weekly post

Another New Look

            This one is short notice, but the latest look of the website is based on New Pokémon Snap, which is out this Friday. The Nintendo 64 game was addictively fun when it launched in 1999, and I was just as a surprised as anyone that it took 22 years to get a proper sequel. Not that the Pokémon Company was clamoring for that audience with the success of literally everything they produce (mobile games, main series entries, a hearth of collectibles and memorabilia, Build-a-Bear collaborations, etc), but there was always something special about Pokémon Snap that other games didn’t have. It truly felt like a safari with the creatures you’ve come to know and love.

            I can’t wait to play New Pokémon Snap this weekend.

            Oh, and please check out the art I made for the website below:

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Mortal Kombat 2021 and Its Criticisms.

            First, a brief summary of how I felt about the film.

            Over the past week, the new Mortal Kombat simul-released in theaters and HBO Max. I watched it this morning, feeling trepidation about how the movie would work apart from the techo-frenzied fight sequences of the original films. Indeed, witnessing all the violent fatalities that were promised didn’t deter from the fun of the film, and I was pleasantly surprised by the end.

            By far, the best addition of the movie was Kano, a character I never thought I’d like. Kano was the humor and heart of the movie, honestly. Every other character felt shallow or played the stereotypical “tough guy” part in a fighting movie. Kano was funny, sociopathic, opportunistic, and hilarious. I wish every character had the depth and charm that he had. When he gets killed (spoiler), the movie deflates a little, which says more about the strength of the story. Outside of a tragedy, if a character dies and so does the energy of the film, it’s not a good sign.

            At least the tease for Johnny Cage at the end might mean a more satisfying sequel. Certainly, if Johnny’s character is as fun as Kano’s, we’re in for another good time. Plus, the new Sonya was perfect, and seeing the love-tension between those two forces could be very fun. I’m very happy with the new Mortal Kombat; it wasn’t a remarkable movie, but for its genre and tone, and for everything it was, the movie went well beyond what everyone was expecting.

            The world needs more movies like this.

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Criticisms

            The most peculiar part about the aftermath of the movie was listening to some of its criticisms. I’ll write more about how I feel about critics and criticism in depth in another piece, but in short, I don’t see the benefit of the critic. Not only does widely spread criticism warp the expectations and openness of someone who hasn’t seen/read/heard something, but over the years there has been a shift in motive for criticism.

            And criticism for Mortal Kombat 2021 is a prime example.

            Most criticism I heard and read was polarizing, which may be by design (I don’t know, I don’t write criticism nor think like a critic). Either the critic liked the film and thought it worked for its audience or lambasted it as a colossal failure as a film or for blowing its potential. Upon hearing what this film was “supposed to be”, I was left disoriented and, honestly, confused by how these critics think movies are made.

            Criticism often morphed into long dialogues of, “What they should have done was this…” and then a lengthy reworking of the script was discussed and, by committee (because these criticisms are often discussion), there was an agreement about how the movie would be better if X, Y, and Z plot points were inserted instead.

            I stopped listening at this point. The fundamental error in this kind of criticism is a misunderstanding of what it takes to make something. Any change introduced in the story has a ripple effect for everything else. When a critic loftily says, “They should have done this instead; it would have solved ALL their problems,” what they are really saying is, “Here’s a completely different movie that we DID NOT watch.”

            These critics are pitching their own movies, which are similar but NOT the thing they are reviewing. This “better” movie is just another deformity and becomes derivative of the original. And like most derivative things, it won’t work either.

            Again, I can go on at length with my views of what criticism is used for, but here’s the TL;DR of it:

            Mortal Kombat doesn’t have to be the things you wanted it to be. It exists, it did its thing, it was a good try, and it can be better. But goddam, it shouldn’t be the thing someone without a hand in making it suggests.

            If you want to make a Mortal Kombat, then go off and make one. Show us how it’s done. Then, you can say what it should have been.

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

            The other great piece of cinema I watched was the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It was a series exploring what it would mean for Sam Wilson (The Falcon) to become the new, black Captain America. I loved how the show depicted black America and the terrible differences between those with power in a room and those who are left to be experimented on or taken advantage of. In the context of the Marvel universe and the repopulation of the planet from the reversal of Thanos’s snap, those issues – which ranged from what to do with immigration to how those with resources look at other races and their actions, militant or not – was a message that needed to be heard. For me, it was another example of how making something can make a difference.

            I’ve always been torn about the purpose of art. Should it try to impact the world in a specific, message-oriented fashion? Does there need to be a moral to the story? My deepest held belief is no, not in the slightest. It isn’t the primary function of art to tell the world how to behave itself. Done in the worst ways, this kind of art deforms into propaganda and is the opposite of the creative spirit—it then becomes a tailored message of a machine (political, corporate) and thereby loses its soul. The purpose of this art is, then, to manipulate, not illuminate.

            Put simply:

Propaganda tells you what to do/believe/say.

Art gives you the freedom to discover what it all means to you.

            In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I don’t think its message was propaganda. The final episode has a great deal to say about current issues of immigration and the role of governments to help those in need instead of relegating them to undesirable groups such as terrorists, immigrants, thugs, etc. It was a message aimed at a world that further wishes to partition itself into the haves and have-nots, and it was the right time to say it. In fact, there isn’t a wrong time to relay this message.

            Why this message is not propaganda is because it exists in a world that has foregone human decency and community in favor of greedily snatching up everything for themselves–or at least the idea that these people ought to have things over others. I think this message was particularly powerful because of the way Marvel shepherded it along. The combination of the characters, the villains and their motives, and the interweaving of both heroes and their counterparts, how each could play the role of villain or hero, is what made this show special.

            In other words, just as with this show’s message and the audience, a hero can become a villain, a villain can play a hero, and it is up to us to choose for ourselves.

            I can’t wait to see what Marvel is planning next.

            Well done, Malcom Spellman and company.

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Hoping everyone is as well as they can be. You’re not alone out there,