Comments on: Comics pack ONE-TWO punch at box office

by: markus

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 07:09:10 +0000

Right, when there’s an opinion piece on ALJazeera the right way to report about is is “AlJazeera proclaims” as if the network took that position officially.
You know, I truly hope “they” are not as dumb. Otherwise the rantings of our columnists might be reported as the official stance of major media outlets.

Also, I’m quite certain that subtle distinction would not have been lost when talking about e.g. an opinion piece in the NYT. Racist, merely “culturally insensistive” or just plain dumb?

by: Foot2Mouth - A Mouth Kicking News Source » Blog Archive » Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Daredevil Connection

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:21:12 +0000

[…] Then we were on The Beat reading stuff, as we normally are, when Heidi reminded us about the true implications that this weekends box office report had. We had forgotten that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a comic book. Meaning that for the first time in living memory TWO comic book movies are on top of the charts, at spots 1 and 2. […]

by: Jimmie Robinson

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:43:12 +0000

RE: Turtles

I saw it over the weekend and I have to admit…. it WAS a very good action film. I was impressed - especially since I walked in “cold” not having seen any adverts or trailers. The rain sequence (as shown above) is knock out scene stealer. I only wish half the other action films had such fun in mind.

And yes, Daredevil / Ronin parody.

by: hcduvall

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:20:01 +0000

Well, sure, the setting was preset. But while I think Denby was being a bit overwrought with his critique there, and I don’t think the filmmakers are intentionally making any political points, given the nature of the subplot and of some of the speeches and dialogue added to 300 the movie, about politicians sending people to there deaths for example, I don’t think it’s surprising that people are reading more than there is.

by: Bulent

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:54:08 +0000

But the source of the movie is the comic book, and because of the fidelity to the originating work in this instance, it is also the source of its themes and ideas.

Unless, of course, Zack Snyder deliberately chose to make 300 because the action takes place in the Middle East… but do you really think he’s being that insidious? More likely it was an unhappy coincidence.

by: hcduvall

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:04:09 +0000

But obviously, Dneby is talking about the movie, which was made last year, and not reviewing the graphic novel.

by: Bulent

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:51:26 +0000

I love the final quote from Denby’s review:

Made in a time of frustration, when Americans are fighting a war that they can neither win nor abandon, “300” … feel(s) like the product of a culture slowly and painfully going mad.

If we didn’t know that 300 was written and drawn several years before the current situation in the Middle East, then you could almost believe it to be true. Almost.

by: Sphinx Magoo

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:50:20 +0000

The Daredevil link was also implied in the origin in that the radioactive substance which knocked Matt Murdock in the head (and gave him his super powers) fell into the sewer, broke open and caused the mutation of four pet turtles into our four heroes. It’s been years since I read those issues, but I remember laughing because it was such a playful goof and look what it’s spawned into!

by: Rodney wall

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:25:32 +0000

I found 300 to be entertaining(more so than I expected), but had a lot of problems with the “political” subtext.
I thought it could be easily read as both racist, and homophobic.

I think in the future it will be seen as a “camp” classic (so bad it’s good), and do quite well at midnight screenings.
Maybe people will dress up like the Rocky Horror folks do.
Imagine a theater full of buff dudes with waxed chests, and cod pieces.

It saddens me that AlJazeera chose to dredge up the “Jewish Conspiracy” myth in their criticism. But I’m also regularly saddened by how gleefully people in “the west” like to sling insults at Muslims.

It seems to me that the propaganda is working pretty well on both sides.

by: Anonymous

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:08:59 +0000

Typo…meant to say Western as well as Eastern. Islamic imperialism has been epidemic since its inception. Which is why the Persians are Iranians now, being bossed around by Arabs. Persians are not Arabs.

by: Anonymous

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:07:15 +0000

Wow, those Muslims were being especially respectful of Western culture when they invaded Spain, Romania, India, etc…

What a dhimmi.

by: Andrew Wickliffe

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:53:26 +0000

But that first part of the AlJazeera quote is true.

In fact, so’s the second, but only if you read Atlanta weeklies.

by: Anonymous

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:38:01 +0000

Oops. I meant parody, not satire.

by: Anonymous

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:37:16 +0000

Actually, it was a satire of Daredevil, wasn’t it? The ooze that mutated them was the same that blinded Matt Murdock. And “The Hand” became “The Foot.”