I will be tabling at a small
convention, and I have applied to table at another local author event. Both
will be in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The first will be Fantasticon Fort Wayne, which is being held September 21-22, 2019. Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel and my co-author on the 42 books, will also be there, but we’re not tabling together. The con announced that they would be selling five heavily-discounted tables last week, so I jumped at the opportunity. I wasn’t sure I’d snag a table, but I got lucky (or was “blessed,” if you’re the religious type). I’ll be selling and signing my books (although Eric will be selling the 42, so get them from him) and promoting my upcoming podcast The Monster Island Film Vault, which is launching September 25.
According to the
convention’s website,
Fantasticon is a mid-size show created for true comic book and pop culture collectors and fans. The fans that come to our shows are true collectors that are looking for those rare items for their personal collections. Most leave very satisfied as we pride ourselves on having great dealers and artists at our shows. If you collect it, you will find it at a Fantasticon Show.
Fantasticon is proud to have a presence in multiple cities throughout the mid-west. Currently we are in five different cities, in three different states including Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
We also, are very proud of the fact that our admission price is the lowest of any other comparable shows. And the cost for being an exhibitor or artist at the Fantasticon is far less than any comparable comic cons out there.
While I haven’t received a
confirmation yet, I have applied to table to table at the annual Local Author
Book Fair, which will be held November
30, 2019, from 10am-4pm at the main branch of the Allen County Public Library. Find
out more info here
on ACPL’s blog.
Last week saw the start
of my second year of grad school. It was also the start of my third semester as
a graduate teaching assistant (a very different GTA). I’m taking two
classes and an independent study (well, one of the classes was turned into an independent
study). These are Writing for Multimedia, Survey of Children’s Literature, and
an independent study on director Ishiro Honda (hey,
it lets me get school credit for the research I’m doing for my new podcast). This makes my
schedule a bit odd, but I’m getting used to it.
This was the best first
week of teaching I’ve had. Admittedly, I’ve only been doing this a year, but it
was still the best. I’m more confident as a GTA and trying some new methods
that should encourage my students to be more engaged with the material. That’s
hard to do when it’s a gen ed freshman composition class. My students are the
liveliest I’ve had yet, which is exciting, but it does present its own set of
challenges. Now instead of trying to make them talk, I have to keep them quiet.
It’s almost like me a substitute teacher again.
I might be having too
much fun. But you can never have too much fun, right?
Right?!
Have you gone to grad school or
worked as a teacher? What are some fun experiences you had?
Today’s blog will be a
little personal and a lot
theological. This isn’t new for me, but if you’re not interested in such
things, I won’t mind if you skip it. However, it’ll tackle a cautionary tale of
a writer’s influence. In this case, Joshua Harris.
For those who don’t know, Harris wrote and published an infamous book at age 21 in 1997 called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It was an instant sensation, selling over a million copies. Unfortunately, as the trailer for Harris’ recent documentary on the book’s influence says, “The best-seller became the Bible for Christian romance.” He wrote a follow-up a few years later titled Boy Meets Girl since by that point he’d gotten married.
The cover to his infamous book, which was published in 1997.
Fast forward two decades. In 2016, Harris announced that he regretted writing the book because of the influx of letters he’d received from people who were hurt by his advice. He realized, among other things,
In trying to warn people of the potential pitfalls of dating, it instilled fear for some—fear of making mistakes or having their heart broken. The book also gave some the impression that a certain methodology of relationships would deliver a happy ever-after ending—a great marriage, a great sex life—even though this is not promised by scripture.
The poster for Harris’ new documentary.
This is prompted him to make the aforementioned documentary, I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and take this book and the sequel out of print.
Things got worse last month. He announced on his Instgram that he was divorcing his wife. A few days later in another post, he confessed,
I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.
There’s been a lot of talk in Christian culture about this, and understandably so. Harris’ influence was pervasive. I myself didn’t read his first book (I thought the idea was dumb), but I did read his second because I thought it had more legitimacy. I’m sure he gave most of the same advice. While I always balked at the idea of “not dating” and letting God providentially give you a spouse, these ideas became so common in the church, I think I absorbed some of them by osmosis. I was young and impressionable and hadn’t yet learned critical thinking skills (well, at least when it came to things espoused by other Christians). Do I count myself as one of the people hurt by Harris’ teachings? Yes, but I was hurt by his “splash damage” (to use a gaming term) and not directly wounded. I’ve been working hard to shed my old thinking for a long time.
Harris has admitted he’s a recovering legalist. He took the strict rules of the crazy, stereotype-creating spheres of homeschooling (#NotAllHomeschoolers) and made them mainstream. Legalism is always destructive. The problem is rules are easier to preach, teach, and enforce than comparatively nebulous principles. Jesus said to “love your neighbor.” That begs questions like, “Who is my neighbor?” and “How do I love them?” Rules regulate behavior. Principles guide motivations. That’s why Jesus spoke against legalism and “religiousness” more than anything else. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. He makes it clear that adultery is an action that stems from lust, which occurs in the heart. It wasn’t enough to stop the actions; the internal sin has to be quelled first.
Legalism frequently drives people away from Christianity. Such an emphasis is placed on rules that it robs churchgoers or young Christians of any joy. I’ve heard countless stories of this. I’m sure the seemingly extreme methods Harris advocated drove people away. It created not only tremendous pressure on young people, but an atmosphere of parental and liturgical tyranny and hypocrisy. Teens weren’t allowed to do the usually innocent things their parents did growing up. “Do as I say and not as I did.” Maybe those parents made mistakes and had good intentions, but as the old saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Knowing all of this, it’s no surprise Harris’ life has turned out the way it has. His personal brand of legalism wrecked many people, possibly led to his divorce, and eventually drove him to abandon Christianity. It took twenty years for it to happen, but those consequences caught up with him. Now more than ever the rotten fruit of Harris’ teachings and those of the so-called “Purity Culture” are being reaped. Personally, I think recent events have invalidated all of books (or at least his books on dating and courtship). Regardless, I do hope and pray he finds his way back to the faith.
This should give writers pause for concern. Your words have power. The power to influence. That’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” What we pen will guide and direct the hearts and minds of our readers. This is why parents often attack rappers, filmmakers, and video games after a school shooting: they think their products made kids go on murder sprees. (Perhaps that’s a bad example). My point is the knowledge and advice we share as writers, which in a way makes us teachers, creates culture and thoughts. Yes, we can’t control how people will respond to what we write and say, but we still yield tremendous power on our readers.
And as the late great Stan Lee wrote, “With power there must also come great responsibility.”
What do you think of the Josh Harris
news? Are you surprised? Why or why not? Did you read his books? How did they
influence you?
Another Gen Con has come
and gone. As usual, it’s a working vacation for me, but it’s also the biggest
show I do every year. I haven’t heard attendance numbers yet, but I’m sure it’s
comparable to the years with 60,000 attendees.
Calling it a “working
vacation” was more accurate than ever this year. Due to some last-minute
financial setbacks, I didn’t have much spending money, so I couldn’t make it to
many events or buy new games. Couple that with the fact that I wouldn’t leave
my table for more than an hour at a time from 10am-6pm most days, and I spent
most of my time in the dealer hall. My friend and co-author Eric Anderson,
founder of Nerd
Chapel, would slip away and play some games throughout the day. In
other words, I did all the work, and he had all the fun. (Just kidding, Eric!)
I wasn’t able to get to
Indianapolis (or “Indy,” as we Hoosiers call it) until late Wednesday night,
which did throw a monkey wrench into the weekend, but that’s what happens when
you have other commitments right up to the convention. I stayed at the Sheraton
with Eric and his friend Matt Gort (and yes, he has cosplayed the
robot from The Day the Earth Stood
Still), which was a 10-15 minute walk from the Indiana Convention Center. I
went to the ICC to get my event tickets, but even at 11:30pm, the line went on
forever. So, I decided to wait until the next day.
I scrambled to get into
the dealer hall to set up in Authors Avenue before 9am when I thought the VIGs
(Very Important Gamers) would come in before everyone else like in years past,
but that didn’t happen. There was no early access; everyone came in at 10am. I
realized I could’ve gotten my tickets then. That would’ve been nice to know. I’m
pretty sure I was told this was still happening this year. Oh well.
The game Horrified.
Who needs a “booth babe” when you have bearded Waldo? 😛
I spent the whole day in
the dealer hall since I was unable to get my event tickets. I joke every year
that I need a “booth babe,” but Eric cosplaying as a bearded Waldo might been
even better. While financial setbacks left me with little spending money for
the show, I did wander into the play test hall and tried Horrified, a
new cooperative board game themed around the Universal Horror Monsters. My
fellow players and I managed to defeat Dracula and the Creature from the Black
Lagoon. The day ended with what became my nightly routine with Eric: playing
the amazing game Unmatched,
which saw an early release at Gen Con. It’s the glorious lovechild of Heroscape
and Star Wars: Epic Duels, two of our favorite games.
Eric and I with a fellow Starfleet officer.
Friday was much the same as Thursday, although I was able to slip away for one writing seminar at the Writers Symposium. Eric and I both did Star Trek cosplays, with me as Capt. Kirk and him as Cmd. Riker. That evening Eric and I had dinner with a guy (whose name escapes me now, sorry!) who was curious about Nerd Chapel and our work. I (and eventually Eric) then spent the evening at the Love Thy Nerd meet-up, where I played Dice Throne Adventures. I was a barbarian, so I made sure to crush my enemies and see them driven before me. 😛
Speaking of Star Trek, I met Chris Spurgin from Five Year Mission, who gave me a free copy of their latest album for recognizing him. Score!
The upcoming game Deliverance.
Saturday was all work. I
wanted to go to one writing seminar, but I was too busy in the hall. I expected
as much. It’s usually the busiest day. Afterward, me and Eric’s friend Darrin
joined us at the InnRoads
Ministry meet-up. There was food (including homemade pretzel bites that
were my crack for the evening), fellowship, prizes, and of course, games. I
learned about a spiritual warfare-themed dungeon crawl fantasy game called Deliverance, where players
take on the roles of angels fighting demons in a church. However, we spent our
time playing Unmatched and showing it to InnRoads’ leader, Michael. The evening
was capped with Darrin, Eric, and I returning to the Sheraton for one more game
of Unmatched. (By the way, I won every Unmatched game I played and Eric lost
all of his. I felt bad).
The banner that welcomed attendees to the worship service.
Sunday began with the Christian Gamers Guild’s
worship service, which is always a highlight of the weekend. It’s not often I’m
in a room full of fellow Christian nerds worshipping God. I was then in the
dealer hall from 10am-4pm. Eric and Gort left early, so I alone was left to
tear down and return everything to my car (which was in the cheapest parking
garage I could find). The shelving I brought was too cumbersome, so a pair of
Good Samaritans from Texas named Jim and Kathy helped me get everything there.
I never would’ve made it myself. I gave them free books as a thank you,
although Kathy had to insist that they take them.
Trogdor the Board Game!!
Wanting a little downtime
before the two-hour drive back to Fort Wayne, I met up with Darrin, his wife
Michelle, and one of their friends. We tried to find a meet-up but were unable
to find them, so we set up in the lobby and played “Trogdor the Board Game!!”
As a fan of the Homestar Runner website,
I loved it. I’m happy to say we won—everything was burninated!
With that, I drove home.
It wasn’t the best year
of the con (my fellow authors and I have some things we want to discuss with
the managers of Authors Avenue), but it was still a good time.
The third and final panel I participated in was the annual Art of Kaiju Writing, a Q&A with fellow writers Neil Riebe, John LeMay, and Skip Peel. We spent an hour answering all manner of writing questions, and not just ones related to kaiju. In other words, even if you’re not into monsters, there’s plenty you can learn from this video.
Poor Neil, though. He joked that the camera would break at seeing his face, and at first I thought it didn’t record. I discovered later that it had. 😛
I’m delighted to say that G-Fest XXVI was the best one I’ve attended yet. While I’m still a bit of a noob to this convention (this was my third year), I was once again impressed with the con-goers’ friendliness and family-like atmosphere. The best part was the sheer amount of support and recognition I received. A few people recognized me from my time on Kaijuvision Radio (which, contrary to some reports, I am the co-creator of that show). I seem to have made an impression on this fan community. I never expected that to happen. I like a lot of things besides Godzilla and kaiju, but it’s here that I’ve made some of my biggest strides of late.
But you didn’t come here to hear me gush. You want to know what happened that weekend.
My brother Jarod and I left early Thursday morning and drove three hours from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Rosemont, Illinois. We listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park (a long overdue read for both of us, and an appropriate one for this con) on YouTube as we went. Sadly, we were at a slight disadvantage because we had to stay in the Comfort Inn and not the Crowne Plaza (where the con was held), but there was a shuttle service to G-Fest, and we got a free breakfast every morning. Can’t go wrong there.
Our first order of business after unpacking my 2003 Subaru Legacy (which I named Tatsumaki) was the film screenings at the Pickwick Theatre. It was there we met up with my friend/fellow writer/co-panelist Danny DiManna, author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project, and his entourage of family and friends and went to the first of two double features at 1pm: Godzilla’s Revenge and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster. We were a bit late to the first one, but our RiffTrax-style commentary entertained everyone around us. Ghidrah was fantastic on the big screen. Every time I see an older film—even those from as recent as the 1980s—I see how much better their old-fashioned special effects look because this was how they were meant to be seen. It was the dubbed version, but the print was gorgeous.
After that, Jarod and I partook of my G-Fest tradition: Thursday dinner at Giodano’s, a chain of pizzerias that serves true Chicago-style pizza. We split a small deep-dish, which I finished first because Jarod was still learning how to attack such thick pizza.
This was followed by the second double-feature: The X from Outer Space and Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. I’d never seen the former, so I was unprepared for how (unintentionally?) hilarious it was. For one thing, it had the worst dub I’ve ever heard. Me and another guy riffed it the entire time. He had one joke that made me double over in my chair. In one of the worst hull breach in space scenes I’ve ever seen, a character gets sucked butt-first into the hole and gets stuck. In defiance of physics, his comrades pull him out and patch the hole. My fellow riffer said, “‘You saved the ship!’ ‘You bet your @$$!’” GMK was, thankfully, subtitled, but the subtitles weren’t entirely accurate.
Friday started bright and early. Jarod and I rode the shuttle there and collected our badges and programs. I met with Danny, and we wandered down to the Kennedy Room to prep for our panel, Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters, at noon. I took Jarod to the orientation at 11am and went back down at 11:30am. People kept pouring in, especially after the orientation. I don’t know if it was because of it being one of the first panels of the con, the subject matter, or the pre-con hype leading up to it (it was mentioned by at least two podcasts beforehand), but the room was packed. Danny’s girlfriend, Tori, had to be our usher to find seats for people. I’ve never seen that room get that full in all my time at G-Fest. It was thrilling. We weren’t able to go through all of our material, and I wasn’t able to play my podcast trailer for everyone, but it was a resounding success. We want to host another one next year.
If you missed our panel or want to watch it again, here’s the video:
I spent the rest of the day attending a few more panels, including G-pardy tryouts (didn’t make it again), a paleontologist panel on Godzilla, and Kevin Derendorf presenting on kaiju fans in media. That evening we attended the opening ceremony, where the guests gave emotional, heartfelt speeches to the fans (especially Sonoe Nakajima, the daughter of Haruo Nakajima); Akira Takarada picked a kid from the audience to get an expensive Gigan toy; and the kids’ costume parade was held. I then made a brief appearance at what I expect will be the final listener party for Kaijucast, the premiere Godzilla/kaiju podcast, where I collected my prize from their #MemeoftheMonsters contest and educated one fella on the politics of Shin Godzilla.
At 10:30pm, Jarod and I returned to the Pickwick to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters with a theatre full of fans. It was my third time seeing it and his first. G-Fest crowds are famously rowdy, but I’ve never heard them like this. It was glorious! I even squeezed in a joke that got a groan. When a bunch of dead fish floated up after the detonation of the Oxygen Destroyer, I yelled, “That’s a lot of fish!” (My apologies to everyone who was present). The best part was when we all sang along with the new cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” during the credits. A video of that was shared on Twitter, and both director Michael Dougherty and composer Bear McCreary teared up, it seemed.
Saturday was a whirlwind. As usual, G-Fest is remarkably busy for a con of its size. I never feel like I partake in everything. Panels tend to eat up most of my time. A few highlights: the Akira Takarada interview, where he talked about growing up in China and being wounded by Soviet soldiers as a child; the Shusuke Kaneko interview; the Dawn of the Monsters video game panel (wherein I suggested they add Indianapolis as a location); the Heisei Gamera panel; and the panel on the unmade film Nessie.
I participated in two more panels that day. The first was the Godzilla: King of the Monsters panel with the guys from the YouTube channel DangerVille, among others. Here’s the video of that:
After that was The Art of Kaiju Writing, which I’ve been on every year I’ve gone to G-Fest. (What’s crazy is I got on it in 2017 five minutes before it started—but that’s a story for another day). It was four writers doing a Q&A on the craft of writing and the publishing process. I recorded that panel, too, but it hasn’t been edited or posted yet. Stay tuned! It has a tremendous amount of info for beginning writers.
The traditional evening events followed: awards and the adult costume parade. A guy in an inflatable Godzilla costume, which are a dime a dozen usually, surprised everyone when he turned on some red lights inside the suit, making him Burning Godzilla from KOTM. Well-played, sir!
The Kaiju Crescendo concert was held that night. I wanted very much to go, but I ended up not attending because I wanted to save money (my budget has been tight this summer). I kinda regret it, honestly. But Jarod didn’t want to go and wanted to see Monster Zero at the Pickwick, and since I didn’t want to abandon him, so we went there. A good time was had by all. I heard, though, that attendance was split so much, it was somewhat low for all events that night.
I went to a few panels the next day, but I tried to hit up the places I didn’t get to the rest of the con, like the Mecha-G Arcade, artist room, and dealer hall. I also got autographs from both Akira Takarada and Shusuke Kaneko. Much to my surprise, Takarada-san gave me two signatures! I gave him the booklet to my Criterion copy of Godzilla (1954), which he signed, and then he grabbed the box and signed that, too! What a wonderful man!
The day ended with Kaiju Confessions, a hilarious sing-along to kaiju film songs.
An illustration of FOMO. (Image taken from here). .
I’m a self-admitted
“story junkie” who has a lot of hobbies. Those include reading books, playing
video games, and watching TV and movies, among others. Do you notice what all
of these have in common? Yep, stories. (I gotta get my fix, man!)
Unfortunately, because of
this and the other things that keep me busy (job, school, writing, etc.), it’s
difficult to keep up with these “story hobbies.” I tend to go through phases
where I do one hobby more than the others. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of
books and not playing many video games. The thing is, I can’t keep up with
everything. While many of my fellow gamers are playing all the latest titles,
I’m playing games that are at least two or three years old. Meanwhile, I’ve
fallen behind by at least a month on the current TV shows I’m watching. While I
often go to the cinema once a week (especially during the summer and holiday seasons),
I don’t always see a movie its opening weekend. Then I feel like I’m falling
behind and won’t get all the in-jokes people make or be able to talk with them.
But like I said, this is a lot of things all competing for my time and
attention. I don’t have enough years left in my life to read every book or
watch every movie that everyone is supposed to consume.
The anxiety I’m speaking
of—which can also apply to attending events and social activities—is called the
“fear of missing out” (or FOMO). In large part it involves knowing and having
all the latest things. People start worrying about being left out or left
behind. Why do you think film studios push as hard as they do for people to go see
a movie opening weekend? They play on this idea, which in turn makes them the
biggest chunk of their money. Gone are the days when a film would make consistent
money for weeks at a time (remember Titanic’s
months of dominance?). Now everyone is all but required to see a film as soon
as possible to avoid spoilers, but more importantly, to feel included.
The truth is, one can’t
keep up with everything. Choices must be made and priorities kept. This means
one might have to wait until a movie hits home media before seeing it. It might
mean watching a (rare) rerun of a TV show seeing it online later (even if it
means waiting months for an entire season to drop on Netflix). And that’s
assuming that what one is afraid of missing is some form of media. It might
also mean missing a social gathering when he has to focus on something else,
like writing a book. In other words, it’s okay to be a little behind, to a miss
a few things so one can prioritize what’s important to him. It’s a lesson I’ve
had to learn the hard way, and honestly, I’m okay with it. I don’t have to be
on the forefront of everything I’m interested in. I can go through phases where
I’m more up on some things than others. I’d rather have the joy of going at my
own pace with everything than the stress of trying to keep up with everything
and everyone, even if I’m mocked for it (people who do that are jerks, anyway).
Buck the trends, I say!
What about you? Do you struggle with
FOMO? How do you deal with it? Discuss it in the comments!
Guest Writer: Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel
This weekend Avengers:Endgame is re-releasing in theaters. I have teamed up with Scott Bayles and Nathan Marchand to provide content on each other’s sites inspired by the great film. Spoilers!
When we first met Tony Stark (Iron Man), he was a businessman
who liked fast cars and lived for himself. Now as we enter the theater for one
last big hurrah, and a huge one it was, all we knew is that he is stuck on a
planet far away. We knew from trailers he seems to be stranded in space, and
that is how we find him at the beginning of Avengers:
Endgame. In deep space, he has no hope to give.
Captain Marvel finds Nebula and Tony on the last bit of
oxygen and food they had left. Stark has even passed out and could barely look
up to see her as she came to assist. His morale, like all of them, was so low,
it wasn’t even reachable. They had lost and half the universe was disintegrated
by the Mad Titan.
He is essentially carried home to Earth and painfully steps
out of the ship dehydrated and barely able to stand. We soon learn how angry he
is about everything. This was the man who had risked a one-way trip during the
invasion in New York during The Avengers
to save the Big Apple and stop an invasion; who tried to build “a suit of armor
around the world” in Age of Ultron; who
implored Captain America to stay on his side during Civil War. Now, it was time for, “I told you so.” Captain America
had left him and wasn’t there to fall with him, even though he did protect
Earth while Tony was away helping Dr. Strange. Tony is angry about the
separation, but he’s also beaten and almost out of health points. Tony doesn’t
even go with the team to face Thanos when they find out where he is. Dr. Strange
had given up everything to save him, but when they first go to take the battle
to Thanos, he is passed out in a hospital bed.
After finding out that Thanos has destroyed the Infinity Stones, they all come back cope with defeat and loss. Each one in his own way. For Tony, it means starting a family. He and Pepper get a house on a lake and begin raising a little girl named Morgan. Their form of coping is through family and solitude.
Family is an important theme in Scripture right from the
beginning. Genesis tells us that Adam does not have a suitable “helpmate,” and
so God creates a wife for him. God then tells them to “be fruitful and
multiply” (Genesis 2). As we continue reading, we find that many Bible heroes
had families. Abraham had two sons, one of whom was born miraculously in Abraham’s
old age. This same Abraham rescued his nephew Lot after he and many others were
captured. David had many children. Unfortunately, he did not always make good
choices, and so not all of them made good choices, either. Gideon had over 70
children and multiple wives.
We are not meant to live alone in isolation. Not all of us
need to have five kids, but we should all have family of some form. Family can
sit with us even without the words we need and still comfort us. They know what
food will calm us down and how to make us laugh. On the flip side, we can fill
those same voids for them on their rough days.
The other way Tony copes after all of this is solitude. In
Psalm 46:10, we are commanded to “be still and know that I am God.” This means
ignoring the five thousand needs to step away and pray. Jesus Himself stepped
away and prayed in lonely places on many occasions. He sought a refueling from
His Father in isolation. Again, family and solitude together.
Finally, Tony’s solitude is interrupted by Steve, Natasha,
and Scott with a wild idea. Tony blows it off at first, but it lingers. They go
back to experiment without him, but he does his own research. Now, in much
better health, he reluctantly rejoins the fight. They use Scott’s 12 percent of
a plan and, with some more input for the plan, they get the Stones. While Bruce
Banner is the one to bring everyone back, in the end Tony pays the high price
of his life and a snap to stop Thanos once and for all. The man who started
this journey 22 films and 10 years ago as a self-absorbed party animal gives
his life to save the world. All he needed was to see the great needs around him
and take a break from it with solitude and family before sacrificing himself to
save this planet. It didn’t need “a suit of armor around the world,” but we did
need an armored knight to accept the winning blow for the world. Nothing is
more Christ-like than that.
(Pardon me, True
Believers, as I get back into the habit of blogging).
As I discussed a few weeks ago, the American kaiju fandom had a meltdown when the Rotten Tomatoes score was revealed for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It slowly dropped to 40% over the film’s opening weekend. Meanwhile, the audience score remained high (it sits at 83% currently). Unfortunately, despite pushback from outspoken fans, the film has been underperforming at the box office, only making $49 million its opening weekend. There’s been a lot of talk as to why, but I don’t think it’s just one thing but many working in tandem, and unlike he did in Godzilla: Final Wars, Big G couldn’t defeat all of these opponents.
Highly Competitive Movie Season
As much as I love Avengers: Endgame, it sucked the air out of the proverbial room. Every major studio tried to give the Disney/Marvel juggernaut at least a two-week breadth. Heck, if I remember correctly, KOTM’s release was pushed back a week or two to give the superhero epic as much space as possible. Unfortunately, KOTM still opened amidst stiff competition from other big franchises: Detective Pikachu, John Wick 3: Parabellum, Aladdin, and Dark Phoenix (making this the second time an American Godzilla film opened the week before an X-Men film). Given that Endgame dominated filmgoers’ time and money, they were less likely to go see something else that soon.
2. Ads Revealed Too Much
KOTM had an ad campaign almost as aggressive as a certain other American G-film. So aggressive, in fact, that Legendary/Warner Bros. gave too much away. It revealed things that should’ve been surprises, both in terms of plot and the kaiju fights. By contrast, the ad campaign for Godzilla in 2014 erred on the side of minimalism (much like the film itself). Warner Bros. could’ve learned something from that or the advertising for Endgame, which kept secrets from the audience. As it stands, some people probably felt like they’d seen the whole movie just from the trailers.
3. Niche Audience
Like it or not, kaiju films aren’t “mainstream.” The superhero genre managed to broaden its appeal, but kaiju have yet to do that. I don’t know why since there’s a lot of overlap with the two, but even in Japan, where the genre came into being, the same is true. Ultraman is more popular than Godzilla. Regardless, the kaiju fans turned out in droves to see KOTM, but their numbers don’t compare to the likes of Marvel fans.
4. Audience Doesn’t Know What It Wants
On a related note, the kaiju fanbase, at least in the States, can’t seem to agree on what a kaiju movie should be. From what I can tell, every Godzilla film from both sides of the Pacific has divided them since 2004. There were complaints that there was too much human story and not enough monsters in Godzilla (2014) and Shin Godzilla, but now the complaint with KOTM is there’s too much monster action. The same was said about Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Yet if you ask a fan to name one of his favorite entries in the series, he’ll likely pick a Japanese film that had little monster screen time like Monster Zero. This division not only makes the films and the fans look bad, it confuses filmmakers and undermines box office. It’s possible those disappointed with Godzilla (2014) for those reasons stayed home even though the problem was rectified.
5. Long Gap between Films
While some moviegoers complain of superhero fatigue, one of the secrets to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s success is it usually releases two or three films a year. This maintains narrative momentum and brand recognition. Even individual series within the MCU often only have a two-year gap between entries. It’s been five years since Legendary’s Godzilla reboot. Yes, Kong: Skull Island came out in 2017, but it wasn’t marketed as part of the MonsterVerse. This stymied both recognition and momentum.
6. Critics’ Reviews…
While I previously wrote that review aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes have been given too much power, the fact remains that a film’s RT score can affect box office turnout. For better or worse, filmgoers will pay attention to the scores. It doesn’t always affect it, but it more often than not does.
7. …and the Fan Backlash
That being said,
the fans attacking critics as hacks because of their negative reviews hasn’t
boded well. While I can’t say for sure, many of their attempts to fight against
the tide of bad reviews by saying, “It’s a Godzilla film! It’s supposed to be
stupid!” isn’t making anyone interested in seeing KOTM. If anything, they should try talking about what they liked
about the movie or try to explain how the critics are wrong. You can catch more
flies with honey than vinegar. Sadly, the internet is flooded with vinegar.
Because of all this, Warner
Bros. considered
delaying the release of Godzilla vs. Kong
so they could “make an A+ movie.” There were several reasons why this might’ve
happened, but that’s a topic for another blog (that I may or may not write).
In the end, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a good
film that faced an uphill battle, and the hill just kept getting steeper.
What do you think? Are there other
reasons KOTM underperformed? What are
they?
After nearly a year of escalating
hype, Godzilla: King of the Monsters
dropped in theatres this weekend. It was one of my most anticipated films of
2019. As a fan of nearly two decades, the co-creator of Kaijuvision Radio, and a
raging nerd, I went into it excited
but cautious. I remembered another American-made Godzilla movie from 20
years ago or so that had just as much, if not more, hype, and it failed to
deliver.
I walked out of my local
IMAX theatre with a huge smile on my face. Most fans did.
Critics didn’t.
All this week the
Godzilla fan community (in America, anyway) has been in a tizzy. As the critics
score on Rotten Tomatoes dropped (it sits at 40% currently) and the
audience score remained high (it hovers around 90%), the fans got defensive.
They became the latest fandom to declare critics “hacks” who didn’t know what
they were talking about, who just didn’t understand the genre or Godzilla.
While many fans—including myself—said King
of the Monsters wasn’t what critics claimed it was, others stamped their
feet, crossed their arms, and said, “I like because it’s bad like all the other
Godzilla films!”
Even Godzilla is shocked by his some of his fans’ behavior.
To be honest, I’m not all
that surprised. These fans have spent years defending their enjoyment of giant
monsters—or perhaps even hid it—when many people relegated such fare to
schlock. That’d put a huge chip on anybody’s shoulders. While other “nerdy”
genres like superheroes have gone mainstream, the kaiju genre is still trying
to gain wide acceptance. I don’t know if it ever will. Regardless, I think much
of this pushback from Godzilla fans stems from their defensiveness. Like many
nerds, they’ve made their fandom a huge part of their lives, and when they think
it’s being attacked, they see it as an attack upon themselves.
This isn’t to say that
the fans don’t have valid points. Rotten Tomatoes has grown from a website that
helped moviegoers make an informed decision about what films to see to a cultural
force that studios think they must placate. “Tomatometer” scores can make or
break a film now. At least, that’s what many movie executives fear. An
aggregate of bad reviews could destroy the millions of dollars they invested in
a film. That’s why they brag whenever one of their movies has a high RT rating.
The problem is people aren’t engaging with the reviews; they’re just looking at
the score and not reading what was said. They don’t realize that RT’s
system a critic only has to answer a yes or no question—“Is it ‘fresh’?”—before
posting a review on the site. A
rating of three out of five will count as “fresh,” so even a “B-” or “C+”
review will count. In other words, the 90% fresh rating could all be average reviews.
As one fan pointed out, it has ruined film criticism by reducing it to mere
numbers. But these are numbers given tremendous weight and power by lazy often readers
who succumb to some form of groupthink, either in agreement or disagreement.
This, in turn, has led to some borderline conspiracy theories about studios
bribing critics for good or bad reviews as well as theories that studios are
censoring bad reviews from users. I’m not saying any of this is true, but it is
certainly possible.
The “fresh” and “rotten” logos for both critics (top) and audience (bottom) scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fans say critics are
prejudiced against the kaiju genre and don’t appreciate it. There’s some truth
to that as I’ve pointed out. Their scores and criticisms often seem
inconsistent, to say the least. Godzilla (2014)
was criticized for allegedly not having enough screen time for Godzilla or the
monster fights while focusing on human characters. Now the common complaint
from critics is there’s too much time given to the monsters (I disagree, but I
digress). Who wouldn’t pull their hair out? It doesn’t seem possible to please
them.
But do fans know what
makes a great kaiju film? I’ve often heard fans say that they want a film that’s
nothing but kaiju fights. This has led to an image of the fandom that is, well,
less than flattering (one Twitter user said it made the fandom look like “knuckle
draggers”). In some ways it seems hypocritical. They fight against non-fans
labeling the films “trash” while advocating for movies that are empty spectacle.
As one YouTuber put
it, fans like the “social commentaries of the Japanese films, but when it comes
to American films, they just want Godzilla to eat buildings and punch monsters.”
I’ll be the first person to argue that there is substance—often profound
substance—in these films. Even the so-called “silly ones.” That’s why it vexes
me to hear such talk from fans. It’s especially annoying because they’re
basically saying, “This movie is nonstop action with human characters I don’t
care about, so I love it for the reasons critics hate it! Boo-yah!” It’s kinda
childish, honestly.
Ultimately, whether the reviews
come from critics or fans, they are simply opinions, and as a crude old saying
reminds us, everyone has opinions. It’s just that, for whatever reason—be it
experience, education, position, or whatnot—we have elevated the opinions of
critics. They are the dwellers in the ivory towers who know what true art is
while fans are the unwashed, ignorant masses. (Insert “sarcasm
sign” here). While fans have wanted to drop Oxygen Destroyers in
critics’ laps this week, if their reviews had been positive, I have no doubt
they would’ve celebrated and shared them as validation of themselves and their
fandom. But do these critics invalidate the opinions of fans? No. They are
allowed to like things other people don’t. They enjoyed it based on their own criteria.
One man’s trash is another man’s masterpiece. Many people watch Godzilla vs. Gigan and see a silly low-budget
kaiju film. I
watch it and see a meta-commentary on pop culture and globalism. Opinions
often change with time. When Citizen Kane
was first released, it has rejected by critics as too unusual. Now it’s regaled
as the greatest film ever made. The
Empire Strikes Back, which is commonly considered the greatest Star Wars film, was dismissed by critics
upon release. I say all of this to remind people that while there are objective
criteria for what makes a good story, the evaluation of art is still largely
subjective.
