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Riding high on making two short films

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🍲🐗 Neverafter Episode 11 🐗🍲

Takes your intimidating Evil Animal Monsters and turns them into little guys (this is both the boar and the wolf)

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New business idea: Cameo, but for the first words a baby says. “Goo goo gaa, happy graduation Roger!”

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I don’t trust bubblegum flavored things. The one rule with gum is you can’t swallow it, and so you’re defying the nature of gum, which I find immoral.

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I just watched Pop Culture Detectives critique as superheroes as reactionary and defending the status quo and villains as disruptors (even when their goals are wrong and authoritarian), and I think it did a fine job summing up the MCU, but I think it loses something if you don’t acknowledge that there’s very significant times that WASN’T the case in early superhero comics.

For example, several early Superman comics have him actively disrupting society. He wasn’t a friend of the law early on. He destroys an entire “slum” and forces the government to rebuild better housing, and the police come after him for this.

He infiltrates a prison to expose its systemic abuse of prisoners.

He forces war profiteers to experience the terror of war firsthand until they stop.

But as the tweet thread I linked notes, this stops. Modern Superman often states he can’t interfere in wars because humanity has to sort out their own conflicts, that he can’t use his power against systemic issues because what if he becomes the power hungry god imposing his will on humanity? It’s interesting some comics posit that if Superman was more active about social change, he’s become the ‘invader’ Lex Luthor says he is. Especially if you consider Superman’s roots as an immigrant allegory, which makes it come off like he has to avoid being too disruptive or he’ll be labeled a ‘bad immigrant’.

There’s sometimes callbacks to the roots of Superman still, like the issue where he fights that cop probably (I was out of comics by the time that happened) but of course it’s pretty absent from the movies.

It’s also worth noting that Clark Kent is an investigative reporter (often exposing the crimes of billionaire CEO) which is an inherently disruptive job. PCD mentions that heroes do tend to be creative in their civilian identities but says it doesn’t seem to connect much to their superhero selves, but  I don’t think you can separate Clark Kent the reporter from his superhero activity, because they’re often closely tied together, I mean he literally took the job so he could get leads as Superman.

Then there’s Wonder Woman, who was definitely a disruptor in her early incarnation. She was absolute here to spread Marston’s idea of feminism and have others follow her. She wanted to make more Amazons. She wanted a society where women had power. She would literally take her female villains and introduce them to the pleasures of femdom and BDSM  reform them, convert them to her ideology, get them to join her ranks. The comic was CERTAINLY reactionary in other ways, and Marston’s feminism was flawed, but he wrote the comic explicitly because he was hoping for social disruption, that Wonder Woman would be the building block in the utopia he envisioned.

And there was some of that in SOME modern WW comics when I was into them- I was drawn to Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman because there was a huge emphasis on the fact she’s an ambassador for her culture, and diplomat actively working to change the world, someone who’s seeking social reform and has an ideology. However, it is true that even those comics were mostly about her reacting to threats in her superhero life. (And then in the movie’s that’s entirely absent- feminism isn’t bought up, she goes into hiding rather than mounting a social justice campaign.)

And then on the Marvel side of things. Cap fighting Hitler actually didn’t reflect the status quo of America when it came out. In-universe it did to a degree, because America had entered the war in the universe of the comic, therefore Cap was doing patriotism, but out of universe America HADN’T entered the war yet and it was controversial to take the stance we were definitely going to and sauy Hitler was bad. We all know the story of nazi-sympathizers coming to harass the creators and Jack Kirby declaring he would fight them. So there’s a very interesting dichotomy there!

Anyway, it’s interesting to see this discussion because it’s definitely a very minor theme in my own book about a girl who becomes a supervillain. Look forward to that, I guess!

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Although I agree with a lot of this, around the origins of disruption for Superheroes that changed overtime to be the status quo, I disagree on the idea that it’s muted in some way today.

What I feel is actually happening is the problem of having different writers handle one character, sometimes all at once. Every creators run individually is an expression of their beliefs and hopes and fears about the world we live in portrayed symbolically in the world of superheroes and villains, but when a writer leaves after less than twenty issues, and a new persons opinions and viewpoint is given the reins, you get a different take, coming from the same visual mouth.

I think it’s why the status quo doesn’t ever radically change, and why character progression can backslide to what a new writer thinks is the more interesting part of the character arc. You can read a modern Captain America story, and get a nuanced take on what the state of the states is to the people behind the scenes. You can see stories where Batman is fighting for widespread structural change to combat poverty and inefficient policing, but then you could find yourself the next issue reading a piece about generational trauma and the roles Bruce, Alfred, The Waynes, and The Robins have in this issue.

It’s hard to see the forest through the trees when the forest is muddled because the trees are all different.

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This CChipotle has no LETTUCCE.

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A while ago I had the idea for a jukebox musical with the connecting factor being every song has the word ‘Man’ in it. Here’s what I ended up with:

A man with dreams of being a successful musician gets lost in fame.

CHAPTER I: IT’S A MAN’S, MAN’S, MAN’S WORLD

1. It’s a man’s, man’s, man’s world by James Brown

- this sets the tone for the rest of the story.

2. An innocent man by Billy Joel

- This is how we introduce The Man and his willingness to do whatever it takes to make the big time.

3. Trouble man by Marvin Gaye

- The small club The Man plays at is introduced as a the band before his plays this. While he’s setting up he spots The Woman in the audience and plans to impress her.

CHAPTER II: I WANNA BE YOUR MAN

4. I wanna be your man by The Beatles

- The Man sings this onstage and The Woman is already hooked. They go out the next night.

5. I’m your man by Wham!

- The Man sings this to The Woman on a montage of their first date, ending with him singing it onstage to her.

6. Whatta Man by Salt-n-Pepa

- The Woman sings this to her friends about The Man.

7. Man on the Moon by REM

- At home one night, The Man sings this song to The Woman to tell her about his aspirations.

CHAPTER III: MAN-EATER

8. Man-eater by Hall & Oates

- The other people working at the club sing this when The Maneater, the owner of a major label in the area walks in and the band warns The Man about her.

9. I’ll make a man out of you by Danny Osmond

- The Maneater sings this to The Man in front of the band (who interject) to seduce him using his dreams of being a big shot.

10. I’m a man by The Spencer Davis Group

- He cheats on The Woman with The Maneater (think “say no to this”).

CHAPTER IV: MAN IN THE MIRROR

11. Man in the mirror by Michael Jackson

- The Man regrets what he did to The Woman, and tries to make things right.

12. I’m your man by Leonard Cohen

- Months after The Woman Broke up with The Man for him cheating on her, on what would’ve been their anniversary he sings this song to her (which has the same title as the one he sang on their first date).

CHAPTER V: THE RUBBER-BAND MAN

13. Rocket man by Elton John

- After hearing the band Spoonman on the other side of the country has an opening, The Man and The Woman, who grew past his mistakes leave behind their small hometown.

14. Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

- On the road trip there’s a moment while The Woman is driving that The Man sings this song to her, a gift of thanks for being forgiven and a tribute to her.

15. The Rubber-band Man by The Spinners

- Sung from the perspective of a stranger ( The Fan) on their way months after the last song to the new bar Spoonman plays at with The Man, who is known as The Rubberband Man for how fast his hands move on any instrument he plays.

CHAPTER VI: NOWHERE MAN

16. Spoonman by Soundgarden

- Years later The Man sings a song with the rest of Spoonman, but afterwards tells The Woman that he’s not a fan of the music they started playing.

17. Iron Man by Black Sabbath

- Spoonman sings this song to a crowded bar, but after their performance, The Man complains that “I didn’t move all the way out here just to play music like this”.

18. Nowhere Man by The Beatles

- The next week Spoonman sings this song to The Man which is aimed at him and where he was before they let him in the band. They announce they are going on international tour without him, but are leaving him the gigs at the bar.

19. The Man by The Killers

- Feeling like Spoonman leaving gave him freedom to be himself, The Man sings this song at the bar he now sings at by himself to a full crowd, ironically missing the point that his best musical days are behind him.

CHAPTER VII: PIANO MAN

20. Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan

- The Fan from Rubber-band man requests a song for The Man to play, since the bar has slowly had less foot traffic, with only loyal customers still being there most nights.

21. Piano Man by Billy Joel

- The Man looks around and although he knows he’s valued, he feels stagnant, and feels lost.

22. Man on the Moon by Phillip Phillips

- The Man and The Woman sing this as a duet, which leads to them getting a divorce on good terms. The Man realizes something important about himself.

CHAPTER VIII: THE MAN COMES AROUND

23. Balloon Man by Robyn Hitchcock

- The Man works in a park as a balloon artist known as “The Rubberband Man” for his fast and snappy fingers singing this song happily to customers.

24. The Man comes around by Johnny Cash

- On his deathbed, The Man sings his final song.

24. The Mandalorian by Ludwig Goransson

- Credits music.

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My least favorite part of being a scriptwriter is thinking “someone should really make that into a movie” knowing full well I have a diploma in making that happen.

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Motivational fruit. They want you to be happy, and know that they have your back!

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I love how Andor avoided all the prison tropes. There was no ‘bully table’ or snitch that had it out for Cassian and the ‘loser table’. No tough prisoner our protagonist needs to beat to prove his worth. No gangs that rule the prison our prisoner either has to join or destroy. There was no one opposed to the prison break or any internal fighting amongst prisoners.

If anything I think the Empire tried to enforce this with the ranking and reward system of the tables. That way, the prisoners would be so obsessed with beating other, they would think to join together against the real enemy.

But they didn’t, they worked together and they built each other up and they focussed on one collective goal. Keno’s speech was about helping each other and lifting each other up in their time of need. Even the prisoners on other floors who didn’t know Cassian or Keno knew and understood the message.

It’s a surprisingly hopeful and uplifting way to film these prison scenes and I think it’s a testament to the powerful world and character building in Andor and it’s way of telling a truly astounding story in a way that’s different from other media. 

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Stuff like this where a story takes a good look at common conflicts in scenes and shows you can make a scene that much more effective by NOT relying on them. Why would a character hire an expert in a topic and then tell them to “speak english”? That’s dumb, and only exists to show the gap of knowledge, which isn’t ever crucial to the story. Have the character be good at their job. Have lifelong friends communicate with each other and not have weird secrecy just to add conflict.

Conflict happens and people can tell when it’s filler. Andor’s use of a character’s motivations differing against a common goal shows that’s engaging enough.

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Three of my favorite albums, I never skip a song listening to them.

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I made a movie, and even though it’s less than 15 minutes, after writing and directing it, I couldn’t be prouder. It’s been out for a while, but seeing as I just started this account, I wanted to make sure it was accesible from here too:

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Anyone seen this classic movie? My dad showed it to me, and now it’s all I think about.