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Good Adaptation, Bad Adaptation

Once upon a time, being dominant in a specific form of media was generally enough for anyone. If you were a novelist, you’d probably only be a novelist aside from a few passion projects you had on the side. If you were a screenwriter, you’d be known as a screenwriter first and any other projects you worked on would be exceptions rather than the rule. And if you did comic books, it tended to be a long shot for you to get big somewhere else. But today it’s much more likely that anyone who becomes a success will do so across multiple platforms.

Cross platform properties have become so common today that most successful works have their movie rights sold almost as fast as their book rights. Sure, some works are going to remain on a single format, but those are becoming increasingly rare in the most popular genres. Part of this is because cross promotion tends to help all parties involved. Selling the movie rights to a book is generally going to help sell more books as people become curious about the IP and having a book out to go with the movie tends to help with stirring interest in seeing the story fleshed out in full. And, while many would say it’s a sign of both industries being “out of ideas”, it’s really just about having audiences primed to spend money on something they may not have spent money on before.

But what exactly makes a good adaptation and why is it, despite all efforts, that some adaptations turn out terribly? Continue reading Good Adaptation, Bad Adaptation

Violent Media & Censorship

As part of the rebirth of a long dead idea of Masochist Mondays (though I don’t intend to use the title, just the label), I’m continuing my current trend of writing about something about myself every Monday that I can declare as my line in the sand. Right now, if I follow my schedule right and keep ahead of it, this will be part of a routine that I will call the digital mullet: serious in the front, party in the back (Smartass Fridays?).

But for right now, as it is Monday, I continue to draw my lines in the sand and today’s line is going to be on:

Violence in the Media

It wasn’t very long ago that I wrote a similarly themed postabout what I think our responsibilities, as creators, is to the public. In that post I addressed the fact that no one could predict any lunatic could have taken “inspiration” in someone’s work and put the responsibility of what those people did onto the shoulders of the assholes who did it. But at the time, I didn’t really clarify how I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t our responsibility. And, really, I only addressed whether it was our responsibility, not whether or not the depiction itself was right.

The fact I’ve argued creators are exempt from responsibility for these things shows at least a good part of what I believe. But in terms of how other people interact with it, I think it goes much further. Not only do I think that violence in our media is acceptable – I think it’s necessary.

Continue reading Violent Media & Censorship

“Father’s” Day

Usually when I come to write a blog post I’m hoping to be somewhat entertaining or informative. I usually feel like trying to make something more happen than “me” (and sometimes fail). A couple times I’ve come to the blog with something to get off my chest. This, unfortunately, may be one of those times.

Today’s Father’s Day and a recent string of events has reminded me that the word “father” is a heavy word. What exactly defines a father in today’s society? In my opinion, it’s not as simple as people think it is.

Over the years I’ve realized that being considered a child’s father isn’t something that should just be given from the moment of birth, it’s something you earn. When I was born my dad was in the navy and he was gone a lot for the first couple years of my life. A lot of the stages of my early life were spent around my mother and grandmother. But eventually, he left the navy and came home.

Closest representation of dad possible since he takes no photos(not exaggerating much either)

 

Continue reading “Father’s” Day