Can u dig it?
Pop Will Eat Itself is easily one of the bands I love the most, but they are mostly remembered for the line “Alan Moore knows the score.” Partially because the song that contains it is so damn catchy and fun, but mostly because it’s a very true statement. Everyone in the 80s knew and now Entertainment Weekly updates the line with their interview “Alan More Still Knows the Score.”
There are a lot of great things about Moore, but the fact I latch onto is that he is the sanest man giving public commentary on the movie industry and its products — that is, it’s crappy, it’s bereft of originality, it’s slipping in it’s importance as an art form, and it’s really worth avoiding if you’re a writer. Never let them touch your stuff, especially if you write comic books.
Obviously, I’m not extreme — I’m close, dammit, but not quite there and I did love “Persepolis.” However, I’m right on board with the big picture. Here’s Moore on the subject right now:
“I see a kind of degeneration, if you like, in terms of the imagination that those pioneers back in the 19th century were gifted with, and kind of recycled ideas that we tend to get served up today…. So often any film that comes out is going to be a sequel or a remake of a film that’s previously existed — and I’ve said this before, that we will see Johnny Depp playing Cap’n Crunch. It will eventually get down to breakfast cereal mascots”
It chilled me when I read that because it seemed less like a joke and more like he had actually seen into the future. I can see that happening. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.
This is why I’m numb to the Dark Knight movie thing. I’ve seen ten bazillion stories about Batman in the last 40 years of my life, I’m tired of seeing stories about Batman. I’m tired of the same stories again and again. I don’t see why I should be expected to care, frankly. As I said, I liked “Persepolis” — that was a new story (and the comic book creator made it, so it wasn’t compromised in the usual ways).
But then again, Batman isn’t a character — he’s a property. He’s a product. It’s not that he’s only as good as the creator who’s working on him — as a soulless product, he actually brings the creator down a few pegs and makes him have to work harder than he would have on some other project that was more personal, rather than work for hire. I really love Christopher Nolan, but I don’t really feel the need to see what I view as his “work for hire.”
And I love The Watchmen, which is why I don’t feel the need to see a simplified version of it turned into product by some Hollywood guys. I felt the same way about the Phillip Pullman book.
Oh, sure, I break my own rules sometimes — I loved the Lost in Space movie. But nobody’s perfect when they’re looking for a way to pass the time.
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