Iron Man (belated)

[sub_divided]

Seen with sesame_seed and emblem's boyfriend on Saturday (aka Day 2 of the KILLER HEATWAVE we are currently suffering here on the East Coast).


subdee: they should have just named the movie Tony Stark: Rockstar
apintrix: ha ha ha!
He was definitely an International Playboy, at the very least :D
subdee: no wonder rolling stone liked it! stark had "character flaws" but mostly everyone just thought they were charming
apintrix: my old writing-group member [S] had a good comment on that
she said it's a narrative trick: the characteristics you introduce a guy with are the ones that will stick
so since he gets introduced as a charming guy in the truck (and then hapless punching bag), they can then get away with a lot more assholishness
whereas if he'd started out sleeping with vanity fair chick, he's always be an asshole
subdee: in this case the introduction had marines laughing at his jokes and asking if they could take his picture
yeah
apintrix: yep
I fell for it
subdee: anyway the moral i took away from the movie was: bald guys are always evil
apintrix: it's true! They are!
Particularly jean-luc picard
totally nefarious
subdee: i thought he might be good! just because it would have been unexpected
but i forgot i was watching a comic-book movie
apintrix: but Jeff Bridges was so excellent.
subdee: who?
apintrix: Obadiah Stane
subdee: he was great
apintrix: I had to go rewatch The Big Lebowski aftertwards :)
subdee: ha! [emblem's boyfriend] said the same thing
apintrix: it was elucidating
or something
anyway, Jeff Bridges is a damn fine actor, was my conclusion
(also, the dude abides.)
subdee: he slid from confidant to villain really well
apintrix: yeah!
anyway, I thought the movie was awesome.
Kind of disturbing at times in a glorifying-violence way, but still awesome.
subdee: i was reminded of starship troopers
targeted application of force >> indiscriminate missile bombardment
apintrix: really? I don't know. starship troopers was so unbelievably cartoonish
and parodic
this wasn't parodic
subdee: not the movie, the novel
apintrix: oh oh oh.
never mind then, good point :)
I haven't read the novel personally, but I had a friend who expounded on it at length
subdee: the author's main points are 1) militarism is awesome and 2) battle suits are cool
apintrix: can't argue with the latter point
subdee: it's a nice thought, what with the recent destruction of bagdad and all
a couple of marines in power suits starts to look really appealing
apintrix: yeah...
subdee: i guess my big issue with the movie was with the "terrorists"
who were they? what were their goals? why were they so stupid?
etc etc
apintrix: so evidently they're some classic Iron Man villain terrorism ring
the "ten rings"
from the comics
which goes a long way towards explaining why they're kinda lame
they're led by some guy called The Mandarin
-- weep in P.C. fear
(I get all this info from Julian)
subdee: yeahhh, okay
the problem is that "terrorists" when iron man was serialized and "terrorists" in these times are two different things
old-time "terrorists" were for-profit and operated across borders
today "terrorist" is synonymous with "islamofascist" (i hate that word)
apintrix: yeah, I agree. It was one of the things that bothered me most.
There was a good review in Slate about it
not just the conflation
but cartoon terrorists to make it OK to simplify the problem
subdee: bah
should have called them an international arms-dealing ring
apintrix: yeah, that would have been better.
subdee: and like, maybe people who kidnapped stark could have been primarily hungarians? rather than those being thrown in as an afterthought
apintrix: but then it wouldn't have hit that psychological sweet spot
that's how they get half their juice
So, ethically better, but less cinematically effective...
well, that's my take on it
but I agree, evil hungarians is an underused demographic.

Borders has a 40% off sale on CDs today and tomorrow! Borders does not, however, have The Jayhawks. ;_;

Books to blog:
River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, Thant Myint-U (finished)
The Venus Hunters/The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard, J.G. Ballard (duh)
What Katy Did/What Kary Did Next, Susan Coolidge
We Are All Welcome Here, Elizabeth Berg
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner

Not sure what to read next - Going Postal (Terry Pratchett)? Justine (Lawrence Durrell)? More nonfiction? Anyway.