Escape to the Movies: Trailer Park - Star Wars, Jurassic World & Terminator

[Keith K]

These three trailers all impressed the heck out of me too. Terminator in particular really caught me by surprise. The idea of an in-canon reboot is pretty interesting and it's a great property to work with such a concept.

Also I will never be able to unsee the flying Fudgecicle. So thanks.

 

[bdcjacko]

So the Mother of Dragons has a Terminator? Fucking awesome.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So did Jupiter Ascending got pushed back or something? I could of sworn it was supposed to be release this year?

OT- I guess next year will be another interest one when it come to films, let not forget Avengers 2 now!

 

[WhiteNachos]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

 

[Entitled]

Most fanfiction however is this type of self insertion stuff. Basically taking the original story and genderflipping characters or putting in a new protagonist.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about too. It leaves the door open for a lot more original reinterpretations, than just continuing the same old canon.

Even in typical fanfiction, it can lead to some great stories in the hands of even remotely professional quality writers, it's really just that most of them are not that. The shallowness of the changed characters comes from the unpublished writers only having to pander to themselves alone, not to audiences.

Nowadays, with reboots being the trend, we are starting to see a lot of it, as for some reason the audiences finds it easier to take a "What if this story happened entirely differently?" premise than a "what happened next after they killed the villain?" premise.

 

[Ferisar]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Still unsure how this bothers people. If they're good characters and good actors, their "diversification" doesn't mean anything. It's reflecting the reality of there being others out there then white people. It doesn't mean white people are evil. Why is this such a complex concept despite being such a simple idea?

 

[WhiteNachos]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Still unsure how this bothers people. If they're good characters and good actors, their "diversification" doesn't mean anything. It's reflecting the reality of there being others out there then white people.

I don't buy that. If all the characters with speaking roles were a small group of one race but the background extras reflected the diversity of whatever city they were in, people would still say the movie has a lack of diversity.

I would say I'm more perplexed than anything that this matters to anyone. It could hurt a film, like if you pick the best cast for the movie then someone decides "wait this isn't diverse enough we need more X people" then that would mean arbitrary casting changes.

 

[WhiteNachos]

One thought I had about the Terminator trailer was


"why would you rip out a part of yourself and throw it at people, that would just mean there's less of you around and you'd have to retrieve it"

 

[Ukomba]

I feel strangely validated knowing Bob has the opposite opinion from me on the lightsaber.

Of course, more than anything, my primary concern is the name of Daisy Ridley's character. Her characters name could make or break the movie for me.

Edit: Seriously, if she's named Jaina, Jar-Jar could play a major roll in the movie and I'd be fine with it.

 

[Darth_Payn]

In order, I am excited for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, Terminator: Genisys, and Jurassic World, because that one's had the longest gap between the last iteration and the latest one.
Was expecting Horrible Bosses 2, but the "Trailer Park" is a nice change of pace."

OT: The new Terminator trailer looks horrible. It just oozes fanfiction, and from the looks of it makes it so the first movie never happened.

All franchised stories are just legally approved fanfictions anyway. If anything, I like the more free nature of the other kind of fanfiction, their only problem is the lack of production values. A high budget official sequel with that mentality, is far better than the bland, careful "canon" building of most official franchises.

Same with comic books. So many writers first grew up as fans of those heroes before growing up and getting jobs writing about them. Now the only difference between "fan-fiction" and official canon is a paycheck from the publisher.

 

[Entitled]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Primarily, because it's a litmus test for a more healthy society, and to a lesser degree, it presents a possible path to a more healthy society through wider empathy and more role models.

If every second movie contained graphic scenes infanticide, we would all say "Yay, this year only one third of movies involved infanticide. Progress!" even if the movies this year had a worse plot than the last, and some of them even had gaping infanticide-shaped plot holes in them. Not because it's progress for filmmaking, but progress for the world.

It's just better. Not for movie connoisseurs, but for our culture in general.

 

[Lightknight]

Yeah, we get it, white men all look the same to you and only women can succeed as the leads in movies to get the nod.

Does look interesting though. They always look interesting so that's not saying much.

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Primarily, because it's a litmus test for a more healthy society, and to a lesser degree, it presents a possible path to a more healthy society through wider empathy and more role models.

Is that really true if society as a whole really isn't that diverse? Males still by and large perform some of the more physically demanding and dangerous jobs, for example.

 

[Ukomba]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Primarily, because it's a litmus test for a more healthy society, and to a lesser degree, it presents a possible path to a more healthy society through wider empathy and more role models.

If every second movie contained graphic scenes infanticide, we would all say "Yay, this year only one third of movies involved infanticide. Progress!" even if the movies this year had a worse plot than the last, and some of them even had gaping infanticide-shaped plot holes in them. Not because it's progress for filmmaking, but progress for the world.

It's just better. Not for movie connoisseurs, but for our culture in general.

Could you be a little more hyperbolic? I'm not sure you're point was clear enough.

 

[b.w.irenicus]

I have to agree with Bob here (except for that stupid lightsaber crossguard). The trailer do look good... which isn't saying much considering that trailer are specificly made to be good.

PS: What made the dumb looking lightsaber even worse to me is the fact that they were clearly building this up to be like "now look, look and.... there, awesome, right?", which it is not.

 

[Entitled]

Is that really true of society as a whole really isn't that diverse?

Society has always been diverse, with 50% women, and no single ethnic majority through the world (and several vast ethnic minorities in the U.S. in particular).

 

[Ukomba]

I have to agree with Bob here (except for that stupid lightsaber crossguard). The trailer do look good... which isn't saying much considering that trailer are specificly made to be good.

PS: What made the dumb looking lightsaber even worse to me is the fact that they were clearly building this up to be like "now look, look and.... there, awesome, right?", which it is not.

Exactly right, take a look at the first Twilight trailer or any Shyamalan Trailer. You never know when you're going to be Dead Islanded by a trailer.

 

[Lightknight]

Is that really true of society as a whole really isn't that diverse?

Society has always been diverse, with 50% women, and no single ethnic majority through the world (and several vast ethnic minorities in the U.S. in particular).

Oh, I came in a bit late to your conversation and may have missed exactly why the conversation was being had. Also, women are actually the majority since males are more likely to take riskier jobs and be primary targets of aggression. So it's more like 52% women and 48% males. Still, since this is an action role it is far more likely to be the male than a female due to the tremendous power disparity between genders as well as aggression tendency. Still, it's Sara F'n Connor and this is a movie about humans fighting machines so the trivial disparity between male and female is pointless when compared to machine.

But the point is that I think it only really shows a sign of progress when it reflect society rather than being exploitative of groups to turn a profit. I think any director can come up with some form of tokenism to meet a checklist without it being any sort of sign of progression in society. If we could ever accurately gauge the reason why a person was selected then that would be a better indicator of why. But doing something just to fill a quota is artificial.

Though, I suppose there being a quota at all, an understanding that other people deserve representation too, that could be seen as progress whereas before there was no quota or even an anti-quota if you will.

Hmm... I'll have to consider that.

 

[WhiteNachos]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Primarily, because it's a litmus test for a more healthy society, and to a lesser degree, it presents a possible path to a more healthy society through wider empathy and more role models.

If every second movie contained graphic scenes infanticide, we would all say "Yay, this year only one third of movies involved infanticide. Progress!" even if the movies this year had a worse plot than the last, and some of them even had gaping infanticide-shaped plot holes in them. Not because it's progress for filmmaking, but progress for the world.

It's just better. Not for movie connoisseurs, but for our culture in general.

Thanks for the reply that was a pretty good explanation.

 

[KazeAizen]

I really don't get why a diverse cast is a good thing.

So instead of having all white people or all black people some of them will be black and some of them will be white. Woop de doo, how does that change anything about the plot the action, the acting or anything meaningful?

Primarily, because it's a litmus test for a more healthy society, and to a lesser degree, it presents a possible path to a more healthy society through wider empathy and more role models.

If every second movie contained graphic scenes infanticide, we would all say "Yay, this year only one third of movies involved infanticide. Progress!" even if the movies this year had a worse plot than the last, and some of them even had gaping infanticide-shaped plot holes in them. Not because it's progress for filmmaking, but progress for the world.

It's just better. Not for movie connoisseurs, but for our culture in general.

Thanks for the reply that was a pretty good explanation.

He hit the nail on the head pretty much. Also look at Idris Elba as Heimdal in Thor or Will Smith as Deadshot in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. We are slowly getting to the point that unless race is an integral part of their character i.e. Black Panther or Storm that we can start putting non white actors in traditionally white roles because half the time it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

Personally if it leads to more casting like Will Smith as Deadshot then I'm all for it. I mean a badass sniper/fire arms expert that never misses who can occasionally be a snarky badass. Its almost like Deadshot was meant to be played by Smith.(Lord knows he needs a career boost after his last outing).

 

[Entitled]

it's more like 52% women and 48% males.

I was pretty sure that the difference is lower than that, somewhere in the decimals of 50%, but can't be bothered to look it up. On to the main point:

But the point is that I think it only really shows a sign of progress when it reflect society rather than being exploitative of groups to turn a profit.

Sorry, now I see you have meant "whart if society as a whole really isn't that diverse" as in "What if society as a whole is more oppressive than portrayed".

On it's own, diversity doesn't even have to be about utopian gender role portrayal. The problem with the averge movie made in the 1950s was not just that it portrayed women as housewives, and black people as segregated, but that it largely forgot their EXISTENCE, and instead focused on the white man. And to a lesser degree, the same problem is true nowadays. OK, there are more men in the army, so why make so many army movies?

Even if it's made out of a desire to pander to a female side of the audience, the very attempt to pander to that audience would be a progress compared to ignoring them, and if men are willing to watch the same movies, that's even better progress, it shows that we are starting to see each other as human beings first, to be identiied with as characters.