002: Oz: The Not-So-Great, and feminism

“Oz: The Great and Powerful” is a perfect example why sequels and movies in a series originally begun over 70 years ago (or anything over 10 years past) shouldn’t be made. It loses its original vivacity that captured audiences. While I have no problem with movies being re-mastered (though converted to 3D and re-released into theatres is another story), there’s no need to make a movie that wasn’t made when it would have been the most opportune time.

People love “The Wizard of Oz” as it is, without CGI or bright colours that we see in nearly every single movie released in the market today. To make a film that is supposed to be a prequel and fill it with not only easily recognized, typically comedic stars (James Franco and Mila Kunis were definitely wrong casting choices) but more computer animation that would have been possible even 10 years ago is almost an insult to the original work. Imagine Tim Burton making another “Nightmare Before Christmas” – remake or ‘-quel’ – but using only CGI or even (perish the thought) live actors. It just wouldn’t be the same and would be an exercise in futility of re-hashing a franchise that is still doing perfectly well in the financial department on its own 20 years later.

Another major issue with the new Oz film is that it took L. Frank Baum’s original intentions and twisted them into something we should be well past in 2013. The women of Oz in Baum’s mind were strong, independent thinkers. Baum himself was a supporter of the radical feminism of his day – even married a feminist whose mother worked alongside historical figures such as Susan B. Anthony - which was obviously channelled into his books (a notable example is the allegory presented when seemingly male character Tip reverts back into Princess Ozma). However, Sam Raimi’s “Oz: The Great and Powerful” belittles the woman into stereotypical catfights fuelled by lust and jealousy and then having even the strongest of the three sisters (all who have magic at their whim) relying on a non-magic American male to do all the saving. The fact that Oscar is also a “ladies’ man” who continually lies and cheats his way through life and yet still manages to gain the trust of an entire world only to lie and cheat some more but, lo, all is forgiven in the end and he even gains the love of one Glenda (despite her knowing the entire time what a liar and cheat he is and even seemingly supports his personality instead of promoting change), is just an entire insult to what Baum had originally intended the world to be. Aside from the bleak view on individual thought and ability in women, it also has a poor lesson that you can lie and get away with just about anything as long as you charm yourself into someone’s pants.

I’m just not convinced the writers and director really understood the world Baum had created and didn’t properly appreciate the everlasting brilliance of the 1939 film. They saw an opportunity to make some guaranteed profit and ran with it. And, as expected, the film has made quite a bit but how long will it continue to do so? With a film, you don’t want to just get an audience member in the theatre once. You want them to continue to come back, buy the film for home, buy the merchandise, and pass on the recommendation of the film so others do the same. I would be blatantly surprised if this film has even a fraction of the staying power the ’39 film continues to possess.

 

001: Sherlock, Jack the Giant Slayer, Neverwhere

Filming on the second series of Sherlock started yesterday and it’s been pretty exciting. Unlike last year, much of the BTS crew have been tweeting the construction of the 221B set as well as little glimpses of other goings ons. To me, the “spoilers” only make me that much more excited and it’s nice to be able to know the progress of something you’ve been waiting over a year for. In the age of Twitter and instant gratification, it’s hard to avoid anyway and becoming hostile towards spoilers ruin it more than the spoilers themselves.

The first episode, where Sherlock returns, is titled “The Empty Hearse” – an obvious play on Doyle’s original story where Holmes returns: “The Empty House.” I can’t help but think of the new meme/trend “ERMAHGERD” speak when reading it, though, so I’m not too keen on the title. It’s most likely a reference to the fact that Sherlock wasn’t actually buried in a grave, what with being alive and all, but unless it does a flashback scene to right after Sherlock dies, I’m not sure how it’s still relevant. Only time will tell!

 

I finally saw “Jack the Giant Slayer” (which I keep calling “Jack the Giant Killer” – maybe it’s the title in the UK?) last night with Sam. The main complaint I read about is that the CGI work was overwhelming or seemed unfinished. I didn’t see it in 3D or IMAX so maybe it looked a little more mediocre in that but I had no real complaints about that. Now, there’s a sequence where the parents are reading the kids the Jack story (different than the classic as it incorporates monks and the forging of a special crown from a giant’s heart that controls them) where the story is being played out by CGI dolls (which both children possess ‘in real life’) where you can hardly tell they’re supposed to be wood and the CGI looks like something from early 1990’s RPG games – very stilted and rudimentary.

The movie itself is very fun. I enjoyed it a lot more than “Oz: The Great and Powerful” (1½ stars – saw it in IMAX 3D with mom last weekend). The acting in this film was pretty good and Ewan McGregor’s hair was magical in itself (no matter how many times it rained on them, his hair would always dry gelled and styled). The story was quite basic - classic boy meets girl, girl gets in trouble, boy saves girl and wins the affections of her royal father only to become royal himself through lucky happenstance and everyone lives happily ever after blah blah - for the surprising amount of gore in it. There was a lot more heads being bitten, people being squished, giants being burned alive, and horses being bludgeoned than I expected. I’m glad I wasn’t aware of it because it tickled my dark humour pallet and made the movie much more enjoyable. The very end is a fun twist as well.

The main issue I had with it – and this surprised me since I don’t usually take a feminist stance on anything – is that Jack is the one who obtains the crown and “saves the day”. Throughout the movie, Isabella (the princess) seems very much her own woman and fiercely independent even though she does rely on Jack more than once to get her out of trouble. I understand that Jack needed to become “a king” in order to marry his beloved since by law, royalty could not marry “a simple farm boy” but it just rubbed me the wrong way that she wasn’t the one to don the crown just for the sake of them getting married. It would have been much more interesting if they did a sort of gender switch – but, to be fair, even less historically accurate.

Oz also got me riled up over gender roles and how they’re portrayed in film so maybe it’s a phase I’m going through. I think the rape trial that’s been going on (Steubenville - which I’m not going to get into since it’s been raked over as many coals as possible at this stage) has put me in a mood.

 

The third instalment of “Neverwhere” on UK’s Radio 4 Extra starts in an hour and I’m extra excited because the Angel Islington, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a main character is this chapter. I finally read the book a few years ago and it became an instant favourite. I was super excited when it was first announced with no only Cumberbatch playing a major character but James McAvoy (using his own accent!) would be playing the lead, Richard Mayhew. Now, if you’ve never read the book – and shame on you – it’s about London and then Below London, two separate worlds co-habiting the same space. However, once you are introduced to London Below, you can no longer exist in main London. Richard saves a girl called Door who’s on the run from two assassins (one of whom is played by Gil- I mean, Anthony Head). He carries her into his flat and fixes up her wounds and then finds himself invisible to the rest of his regular life. Thus, his adventures in London Below begins – he takes on the quest to help Door find out the whos and the whys of her family’s murder as well as trying to find a way to go back to London Above.

I’m always sad when I think about how important radio drama is in the UK and is virtually non-existent in the US. I think a lot of US actors on the level of McAvoy and Cumberbatch wouldn’t even deem radio worthy of their voice other than doing contractual obligatory interviews. It’s all talk shows and news and morning comedy shows before regular music programming. Things like “Cabin Pressure” (another brilliant radio show also starring Cumberbatch along with the rest of a very funny cast) and a radio drama adaptation of “Neverwhere” would never get the publicity in the States that the UK provides. Imagine being able to tune in to a play on a prime time, well sponsored radio station written by, say, Jason Segel and starring the likes of, say, Chris Pine and Jennifer Lawrence.  It would be an interesting comparison study if I were professionally curious.