other equally popular DC heroes because they might not make quite as much money as if they just stuck with their two cash cows. They aren't taking risks and Marvel knows it. They're rubbing it in their faces.

Here's an example: Wonder Woman. How great would it be if DC came out with a Wonder Woman movie that rocked? They would blow everything out of the water. The one thing Marvel has yet to do it make a movie with a strong female lead. Black Widow may be a kickass female character, but she has never been the center of the action. If done well, a Wonder Woman movie would make huge amounts of money for DC because you'd get all the regulars to these kinds of movies, but Wonder Woman could potentially draw in a huge female audience that Black Widow just doesn't because Wonder Woman is a much better role model for little girls and teens. Besides, Wonder Woman has a rich backstory that could be used in so many cool ways. How has DC responded to this in the past? They've said they can't do it right now because they "want to get it right".

Meanwhile, Marvel's next movie, The Guardians of the Galaxy, stars a talking raccoon and a living tree. And it's going to be awesome. DC you really can't make a movie about a hero with lady parts? Really? Come on.

I understand their desire to get the movie right, but that doesn't give them a blanket excuse to never make a movie that doesn't star Batman or Superman. At some point DC, you have to get off your ass take the leap of faith. Your fans will reward you.

I have some hope that they will be taking this advice, given that they have a Wonder Woman cast for Man of Steel 2, but it's really not enough. Step out of the box you've placed yourself in. The water's fine. I know you can do better. I want you to do better. You have a vast array of superheroes and villains to work with and there's plenty of story to tell that doesn't include Batman or Superman.

I wanted to talk about DC's most recent flub titled, That One Time They Tried to Make Superman an Emo Teenager (a.k.a. Man of Steel), but I've already typed a bunch and I am hungry. Maybe next time.

BEDA #8: Question Tuesday!

Best and worst thing about being a ginger?
The worst thing is definitely the sun burns! I spend 15 minutes in the sun and I turn the color of a tomato, and I'm only slightly exaggerating!
The best thing is probably all of the people telling my how much they love the color of my gorgeous auburn puff. It happens at least a couple of times a week and it's usually little old ladies.
Funny story: when I was very young, 3-5 years old I think, my mom took me tot he grocery store and a couple of nuns came up to me to tell me that they loved my hair, and in response I did an impression of a T-Rex, my favorite dinosaur, by rawring at them like a T-Rex and putting up my fingers like claws and that freaked them out. (This also relates to what job I wanted when I was a kid, which I'll come back to in a sec.)

How is your Nanowrimo story going?
Not as well as I'd like. I have only 2100 words right now... Encouragement? :)

What are your hobbies?
I like writing, obviously otherwise I'd be even more crazy to subject myself to Nanowrimo, but I also really like to watch the show Arrow. It's really good.

Pie or Cake?
Cake! Though it's got to be dairy free.


What was your least favorite subject in high school?
My least favorite subject in high school was math, but specifically Algebra 2/Trig. I had a horrible teacher who thought I was insubordinate and who refused to give me any help when I was floundering in her class because I was "passive-aggressive." I had a 504 which was a documented physical disability, which allowed me to get extra time on tests and she refused to let me get extra time, so I was failing her tests because I wasn't finishing them, until I got retested to make sure I actually needed it (Spoiler alert: after several multi-hour tests on weekends, we figured out that my fine motor skill issues didn't fix themselves). Then after that she treated me like I was a toddler who couldn't understand English. It was humiliating, so yeah. I hated that class and I didn't particularly enjoy math to begin with.

Weirdly, I didn't enjoy English classes very much until my senior year of high school and college. Just goes to show you that things change!


What was the first thing you remember ever wanting to be when you grew up?
I desperately wanted to become a paleontologist when I was five. I knew everything there was to know about dinosaurs and I had watched all the documentaries ever made on dinosaurs. Jurassic Park then scared the crap out of me in the first thirty seconds. I still wanted to be a paleontologist for a while, but I eventually lost almost all of my knowledge about dinosaurs sadly.

Super hero or Super villain?

THOR! ... ahem. Superhero. :)

CDSM #2: Why I'm Afraid and How I Intend to Deal with It

I'll be honest with you guys.

I'm terrified.

Why, you ask?

Most people will tell you straight away they're afraid because they don't have a plan. That scares me too, but I have another, greater fear.

I have a plan.

I have a plan and I'm scared because of it.

I have anxiety problems and because there is so much I want to do, often it triggers the deep fear within that I won't finish what I want to do, or worse, what I'm meant to do. You see, I'm one of those people who has irrational fears out the wazoo, one of them being unable to complete the creative projects I want to because either I just stink at getting things onto the page, or fear of being judged by people who read my work, or because I just die before I finish what I want to (irrational, I know).

Criticism is tough to accept without taking it heart, and I really have to get better about that. For example, I was talking to a friend about an aspect of a story I am working on, and she told me that the story was unoriginal because she had read a book once that had a vaguely similar concept in it.

Being called unoriginal is pretty much the most damning criticism in the artistic world, and after that incident, I have been going through a major dry spell in my ability to write. I can hear the inner critic whispering words in my ears.

"You're not good enough."

"You've never been recognized for your writing."

"You'll never finish anything worth anyone's time and money."

"You're unoriginal."

The voice inside my head won't let me write, or rather, it makes me afraid to write my story, and I keep myself silent.

But I've come to an important realization.

The story that is inside me is important. I can't let fear stop me.

Sure, my story's plot is convoluted, long and complicated, but that doesn't matter. I have to write it. I know I do. I can't let myself be silenced by anyone, most of all myself and my fears and anxieties. It's a feeling deep in my gut. It's an aching pain that seeps into my mind when I'm not working on it. A pain so great it feels like it will crush my spine from on high, and when I do think about it or work on it, it's like a poison being extracted slowly from my system. A wonderful poison, but a poison all the same.

That is how I know my work is worthwhile.

So here's what I'm going to do in my next post: I'm going to tell you a bit about the story and you can tell me what you think. Then I'm going to keep on writing no matter what you say! ;)

But to give you a little preview: I have always been fascinated by the Greek gods, and now I'm combining them with aspects of Plato's philosophy and cosmology and throwing them into a science fiction universe (multiverse) of my own creation.

But something is preying on the gods across the boundaries of time and space...


Let me know what you think, and also if you have had similar experiences of fear of your creative works!

BEDA Day #1: Of Pinanas and Sherlock

Hey guys,

Today I'm going to talk about Pinanas and Sherlock, two topics I know nothing about, but have been thoroughly researching the past few days. I have come across some amazing discoveries.

What is a pinana, you ask?

Well, as far as my sources can tell me, the pinana is an object made up in a population control conspiracy by the British government in an effort to make people want to breed less. The pinana was designed to be a cast iron copy of the male genitalia. Seen here:

It also comes in the spiky variety.

The idea was that people would be so grossed out by the thing that they would stop having sex. Needless to say, the plan did not work out and the project was scrapped. Aliens were also involved early on, but when they saw that the plan was going to be defunded, they left and decided to put their time, energy and resources into other projects.

As far as Sherlock goes, from my research and reliable sources over at fanfiction.net, I have deduced that Sherlock is a TV show about a genius human/robot who is in love with a 900 year old alien who like to pick various people up and whisk them away in his phone box that is much bigger than it looks. Sherlock is the alien's companion and lover. Also there is someone called the Master involved. I assume that was either Sherlock or the alien during a bit of bedroom roleplay, but I could be mistaken.

April Fool's everyone! :)

The picture I used comes from this website: http://www.yurikonishimura.com/pages/pinana.htm

We're in Dialectic!

Hey guys! It’s time for me to answer the questions you guys wanted me to answer, and by the way, all of them are excellent questions and I’ve had to think a lot about how I am going to answer them (the philosophical mind at work). Just as a warning, this is going to be a long post. So of these question are very complicated and need thorough answers, so bare that in mind. Not to mention I’m long winded a lot. So I apologize in advance for that. Anyway, on to your questions:

1. I’d imagine Philosophy gets some pretty weird exam questions. What’s the most nuts one you’ve ever had? Ever been asked to explain the meaning of life in 3 hours plus reading time?

Philosophy is definitely notorious as being the subject that has the strangest, and in my opinion best, exam questions of any subject. I have gotten several strange questions. The most strange exam question I’ve ever had to answer is to explain and support George Berkeley’s argument against the theory of materialism (the one that theorizes that matter exists, that there is a physical world). It was odd to say the least.

I’m really sorry, but I have to disappoint you on the last question. I have never been asked in an exam to explain the meaning of life in three hours. I have been asked to explain the meaning of life in a serious conversation, but not in a class exam. I wish had. I think that would be an amazing experience to have to answer that question. For me, there’s nothing like having to answer a difficult philosophical question. Maybe I’ll try to answer that in a blog post some time!

2. Could you explain Nietzsche?

Nietzsche is a very complicated philosopher, one who I haven’t studied all that much, but I will do my best to explain some of his major philosophical views. Ironically I just started a class on Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche, for those who don’t know, was a 19^th century German philosopher who near the end of his life suffered a major mental break down and went mad could no longer speak or write. Many suspect that this was a late symptom of syphilis. Nietzsche died when he was just 56 of pneumonia in combination with a stroke.

Nietzsche went through some transformations philosophically over his writing career. However, in general, Nietzsche was a cultural reformer in his philosophy. He thought that German culture had become corrupted and diseased and sought ways to revive German culture. He spent a great deal of time being critical of traditional views on morals and truth, Christianity, contemporary culture, philosophy and science. He displayed a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism. His has influenced philosophy in the areas of nihilism, existentialism, and postmodernism.

He also was the inspiration for Pizza Mustache John.

See, they're practically twins.

In The Birth of Tragedy, his first work, he tried to appeal to art to do his work by praising the Ancient Greek society and their use of art, at least before Socrates who Nietzsche hated. Nietzsche thought that reason and philosophical discussion used to find answers (called dialetic) which had become the model for society in model culture was the problem with society. Society no longer recognized the value of instinct and madness, from which the best art came. He thought that art was a necessary part of human existence and without good art, society had become diseased.

The Gay Science is where Nietzsche gives us the famous line, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” The full quote is this, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

This is not to say that God was alive and is now physically dead. It’s not literal. What Nietzsche means is that he thought Christians have broken so far from the original values of Christ’s message that they no longer follow God and have turned their back on Him. Essentially he is saying that in his view God is no longer a viable source of morality in modern culture. Nietzsche himself was an atheist, and not a big fan of religion, Christianity in particular. In case you couldn’t tell. He even wrote an essay called The Antichrist.

Nietzsche also believed in the concept of eternal recurrence, which is the belief that the universe and all of history has happened over and over again infinite times before and will continue to repeat infinitely in the future.

Perhaps the most famous concept Nietzsche put forward in his writings, along with the death of God, is the Übermensch from Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Übermensch, or Supermen, were the ideal humans and a goal for us to reach. According to the Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Übermensch were people who embodied the spiritual development of a solitary, reflective, exceedingly strong-willed, sage-like, laughing and dancing voice of heroic self-mastery who, accompanied by a proud, sharp-eyed eagle and a wise snake, envisions a mode of psychologically healthier being beyond the common human condition. They would be the basis for morality in contrast to Christianity, in Nietzsche’s view, because they would be focused on this morality of life in this world for the sake of this world and not the next.

This idea, very unfortunately, was taken by Nietzsche’s sister after Nietzsche died and spread to her connections with the leaders of the Nazi Party, and they used it as the basis for heinous crimes against humanity, all in the name of the Aryan race that they thought was the same as the Übermensch. That’s why Nietzsche is often misinterpreted as an anti-Semite and a Nazi supporter. He wasn’t. They twisted his philosophy to their own evil purposes many years after Nietzsche died in 1900.

Other than that, Nietzsche was very critical of views of what morality is in modern society. Nietzsche’s final works dealt with his views on morality in great detail. Unfortunately, he died before he could finish them. His sister did eventually publish his notes, which became The Antichrist. One of his last complete works was Twilight of the Idols, in which Nietzsche reiterates and elaborates some of the criticisms of Socrates, Plato, Kant and Christianity found in earlier works, criticizes the then-contemporary German culture as being unsophisticated and too-full of beer, and shoots some disapproving arrows at key French, British, and Italian cultural figures such as Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Darwin, and Dante. In contrast to all these alleged representatives of cultural decadence, Nietzsche applauds Caesar, Napoleon, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Thucydides and the Sophists as healthier and stronger types. The phrase “to philosophize with a hammer” primarily signifies a way to test idols by tapping on them lightly; one “sounds them out” to determine whether they are hollow, or intact, etc., as physician would use a percussion hammer upon the abdomen as a diagnostic instrument (taken from the Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

There’s a fairly detailed look at Niezsche’s philosophy. If you have any questions ask me in the comments and I will try my best to answer them. Nietzsche is definitely an interesting philosopher, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

3. What kind of jobs do you expect to pursue with your degree? Are you optimistic about the job prospects?

I honestly don’t know. The nice thing about a philosophy degree is that philosophy is involved in so many different subjects that I could feasible go for whatever career I wanted. I have thought about teaching, but I don’t know if I am going to do that. First I would have to get a teaching degree and I’m not doing that right now. One of the things I love most is writing. I love created stories, worlds and characters. My dream job is to become at least a part time writer, if not a full time writer.

Optimistic? I want to be become a writer, does that answer your question? Haha

But seriously, I am really worried about getting a job, but I’m going to try my best. I think a lot of people are worried about getting a job and keeping it these days so I’m in good company. Anyone getting a liberal arts degree has an iffy amount of job prospects. I’ve decided to screw the rules and do what I love, instead of what might be more profitable on face value.

4. I’m fond of solipsism - just really thinking about it is a wonderful method of opening one’s mind to philosophical pondering, do you have such favorite philosophical ideas?

I don’t really know if I have a favorite philosophical idea in that sense. It would be too difficult to choose just one for me because I find that I like aspects of so many. I often like a philosopher’s ideas based on how interesting they are to think about rather than if I agree with them. There are also philosophers that I used to think were off their rocker, but I have warmed up to over the course of my study of them. For example, Plato. I used to not like his philosophy very much, but then I studied it more and it become so much more meaningful to me and interesting. Now he’s one of my favorite philosophers. Plus, he’s Plato. You just can’t beat him. He’s pretty much the creator of modern society (but that’s a topic for another day). Of course whether I agree with a certain philosopher’s position does factor into whether I like them, but I try to keep that bias to a minimum.

One other factor that is a major one in what philosophies I like is whether they have a point or application in the real world. For example, Descartes is a philosopher who I dislike (sorry to any Descartes fans). I don’t like Descartes because I think his process is a little pointless. In his Meditations, he starts by doubting everything exists, which in fact he doesn’t actually do, and then tries to find a basis for all truth in reality. He eventually concludes that the material must exist, which would be fine if his process didn’t lead him to the exact same conclusion that he had believed was true before the book began. Circular reasoning bugs me. It feels like a waste of time. I understand that the process is about affirming reality and truth, but it still bothers me.

Anyway, I will give you a list of some philosophers that I particularly enjoy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Xeno, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, John Locke, Nietzsche, Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (trying that five times fast haha), Bertrand Russell, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and while I don’t agree with him on a lot I do enjoy reading Søren Kierkegaard. That’s most of the philosophers I’ve studied by the way. haha

Looking at my list there are a wide range of philosophies represented, but most of them are empiricists if that helps answer the original question, but I also really like Platonism for the same reason you said you like solipsism, I love to think about it because I think it’s so interesting.

5. Heraclitus or Parmenides?

Heraclitus definitely, though sometimes it feels like Parmenides was on to something. A mixture of the two would probably be the best, but I think of the two Heraclitus was the more correct philosophically.

For those of you who don’t know who Heraclitus and Parmenides were, they were Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers. We are not very sure of anything about them and their works did not completely survive the years, but luckily others do gives us snippets of their philosophy.

Funnily enough, only one work from each survived at all, both only survived in fragments, and both works were called On Nature (translation of the Greek is up to debate of course).

Heraclitus was famous for his short words of wisdom. You remember that line in the song in Pocahontas “Just Around the Riverbend”, “You can't step in the same river twice.” That comes from Heraclitus. His philosophy was based on the idea that the world is constantly and eternally changing and in flux. Disney actually took that phrase straight from Heraclitus. So far he has been kind enough not to press charges for plagiarism.

Parmenides was the exactly the opposite philosophically. He thought that nothing in the universe ever changes and was static for eternity. His basic belief is that only one thing exists that is static and unchanging. Our world does not really exists. It’s a bit complicated and confusing.

If you want I can explain both Heraclitus and Parmenides further, but I think I have gone on for enough now. I hope you learned something from my answers. I know there was a lot in this post, so feel free to ask all the clarifying questions you want. I will answer them to the best of my ability.

DFTBA, everyone!

Matt