Monthly Archives: April 2010

Random Pop Culture Stuff

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First, I’m reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. Yes, this is the book which has been made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’m planning to. Well, Mz. Julie has a blog still, which you can view here. So far, I’m really enjoying this book/memoir. And it makes me feel a little more accomplished in the kitchen sometimes. Stay tuned for a review when I’m done! :)

Second, congrats to Sandra Bullock who has adopted by all accounts an absolutely precious little boy. Yay, yay, yay!! And way to go on divorcing that douche! You deserve better!! It happens to the best of us, sis.

(Photo source)

How Very Interesting

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So, my Avatar watching, and then the subsequent playing of Sweet Home Alabama when we switched off the DVD player (it was on the random cable channel the T.V. was already set to), got me thinking about a phenomenon in script writing.

What, pray tell, is the phenomenon, you ask?

Well, I’ll tell you: the use of the name “Jake” (or “Jacob”) for central, manly, heroic characters.

Now, now, don’t scoff until you think about it for a second. Seriously, just off the top of my head, I can name five “Jakes” of the cinema (and some are from the books that preceded the movies).

And these Jakes all have commonalities. They’re handsome. They’re brave. They’re out to save the bad guy/protect the girl/rescue the little kid/prove himself.

For example:

Since Avatar started the train of thought, we’ll start with Jake Sully. He’s a former Marine who is paralyzed from the waist down. But does this stop Jake from serving his country/planet? Does it stop him from going on a psychic adventure, plugged into a giant blue dude? Does it stop him from winning the girl, leading the army, and effectively freeing an entire planet from evil? NO! Exhibit A: Jake Sully. Hero, love interest, warrior. We won’t talk about the fact that he delivers speeches like William Wallace (Braveheart)…and that he’s also blue–you know, ’cause Wallace and his cohorts painted themselves blue [snicker].

Okay, so next up obviously has to be Jake Perry from Sweet Home Alabama. He’s tall. He’s a hottie!! He won’t sign Melanie’s divorce papers, but follows her to New York and realizes he’s got to make something of himself to be worthy of her **sigh!** He owns his own company and is independent. He’s a gentleman and has a bloodhound (read: manly man). And he still desperately loves Melanie to the point of being exasperatingly annoyed by her at times. In the end, Mr. Blue Eyes gets the girl. Exhibit B: Jake Perry. Rawr.

But there are more Jakes out there! One of my favorites? Jake Brigance from A Time to Kill. He’s the underdog (and also HOT); a family man and loyal to his wife even when Ellen Roarke busts a move on his sweaty fineness. He’s fighting for a black man in the uber white South. He faces death threats, has to send his wife and kid away for their safety, his house is burned to the ground, he loves his dog, and it looks like the slimy DA is going to win after all. But in the end, Jake is triumphant and bridges cultural and racial divides to become a hero in and out of the courtroom. Yay!!

And, who could forget everyone’s favorite werewolf? Jacob “Jake” Black. (Twilight) He’s heroic. He transforms into a furry four-legged critter when he gets pissed, but hates what that’s done to him. He yearns for Bella and is tortured by her choice to hang with vampires and follow Edward around like a love sick puppy. He can’t stand the fact that she plans to become one of them and therefore his mortal enemy. He’s tanned. He’s buff. He’s manly. He’s going to protect Bella if it kills him, literally. He’s “sorta beautiful.” Yet another Jake we love!

And last, but certainly, in no way least: Jake McCandles from Big Jake. Seriously, I don’t even really need to say anything here. This Jake is played by the Duke himself: John Wayne. So, you know he comes with swagger. He’s a cowboy. He saves his grandson. And dude’s married to a chick played by Maureen O’Hara. Checkmate! Exhibit E: Jake McCandles, legendary Jake.

So, I’m sure I’m missing some, and would love some input on any “Jakes” in pop culture you’ve found.

Side note: Jacob became Israel in the Old Testament. Judaeo-Christan subtlety? You be the judge.

Photo sources:
Jake Sully
Jake Perry
Jake Brigance
Jacob Black
Big Jake

I think I missed something…

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Okay, I realize that I’m going to disappoint some of you, but I promise, I have very valid arguments for what I’m about to say…

It was up for Best Picture…and was the largest grossing box office smash. The reviews have been FANTASTIC! People have watched it over, and over, and over, and…well, you get the point. So, when my hubby purchased Avatar this weekend, I was prepared for AWESOME.

Eh. [shrugs]

It was OK.

[cringing for reaction]

Okay, now that that’s over, allow me to explain. First, I’m not saying it’s bad, because it’s NOT a bad movie. The cinematography was beautiful. The actors did a great job (I heart Michelle Rodriguez; chick kicks serious butt) and visually, things probably couldn’t be better. And the unique, completely fabricated language is pretty impressive.

The story? Eh.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
(Now that I can’t be blamed for ruining the movie for you, I can continue!)

Avatar read (watched?) like a typical Native American movie to me. I know James Cameron said that it was about environmentalism, but all I could think about were the gazillions of movies about white/Native interactions that are [already] out there. The only difference here is that instead of the wild west, the natives are on a different planet. And they’re blue.

And can we just discuss the name of the planet for a minute?? Pandora?? REALLY???? I’m sure Cameron was going for some deep symbolism or something (recall if you will that Pandora was the Greek chick [ah! seeing another pattern developing in my blogs!] who opened the forbidden box–known as “Pandora’s box” [haha, genius Greeks]–and let all the plagues out into the world), but that symbolism is lost to anyone who doesn’t get it, and intensely vague for those who do.

Moving on…

Okay, so we’ve got these blue dudes and chicks running around with tails, right? Oh, and phallic dreadlocks that they can use to plug into the world around them. Like trees where the souls of their ancestors reside…and animals. Which begs the question: how do they, um, copulate? [Ahem.]

So a Native American would steal a horse, or find a wild pony, jump on its back and break it and then would own it, right? These blue dudes? SORRY: Na’vi. Yeah, they plug their squid-like dreads into the squid-like tube thingy attached to some part of these wild flying beast thingies (which I’m sure have a technical name, but I don’t really care) and all of a sudden, the frenzy in the wild animal’s eyes dies away and one of near love replaces it, and the animal is owned by the blue dude…er, Na’vi. Seriously. They call it “making the bond.” Yeah. That’s also a metaphor for something else…but, moving on. [shudder]

There’s another clip where one of the deer-like animals is killed by the blue guys for sustenance, and as it dies, the main character Jake finishes him off with thanking the four-legged critter for his sacrifice and commending his spirit to the Earth/Pandora(?) mother goddess. You know, I seem to remember a little movie called The Last of the Mohicans in which two of the main characters DO THE EXACT SAME THING, only not in black-light wack-a-doo world.

That’s another thing: the movie (while beautiful) looks like a giant moving black light poster. Ciga-weed, anyone?

Oh, yeah, and Dances with Wolves has a whole animal/human/earth connection thing too, but who’s counting??

Ooh, ooh, yeah, and remember the power loaders in the movie Aliens?? You know the ones: yellow; Ripley jumps into one to fight the queen alien. “Get away from her, you b*&ch!!” Ah, now you remember! Cameron recycled that idea too (granted, it was his own the first time around, so it’s not technically plagerism…) and orchestrates a climactic fight scene in this movie between a different soldier and a blue, less acidic alien. Geez. (Sigourney Weaver’s also in BOTH movies)

And the score?

Dear James Horner,
Please come up with new phrasing and drop the triplet sets that you use in EVERY score. It’s very recognizable. And old. I could have plugged the Mask of Zorro soundtrack in and have gotten something pretty similar in most cases.
Best regards,
me.

Really, I could keep going. But, I won’t.

In all, I feel that to fully grasp the concept of Avatar, I would need to smoke some serious peyote (which I am unwilling to do), hug some major trees, roll around in a lot dirt (maybe even eat a little…), and forget all of the movies about big, bad white expansionist guys taking over the less advanced, more spiritual indigenous peoples that I’ve EVER seen. Then, maybe I can get on board with it.

Or not…the blue dudes and chicks would still be obnoxiously scream-crying about everything, and that gets old. Fast.

So, here’s to the almost-best picture of the year. Like most in that category, it was a disappointment.

[let the scoffs and arguments commence]

Avatar photo source
Pandora photo source
The Last of the Mohicans photo source (Because I love me some old-school, loincloth wearin’ Daniel Day-Lewis) (www.fanpop.com)