Anthony Stokes on whether movie geeks are too close-minded…
James Gunn, director of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, has received a lot of flack on Twitter for “forcing” Doctor Who star Karen Gillan to shave her head for the role of Nebula. Never mind that this was almost certainly her decision, that she looks as beautiful as she did with her hair, and that this could be the actress’ big break… it’s all James Gunn’s fault. There was also some backlash at Joss Whedon for not including Hank Pym in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Hank Pym who will undoubtedly be a major element in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man half a year later. These two examples hammer home what I’ve thought for years – that geeks can be way too close-minded. I’m referring to those who are fans of something to the point where it’s obsessive. I just want to put some things into perspective and help my fellow nerds out…
The biggest offenders have to be those people who claim “Michael Bay raped my childhood”. It’s obvious why this shouldn’t be a popular phrase for a number of reasons I won’t get into, and instead I’ll just focus on the childhood part. So your childhood was made up entirely of Transformers and Ninja Turtles? You didn’t play any sports, or play any video games, you just say in front of the TV eating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal in Transformers pajamas? These shows were on during the 80s. That means the real old school fans of these shows are at least in their 30s, and they’re still upset? I’m willing to give Star Wars fans a pass because George Lucas has made the original versions of the Star Wars trilogy unavailable. But anytime an adaptation like Transformers or TMNT comes out there’s an uproar. For me personally I was a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z as a kid; I had the games, the clothes, the books, everything you can imagine. So when the movie came out and was a complete travesty, did I through a fanboy tantrum? Not at all. I was 16 at the time and mature enough to remember that I still had everything that makes the show great back at home. As long as you still have your comics, television show, books etc., it doesn’t matter what Hollywood does. And I’m pretty sure all these fanboys lined up to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon knowing it wouldn’t resemble their beloved TV show, but making it a billion dollar movie in the process. It’s cool to be a fan of something, but it’s even cooler to be a well balanced person.
Recently there was a lot of controversy over Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Fruitvale Station) being in talks to play Johnny Storm in Fox’s reboot The Fantastic Four. Why was it controversial? Because he’s black and the character of Johnny Storm is white traditionally. I’m going to quote a comment I saw that read “I’m not a racist or anything but stop making my characters black”. Normally anytime a statement beings with “I’m not a” followed by a noun, said noun is almost certainly true, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he’s just a little close-minded. I caught a bit of flack for saying that due to the lack of diversity in Hollywood it would be a good choice for the director of Black Panther to be black; even though I stated that the first priority was to pick a director who would be good for the project people insisted, “race doesn’t matter, it should be whoever is the right choice”. Okay, so how come this applies to who’s behind the camera and not in front of it? Michael B. Jordan is a great choice for Johnny Storm for several reasons. He had a stand out performance in one of the best received superhero movies of last year on Chronicle, he’s already worked with director Josh Trank before on said movie, and he has more charisma and charm then any other young actor working today. Not only is he great for Johnny Storm, but he could even play Tony Stark. So even though there’s several reasons he’s “good for the role”, he shouldn’t be in it because he looks different then what people are accustomed to seeing from Johnny Storm.
I brought this up to make a point. What people really mean is “it should be the right choice as long as long as you don’t change it too much”. It’s baffling to me as to why people are so adamant on comic book movies being so close to their source material. Once again, you’ve already read the comic books, wouldn’t you rather have a new take on a story you already know front to back? I’m using Michael B. Jordan as an example, but how many times has Marvel cast somebody who was nobody’s first pick and they went on to knock it out of the park? So, the next time something is different than you expected, remember that’s what makes movies so good.
I used two extreme examples here and I understand that this close-mindedness only applies to a minority in the geek community – or so I hope – but like I said this is more to do with perspective than anything else. I’m the world’s biggest Robert Downey Jr. fan and when it was rumored he might not be in The Avengers 2 I was crushed and it ruined my day. But then I realized that the world’s not going to end, Robert Downey Jr. is healthy, and The Avengers 2 is just entertainment. It’s only as significant as you make it. It’s sole purpose is to entertain you and leave you in a good mood, but if it does the opposite to the point that it ruins your day then that’s a problem. So next time, before you go on a comments section on a website announcing news you’re not too fond of instead, of furiously typing “I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS”, just remember… it’s only entertainment.
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker.
Originally published July 29, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
