Hey All
Hey,
A very quiet Easter Sunday for me.
Woke up around 11, watched TV for a bit, decided that Shipwrecked made me wish that the French would resume nuclear tests in the South Pacific, chilled out, looked at Youtube clips etc.
At some point I discovered that Spiderman II was on, which I hadn't seen for a while, so I watched it beginning to end trying to work out whether Sam Raimi was unconsciously putting in clues to his Genre Film Past, or whether said clues were only really present in The Hospital Scene (which could easily just be him cutting loose and having fun in a way that he couldn't do for the rest of the movie).
By the second or third reel I was starting to wonder whether I was thinking about it all wrong. Sure, Sam Raimi did the Evil Dead movies, which are clearly Genre Films, but Spiderman is a Superhero Movie. Which makes it a Genre film as well.
But the Spiderman francise has stupid cash behind it, made mad money at the box office and featured some pretty mainstream talent (or at least not wildly underground actors). Bruce Cambell's cameos notwithstanding.
Besides which, Spiderman isn't just Comic Book Superhero with Horror Touches. There was elements of the teen drama in there as well, albeit coded in obliquely.
So maybe the Spiderman Franchise is so successful because it is constructed as a piece of Post-Genre Cinema, simultaneously aware of the conventions that inform the franchise but not bound by them.
Still, whichever way you look at them, Tobey Maguire swinging on webs makes for great popcorn fun.
And after that, two episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Stuff blew up. Neato.
Now I'm sleepy.
Over and out.
-J
A very quiet Easter Sunday for me.
Woke up around 11, watched TV for a bit, decided that Shipwrecked made me wish that the French would resume nuclear tests in the South Pacific, chilled out, looked at Youtube clips etc.
At some point I discovered that Spiderman II was on, which I hadn't seen for a while, so I watched it beginning to end trying to work out whether Sam Raimi was unconsciously putting in clues to his Genre Film Past, or whether said clues were only really present in The Hospital Scene (which could easily just be him cutting loose and having fun in a way that he couldn't do for the rest of the movie).
By the second or third reel I was starting to wonder whether I was thinking about it all wrong. Sure, Sam Raimi did the Evil Dead movies, which are clearly Genre Films, but Spiderman is a Superhero Movie. Which makes it a Genre film as well.
But the Spiderman francise has stupid cash behind it, made mad money at the box office and featured some pretty mainstream talent (or at least not wildly underground actors). Bruce Cambell's cameos notwithstanding.
Besides which, Spiderman isn't just Comic Book Superhero with Horror Touches. There was elements of the teen drama in there as well, albeit coded in obliquely.
So maybe the Spiderman Franchise is so successful because it is constructed as a piece of Post-Genre Cinema, simultaneously aware of the conventions that inform the franchise but not bound by them.
Still, whichever way you look at them, Tobey Maguire swinging on webs makes for great popcorn fun.
And after that, two episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Stuff blew up. Neato.
Now I'm sleepy.
Over and out.
-J
posted by the.exile at 9:01 pm
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