We don't just tolerate the Robert James Wallerisms in ''Spider-Man,'' we begin to employ them as pickup lines
May 30, 2002 3:24 PM Subscribe
We don't just tolerate the Robert James Wallerisms in ''Spider-Man,'' we begin to employ them as pickup lines Hey, I'll put Stan Lee and "Spider-Man" above Waller and "The Bridges of Madison County" any old day. That doesn't make me a stunted adolescent! This opinion piece really seems misinformed about any form of art or communication that doesn't meet the author's rather narrow standards. Fortunately, the opposing opinion balances things out a bit. Have you ever learned anything from a comic book, or do they just help the terrorists?
ARGH! I even saw that post on searching, and somehow...somehow...didn't grok the fact that I was double-posting.
Should I have coffee now? Or will that make me grumpy.
Sorry, folks. :-/
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:33 PM on May 30, 2002
Should I have coffee now? Or will that make me grumpy.
Sorry, folks. :-/
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:33 PM on May 30, 2002
No biggie. At least you're not flaming us on the defensive for gently pointing it out. Good work all around.
posted by jragon at 3:45 PM on May 30, 2002
posted by jragon at 3:45 PM on May 30, 2002
God what a moron. Stealing video games and smoking are much, much more healthy then engaging in imagination as a child. We were so, soo wrong. Thanks mr Geoff Edgers, for opening my eyes!
posted by delmoi at 5:12 PM on May 30, 2002
posted by delmoi at 5:12 PM on May 30, 2002
The discussion in the other thread turned into an argument about whether comic books can be a worthwhile medium, but I'm not sure that anybody addressed just what a total moron this Geoff Edgers guy is in general.
These weirdos scared me: A kid named Brian who spent hours at Hebrew School composed a ''hit list'' of countries he would like to bomb.
I spent hours at Hebrew School too. I had to; it was compulsory (by parental dictate) for me, just like it was for almost everyone there. It is not an ongoing thing that you can show up to when you like and stay as long as you want. And composing a list of countries to bomb...this stuff is very typical behavior for an adolescent boy. I remember an assignment in junior high to do a report on the work and lifestyle of the profession the students would most like to end up in; one kid did an extravagant and hilarious report on why he wanted to be a hit man. He was vaguely serious in the way that many teenagers are vaguely serious about all the grandiose things they would like to do when they're older. Now he's married with kids and does something boring in an office. He doesn't wish that he had become a hit man; he just grew up. (I'm not advocating taking a boring job in an office, though.)
Looking back, I'm thankful these were the innocent '80s, before kids, stoked on violent video games and Luvox, might actually do some damage.
Luvox is an antidepressant, and I have been on it. It made me so happy I could barely function. I'm not recommending it to anyone, but this guy is the one living in the fantasy world. Not only does he not understand comics at all, he also doesn't understand people, nor does he feel the need to make assertions that have any connection to reality whatsoever.
Because you can't argue with a guy who, through an ink-rendered rodent, spread word of the Holocaust to an entirely new audience: those who apparently can't read. (How else to explain needing ''Maus'' when Elie Wiesel and Jerzy Kosinski are waiting on the shelf.)
I would explain this situation by stating that there are plenty of people who read both. I also think that while Wiesel's "Night" is very good, "Maus" is a masterpiece. And the idiot forgets that his generation too was entralled with an ink-rendered rodent, one who was and still is a lot more money-hungry and insidious than Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning creation.
posted by bingo at 5:26 PM on May 30, 2002
These weirdos scared me: A kid named Brian who spent hours at Hebrew School composed a ''hit list'' of countries he would like to bomb.
I spent hours at Hebrew School too. I had to; it was compulsory (by parental dictate) for me, just like it was for almost everyone there. It is not an ongoing thing that you can show up to when you like and stay as long as you want. And composing a list of countries to bomb...this stuff is very typical behavior for an adolescent boy. I remember an assignment in junior high to do a report on the work and lifestyle of the profession the students would most like to end up in; one kid did an extravagant and hilarious report on why he wanted to be a hit man. He was vaguely serious in the way that many teenagers are vaguely serious about all the grandiose things they would like to do when they're older. Now he's married with kids and does something boring in an office. He doesn't wish that he had become a hit man; he just grew up. (I'm not advocating taking a boring job in an office, though.)
Looking back, I'm thankful these were the innocent '80s, before kids, stoked on violent video games and Luvox, might actually do some damage.
Luvox is an antidepressant, and I have been on it. It made me so happy I could barely function. I'm not recommending it to anyone, but this guy is the one living in the fantasy world. Not only does he not understand comics at all, he also doesn't understand people, nor does he feel the need to make assertions that have any connection to reality whatsoever.
Because you can't argue with a guy who, through an ink-rendered rodent, spread word of the Holocaust to an entirely new audience: those who apparently can't read. (How else to explain needing ''Maus'' when Elie Wiesel and Jerzy Kosinski are waiting on the shelf.)
I would explain this situation by stating that there are plenty of people who read both. I also think that while Wiesel's "Night" is very good, "Maus" is a masterpiece. And the idiot forgets that his generation too was entralled with an ink-rendered rodent, one who was and still is a lot more money-hungry and insidious than Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning creation.
posted by bingo at 5:26 PM on May 30, 2002
I'm not sure that anybody addressed just what a total moron this Geoff Edgers guy is in general
To be honest, his piece is so ign'ant that I sort assumed that he got handed the assignment..including taking the 'con' position...and just tossed it off as a homework assignment.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:22 PM on May 30, 2002
To be honest, his piece is so ign'ant that I sort assumed that he got handed the assignment..including taking the 'con' position...and just tossed it off as a homework assignment.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:22 PM on May 30, 2002
How else to explain needing ''Maus'' when Elie Wiesel and Jerzy Kosinski are waiting on the shelf?
For starters, Maus is written from the POV of a grown child of a holocaust survivor. Wiesel and Kosinski wrote their books from their experience as survivors. I'm no master of advanced literary theory, but that looks like a big difference to me.
But let's not shoot fish in a barrel: the whole piece is made up of howlers like that.
posted by crunchburger at 6:47 PM on May 30, 2002
For starters, Maus is written from the POV of a grown child of a holocaust survivor. Wiesel and Kosinski wrote their books from their experience as survivors. I'm no master of advanced literary theory, but that looks like a big difference to me.
But let's not shoot fish in a barrel: the whole piece is made up of howlers like that.
posted by crunchburger at 6:47 PM on May 30, 2002
As long as we're doing it again (and justifying my initial belief that it was a worthwhile post after all - thanks, Wolfdaddy!) I'll answer the question:
Yes. I learned to read by reading my father's Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. By the time I was four, I knew there was a mythical something called the "Seven Cities of Cibola" and that polar bears lived waay up north and were really, really bad things to have crash onto your boat in a storm. I also got a very early introduction in art appreciation - by the time I was six, I could recognize the "good duck artist" in a glance, and could point out those stories (reprinted by popular request) proudly to my Dad.
Granted, I got confused sometimes - although I didn't really think that ducks walked around (without pants) speaking english, and I knew there wasn't really a "Junior Woodchucks Guidebook", I did often say "what th'!" as if it were a common interjection, and I asked for a "chuh-MISS-tery set" for my fifth birthday (hey, who knows how to pronounce "chemistry" at that age, anyway?) On the whole, though, I will always credit comics (not just Carl Barks, but also the ones they led to) with giving me a life-long interest in reading, and an insatiable curiosity about history, science and the arts in general.
posted by yhbc at 8:12 PM on May 30, 2002
Yes. I learned to read by reading my father's Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. By the time I was four, I knew there was a mythical something called the "Seven Cities of Cibola" and that polar bears lived waay up north and were really, really bad things to have crash onto your boat in a storm. I also got a very early introduction in art appreciation - by the time I was six, I could recognize the "good duck artist" in a glance, and could point out those stories (reprinted by popular request) proudly to my Dad.
Granted, I got confused sometimes - although I didn't really think that ducks walked around (without pants) speaking english, and I knew there wasn't really a "Junior Woodchucks Guidebook", I did often say "what th'!" as if it were a common interjection, and I asked for a "chuh-MISS-tery set" for my fifth birthday (hey, who knows how to pronounce "chemistry" at that age, anyway?) On the whole, though, I will always credit comics (not just Carl Barks, but also the ones they led to) with giving me a life-long interest in reading, and an insatiable curiosity about history, science and the arts in general.
posted by yhbc at 8:12 PM on May 30, 2002
Have you ever learned anything from a comic book, or do they just help the terrorists?
hehehe
They only help the terrorists. That is unless they're Ashcroft approved Jack Chick publications. :)
posted by nofundy at 6:11 AM on May 31, 2002
hehehe
They only help the terrorists. That is unless they're Ashcroft approved Jack Chick publications. :)
posted by nofundy at 6:11 AM on May 31, 2002
« Older | Three Climbers die in Fall Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by atom128 at 3:29 PM on May 30, 2002