"...it's not the training to be mean but the training to be kind that is used to keep us leashed best." ~ Black Dog Red

"In case you haven't recognized the trend: it proceeds action, dissent, speech." ~ davidly, on how wars get done

"...What sort of meager, unerotic existence must a man live to find himself moved to such ecstatic heights by the mundane sniping of a congressional budget fight. The fate of human existence does not hang in the balance. The gods are not arrayed on either side. Poseiden, earth-shaker, has regrettably set his sights on the poor fishermen of northern Japan and not on Washington, D.C. where his ire might do some good--I can think of no better spot for a little wetland reclamation project, if you know what I mean. The fight is neither revolution nor apocalypse; it is hardly even a fight. A lot of apparatchiks are moving a lot of phony numbers with more zeros than a century of soccer scores around, weaving a brittle chrysalis around a gross worm that, some time hence, will emerge, untransformed, still a worm." ~ IOZ

Mar 24, 2012

Little Man Rediscovers Highlandering

Oldest and I were discussing tropes and genre, few minutes ago, while watching WWE waiting for the rice to boil. I learned that he doesn't like horror (because it's "too confident in itself") and he doesn't like most drama, "because it's just the same plot, not believable." He prefers comedy and sci-fi, especially when mixed (see, "Paul"*).

Somehow, the latest installment of the "Predator" franchise - incuriously titled "Predators" -  came up, and he says, he says to me, "I liked it, but it was also full of itself. And then there's the problem with the eight dudes and one chick thing."

"Heh," I chuckled,"what about that bothers you?"

"It's not believable, for one. And two, every action or sci-fi movie is a bunch of well-muscled or beefy men all sort of going for the chick, and doing cruel and ridiculous stunts with guns, like that's what impresses women. Then everyone dies so that the main character can get the girl. Maybe a best friend survives but he's never in competition to get the girl, he's usually weaker, he's usually the brain."

"Heh," I laughed, again, my blogfriend, the Red Queen, calls "that highlandering."



* - of course, Paul is a perfect example of "highlandering."

5 comments:

The Red Queen said...

YAY!!!!! We are so going to makehighlandering happen!

I am also trying to change "kill 2 birds with one stone" into "killing birds with stones". Boyfriend does not like this. He thinks it won't make sense. I asked him when he jumped on the bandwagon of things that make sense, and if he could explain what a bandwagon was. Point to RQ!

Also your kid sounds rad. My kid hates the 2 boys and girl set up that is so freaking common. YAY smart, progressive kids!

CFO said...

trivial

Jack Crow said...

RQ,

Littleman is a better young man than I will ever be a grown man.

CFO,

Not surprised.

Richard said...

Pleased to hear that there are people who see through the stereotypical entertainment narratives. Also worth noting that that "the chick" doesn't always go for the "beefy" guy. That's a stereotype that goes unmentioned here.

Jack Crow said...

Richard,

I suppose it's worth pointing out that "littleman" is 15 and does not have the most refined sense of cinema or social categories. I was faithful to his choice of words and voice.