Something I’ve noticed about a lot of contemporary films is that they seem to have an almost childish inability to consider real-world consequences. I’m not talking about complex things that the average person wouldn’t think of; I’m talking major factors about how people behave or how the world works. Let me illustrate with two particularly … Continue reading Lazy Writing and Lack of Consequence
Seems There’s Something Off…
Critic: "This is a bad film: I want a movie with actually intelligent, competent, and admirable Black characters." Comment: "That's racist!"
Let’s Be Clear on This:
So, I caught sight of a thread on Facebook making a particular point. It was delicate subject, and I don't know the people involved, so I didn't want to intervene, but let's all be very clear on something: You cannot personally witness that a statistic is either true or false. That is because when speaking … Continue reading Let’s Be Clear on This:
The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
Now that the Ducktales revival is about half-a-season old, I can say that, while it is good, it’s not quite as good as I had hoped it would be. Part of the problem is that they go for the joke far too often, preventing the characters from developing much weight and consequently from engaging us … Continue reading The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
New Appreciation Video Up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoiMd6pQ1qQ Yeah, it's for perhaps the lamest kaiju character in the whole series, but it had to be done.
A Startling Conclusion
The real question raised by the tarantula hawk’s practice of paralyzing and laying its eggs into a tarantula before burying it is this; how does it know what a tarantula is, if it was born in the dark, underground, inside the thing? How does it know to go after the tarantula, sting it, bury it, … Continue reading A Startling Conclusion
Infinity War at the Federalist
A new Federalist article is up, this one based off of Avengers Infinity War and talking about some of the same things I've been writing about recently. Sample: In other words, Thanos is a classic student of Thomas Malthus: a believer in the threat of overpopulation, only on a universal scale and with a blend of Marxist … Continue reading Infinity War at the Federalist
How I Would have Written ‘Black Panther’
As I've said before, the more I think about Black Panther the worse the writing in the film gets. As a side effect, I found myself thinking about how I might have done it instead, had I been in charge of writing it. The result was the following rough outline, which I now present to you … Continue reading How I Would have Written ‘Black Panther’
A Thought
There is a saying "It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness." The standard progressive practice is to blow out the candle, curse the darkness, then cite it as proof of the oppressive nature of candles. And if you suggest they try lighting it instead, you're blaming the victim.
Why Relativism is Intolerant
I don't know about you, but I can't help noticing that people who argue that truth or morality are relative tend to be much more intolerant than those who adhere to the idea of objective values. The tolerance they boast of is purely specific: that they don't object to certain given acts (e.g. homosexuality) that … Continue reading Why Relativism is Intolerant
Serpent's Den 