The Big Picture: Relics

[Orbot_Vectorman]

Yay, I learned something new! thank you sir.

As for a question... since you have worked in movie industrie, my question would have to be: How would you make video game based movies work?

 

[RJ Dalton]

Very good episode. I more-or-less knew the information already, but you made it click. Now for my question.

Who would win: Anakin Skywalker or Gambit?

Gambit. Because Anakin Skywalker was apparently a cry-baby.

 

[epikAXE]

I loooove all that lost city stuff in videogames/movies ect, but this take on it, i'd never even considered. Bob must really have an insightful mind to notice this kind of stuff right?

Loved the video btw, best one for a while.

 

[SlothfulCobra]

I actually think of South America when I think of lost cities, since one of the archetypical lost cities, El Dorado is located around there, or in southern-North America, but I suppose the point of racism still stands.

I do think however, that the standard american perspective on racism does tend to mess up proper understanding of classic ethnocentrism. That is to say, people have been trying to claim that there must've been some mystical/alien force helping the ancients build their wonders from the great Pyramids to Stonehenge, where everyone doubts that the very white, but not-german and not-roman Celts could've built something that <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju_6_7YJPWE>a man built in his backyard.

 

[SlothfulCobra]

shit; doublepost

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

The really depressing thing about this is that those European explorers would have likely known what the Spaniards found in the Americas, which included some of the largest cities in the world at the time, so the notion that non-Europeans/Asians could build such civilizations was not so inconceivable as to be ludicrous. Hell, even the then-legendary city of Timbuktu, which contained an ancient library and other buildings reminiscent of Alexandra, was located in Northern Africa and was almost inaccessible to those without guides.

As for questions:

-Any opinion on the current US presidential race?

-Are there any movies that you would like to be remade now that certain advances in cameras, film, and effects have been made? It's real easy to tear down reboots/remakes, but there's got to be a movie that you actually want remade well.

-Have you ever watched an okay movie and wondered if it would have been better suited for another medium?

 

[Squin]

Wow, very informative, I had no idea "The Lost City" trope originated from Africa like that, pretty depressing when it's put like this.

When I see "The Lost City" my mind jumps straight to South America, Mayans, Aztecs, that sort of thing.

 

[scdallav]

Same deal with the Mound builder cultures of the mid-west. Cultures and languages drift, populations migrate, civilizations collapse, etc. It's not like anyone in Britain has an oral tradition of the building of stonehenge, and for that matter for most if not all of the dark ages Europeans were unable to duplicate the construction methods and accomplishments of the Romans, though at least in that case they knew who built them.

 

[Jegsimmons]

now if i may, do you (bob) think possibly that the reason they didnt think blacks built the civilizations was because that these were astounding castles and when they got there the people were....living in huts......thats sort of what is was thinking the whole vid. they probably thought that way because almost no other civilization has gone from castles to huts and seemed to move...backwards.
Now of course im not saying anything negative to be mean, i just like to think about all 3 sides of an issue (there's always at least 3 sides to any argument. Quiet frankly if i found a new civilization that lived in huts while finding remains of huge empires, i sort of wonder why the hell no one ever thought of rebuilding or replicating it for better living conditions. That may be part of the reason they couldn't believe they made it.

 

[scdallav]

Huh. That's kind of interesting.

But wait... presumably they had guides and such that they could ask. Someone must have known the history of the cities, even if there was only oral stories.

Well... actually, I guess that's what the books were loosely based off, and then imaginations back home ran wild.

Here's a question for you though:

What are the other non-Tolkein fantasy ancestors?

Just wondering what there was before pointy ears and short bastards.

Same deal with the Mound builder cultures of the mid-west. Cultures and languages drift, populations migrate, civilizations collapse, etc. It's not like anyone in Britain has an oral tradition of the building of stonehenge, and for that matter for most if not all of the dark ages Europeans were unable to duplicate the construction methods and accomplishments of the Romans, though at least in that case they knew who built them.

 

[Baresark]

This is one of the most level headed assessments of what racism is/was that I have ever heard a voice say (besides the one's in my head). So many things are racist and based on racism that have nothing at all to do with any sort of negative connotation that it outright gives me a headache when this subject is brought up. For instance, take affirmative action. It is racist in the sense that it's a social movement that defines some people of a certain race (or gender or backround or religion) as more deserving of something based on that very thing. And how about this, if you are positively racist about a person then you are by extension negatively racist about other people who are not like them.

What it all comes down to is choices. People want to define choices that other people make as a choice based on race, when many times that simply is untrue. No one is denying that there are folks out there who hate women, blacks, hispanics, jews, etc., based on those very things. But when you throw racism around so lightly as it's done today, then you basically are harming the cause of equality. And in conclusion, if you want there to be equality, you must get completely rid of any policies that are based on race.

PS. This does not mean it's ok to call someone who beat you League of Legends, the N-word or a jew or anything of that sort. as I have seen so many of the children who play that game, and others, do so often.

 

[OniaPL]

Don't know if this is a bit silly or anything you know about, but anyways:

Why so many fantasy works repeat the same tropes of elves, dwarves, dragons over and over again? Why is it so hard to come across a fantasy work which feels fresh and new?

 

[Exterminas]

Is there any evidence in the comics that Batman and Robin had a homosexual relationship?
I mean aside from the chuckling-inspiring scenes of them having a Spa together. Or is that just one of these fun pop culture things, like saying that Bert and Ernie were Lovers?

(I don't want to bash homosexual people, mind you, I am just curious if there is actual evidence)

 

[Rabidkitten]

The "Lost City" theme doesn't just refer to the continent of Africa though. Almost every place in planet earth has some kind of ancient ruin. You know because people have been living all over the planet for the last 20,000 years. And in Africa since the dawn of the species (Amy dates 3 million if I'm not mistaken). I totally buy that colonists were racist monsters, but I'm not sure I buy that those same adventures in racism bleeds into our own modern perspective of exploring lost civilizations. I think of a bunch of nerds carefully digging up a temple in a Central American jungle for months, then making a boring show for the discovery channel (pre motocycle fishing wtf madness discovery). With all sorts of ridiculous speculative fiction about what went on their.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

That was cool.

Ok question time.
Now that BioWare are done with Shepherd's story and are on their way to finishing up Dragon Age, what do you think they will try next?

I kind of hope they try a RPG world that has magic (and I mean magic magic), but is placed in a future world. Not as far in the future as Mass effect maybe, but at least far enough that they have electricity and indoor plumbing.

Do you think they will be trying anything like that? Have you (or anyone else really) heard of a game like that?

Thanks for the brain food Bob!

 

[beniki]

Huh. That's kind of interesting.

But wait... presumably they had guides and such that they could ask. Someone must have known the history of the cities, even if there was only oral stories.

Well... actually, I guess that's what the books were loosely based off, and then imaginations back home ran wild.

Here's a question for you though:

What are the other non-Tolkein fantasy ancestors?

Just wondering what there was before pointy ears and short bastards.

Same deal with the Mound builder cultures of the mid-west. Cultures and languages drift, populations migrate, civilizations collapse, etc. It's not like anyone in Britain has an oral tradition of the building of stonehenge, and for that matter for most if not all of the dark ages Europeans were unable to duplicate the construction methods and accomplishments of the Romans, though at least in that case they knew who built them.

There were though, weren't there? Folk lore about druid circles and fairy folk?

Not certain if that's true, but if it is the case, then maybe those stories about lost civilisations in Africa aren't actually the product of racism, but merely using local folk lore... which would be an interesting book to write for someone of an explorer mind set.

Not that I'm denying that there may be racist origins, but like Bob says, we should approach this with intellectual honesty. Does anyone know any African folk lore about ancient civilisations?

 

[Lunar Templar]

Non-Marvel, non-DC, possibly even non-Superhero comics please!

Antarctic Press has a lot of those
http://www.antarctic-press.com/

go, be free

OT:

did not know that about that trope, but its about as surprising as the sun coming up

 

[Deathlyphil]

Non-Marvel, non-DC, possibly even non-Superhero comics please!

Antarctic Press has a lot of those
http://www.antarctic-press.com/

go, be free

OT:

did not know that about that trope, but its about as surprising as the sun coming up

Thanks for the link. Not quite what I was meaning, but thanks anyway. My point is that MovieBob only ever talks about Marvel and DC. It's like none of the other exist (Except when they are getting consumed by Marvel/DC).

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Good Episode.

My only issue is with your statement about racism being an integral part of human history since the beginning. That's not really true since to be a racist, a person needs to feel as if they belong to a larger race of people than just their surrounding environment. The ancient Greeks weren't racist because they did not see themselves belonging to a superior race. An Athenian would see himself superior to his fellow Greeks and Greeks superior to Persians, Romans,or any other Mediterranean race. The concept of belonging to member of a "race" didn't come along much later until the Enlightenment when the scope of the world view had broadened.

Other than that, very good episode. It's interesting to think that the concept of "the lost city" being based on the skepticism of explorers who found it more believable to attribute buildings to a undiscovered people than the inhabitants.

 

[WoahDan]

As a history buff you didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, but you did it in an interesting way so that's OK.

With the whole "digital retail" idea gathering steam(heh)do you think we'll see a return to built-in modems like with the dreamcast?

(and because I am nothing if not a pedant: the idea of being racially tolerant isn't really new, there have been plenty of multi-racial empires and civilizations etc in the past, what is new is the idea of being racially tolerant being the norm in post-industrial western society.)