Batman v Superman: Dawn of Color?

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Batman v Superman: Dawn of Color?

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

MOD CHALLENGE TIME :siren:

BARON BIFFORD. Sometimes, a cigar is not just a cigar. Through a number of threads, you've shown that you have an inability to acknowledge the subtext of various movies and comics. You often derail threads for multiple pages while others try to explain what they mean when they are talking about the specific subtext you are arguing against. I think it's time for that to change. I want you on the other side of the argument, this time.

:siren:

THE CHALLENGE: :siren:

There are many movies that comes out with subtext so close to the surface that it may as well be called text. Even a child would be able to pick up on the themes and allegories in these films. Your mod challenge revolves around one of these films.
The perennial example...

Alien. The story of the mining crew aboard the ship Nostromo whose lives are shaken when they discover an alien lifeform while responding to a foreign distress call. Alien is a classic thriller, and arguably one of the most well made films of all time. The piece of art Necronom IV (above), by designer H.R. Giger served as the design of the eponymous Alien, and Giger helped design and develop many of the other creatures and sets featured in the film. Which leads to the challenge.

You will write a short essaay (500-800 words) on the major subtext of Alien: sex. Almost every frame of the movie is dripping (heh) with sexual themes and images, so you have a plethora to work with.

A few notes:

Outside sources are welcome. The point of this mod challenge is to help you recognize and analyze the subtext of movies. I want you to utilize any and all resources you need to help you with this task. If you use an outside source, please cite it. Plagiarism will result in an automatic ban.
I intentionally left the topic of the essay open. You may write about any sexual theme you'd like, as long as you can argue it well. That's the fun of subtext, there isn't just one right answer.
You have until Thanksgiving day, November 26th to write the essay. Failure to complete it in this time limit will result in an automatic ban.
Upon proper completion of the essay, you will be spared banning and awarded with your choice of a new avatar/title, or archive upgrade (your choice).
Refusal to complete this challenge will result in a ban.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "Alien? That movie is way too obvious in its themes. The essay practically writes itself!" You're absolutely correct. This will be a very easy essay to write. So...

:siren:

SUB-CHALLENGE, OPEN TO ALL :siren:

If you think Baron Bifford might be getting a free pass at this, you can help decide his fate.

Any poster may write a long-form essay (900+ words) on the subtext of your choice in any Happy Madison Productions film (edit-Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are also included). Want to write about oedipal overtones in Jack and Jill? Go for it. The male gaze in Little Nicky? Sure. You do you.

The applicable notes above apply to this essay as well, with one exception.

Completion of this essay awards a custom avatar/title, archive, or platinum upgrade, as well as the ability to decide Baron Bifford's fate. You will become judge, jury, and executioner for the Baron. If your essay explains your chosen subtext in your chosen film better than Baron's essay, you will decide whether he is banned or not. Will you be the angel or the devil on his shoulder?
If multiple posters decide to complete this sub-challenge, you will each be awarded an avatar/upgrade (your choice), but only one of you (by my choice) will be given the power to decide his fate

Good luck to all!

GonSmithe fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Nov 17, 2015

# ¿ Nov 17, 2015 18:25

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:00

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Jenny Angel posted:

The examples you give are both sexual subtexts, and Baron's essay is mandated as being about sexual subtext. Does my Happy Madison essay need to be about sexual subtext too?

Sorry, no. Like I said, you can pick any subtext you want.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2015 18:42

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

ImpAtom posted:

Does this include Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison or just the films from Happy Madison themselves? (I know that sounds like a pedantic question but Billy Madison is kinda beggin' for it.)

Dammit I knew I should have checked this. I forgot Happy Maddison wasn't the original company, but yes, you can work with those.

Here is a list of films you are allowed to use
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Madison_Productions

As well as Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2015 18:49

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Snowman_McK posted:

There is a lot going on in Click, it's a good choice. Pick something you're interested in rather than trying to find the most terrible movie you can to fulfill some weird game of ironic one-upsmanship.

Yeah! I want legit essays here, if you choose to do it.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2015 03:20

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Oh yeah, I forgot my disclaimer. I am not responsible for any mental damage watching these movies may cause.

And yes, everyone read Jenny's essay, it's lovely.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2015 16:10

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

When I first put this Mod Challenge through to you, Baron Bifford, I wanted to see exactly what you would come up with with such an easy topic. I hoped you might put aside how you currently analyze movies and try flexing some new muscles. I hoped that everyone involved in the sub-challenge would have a fun time writing silly essays for bad movies (not saying the three submissions were silly, they're all very well done), and yours would be the icing on the cake; a thought-out essay on a classic.

Then I saw your PMs. Then I saw your response to the posts in the thread. And then you submitted your essay.
If I was a college professor, I would give you somewhere in the C to C- range, because you did what I asked of you. You wrote a short essay on the subject of sex in Alien. What you did not do was understand the point of the mod challenge. I wanted you to go beyond what the director or script writer said in the commentary and see what the movie had to say about sex to you. There is no one way to interpret a movie or its themes, and you were not being ridicululed because you went against others' interpretations. Your essay may as well be a list of facts about the movie in bulleted form, it would serve the same purpose.

Due to your lack of understanding of the point of the Mod Challenge and the essay you provided, you have failed. Were this any other Mod Challenge a ban would already be queued for you, waiting for approval. In this Challenge, though, I am not the final word. The three Sub-Challenge essays submitted by Jenny Angel, Hbomberguy and BrianWilly are all better than yours. All of them understood the purpose of this Challenge, and wrote three strong essays on movies that probably don't deserve them. But that's the key; their essays were still strong and made sense without needing to refer to the director or the screenwriter's comments. The allowed themselves to think critically and find deep ideas in shallow water.

So without further ado, the winner of the Subtext Sub-Challenge is...
:siren:

Hbomberguy! :siren:

With victory comes responsibility, however. It is up to you, Hbomberguy, to decide Baron Bifford's fate. Will he recieve a ban? A custom title to wear as a badge of shame? I leave the decision to you.

As promised, the three of you also get your choice of a new custom title or archives upgrade (since you all have PMs already). Any custom title you may want must fit the file size allowed, and must be PM'd to me for upload by an admin.

Thanks to everyone who participated for participating. I hope everyone reading had fun reading the great essays submitted, and I hope you all keep posting crazy poo poo in the threads to come.

GonSmithe fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Nov 28, 2015

# ¿ Nov 27, 2015 17:16

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Hbomberguy posted:

Congrats to the other two posters, who IMO wrote better essays than me but I'm not going to look the opportunity to feel powerful in the mouth:

I'd previously said I didn't want to see Bifford banned, but his general attitude in the thread after that point has been to show that nothing can change his mind but his own - when someone simply enjoys being contrarian. they probably need to go away and think for awhile about what they think and why. I know I think clearer about things after I put some time between it.

I see Bifford's currently probated for a crazy amount of time - over 4,000 days in fact - but personally I'd settle for however many days it takes for it to be december 25 next year (I can't do maths).

It'll be like opening a christmas present. And for the rest of us it'll hopefully be the same - a wonderful new Baron Bifford, whose smiling dogface has learned what subtext is.

Also in lieu of a new title can I get one of those tags like Jenny Angel's 'lipstick apathy' thing (I wish I knew what that was even from!), but one that reads 'Lacan's Lapdog' ?

I didn't put in the ban, he asked for it himself.

And yeah, those are from donating for DB3, I have no control over those.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2015 07:33

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Kush posted:

By the looks of it, Cavill will be wearing a toup�e by the time Justice League pt. 2 starts shooting.

Chris Evans' hair is like 75% gone at this point, he wears a very obvious wig in the Avengers movies.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2016 18:42

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

greatn posted:

Kryptonite poisoning causes baldness, that is canon.

I can 100% guarantee Snyder said this to the studio at some point.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2016 18:50

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

RBA Starblade posted:

I'm so bad at picking this sort of thing up. I didn't even realize that in the LotR movies half the long distance shots of the hobbits were of kids until someone pointed it out.

That's a time honored tradition. My favorite use is the scenes in Alien when they're exploring the Space Jockey cockpit.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2016 18:54

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Darko posted:

Only if it shoots here. I'm just an extra, and I only do it for fun. I have a good enough relationship with the casting group to get into whatever i generally want to and know a lot of the production crew in Detroit but that's as far as it goes; I'm not a real insider or anything.

Can you confirm the rumors that Zach Snyder started every day of shooting by snapping the necks of Zod mannequins?

# ¿ Mar 20, 2016 02:09

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

I'm gonna be handing out heavy probations in here if you people can't have a civil loving discussion. People are allowed to like movies you don't like.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 02:18

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

SIR FAT JONY IVES posted:

Meanwhile in that other thread:

Hes' kidding you doofus

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 14:40

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Neurolimal posted:

The lengths people will go to excuse all the well-recieved darker comic movies and shows to protect their narrative that everyone who doesn't like MoS or BvS are stubborn luddites who wont tolerate a Serious Mature Movie For Adults is amazing.

I've been reading YCS, and the people trying to excuse voting for a candidate they actively dislike are jumping through fewer hoops than posters in here.

We're talking about a subsidy of Time Warner, not outsider art.

That isn't what's happening though. People are saying "this isn't how Batman is!!! He isn't like this in the comics!!!!!!!!!!!" and then other people are using examples to explain that yes, he is like that in the comics (and other movies) too.

Y'all need to chill. Not everything is a :tinfoil:

conspiracy

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 15:41

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Jewel Repetition posted:

I'm not either for most things. It's just the fact that he doesn't kill people is so important to the character and themes. I guess they changed it to draw an even stronger contrast with Superman (maybe that's giving them too much credit) but still...

It's been brought up a thousand times, but Batman does kill people, all the time, in a bunch of different iterations.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2016 03:32

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

NecroMonster posted:

Batman never has and never will shy away from killing inhuman monsters, or at least attempting to do so.

And you don't get to determine weather or not batmans actions "should" result in death, since implicit in his preternatural level of skill at beating up and physically breaking people, is the knowledge required to avoid killing them.

Come on, dude.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2016 04:16

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

I don't really know why this needs to be said:

:siren:

STOP POSTING UNTAGGED SPOILERS :siren:

The movie has been out for 2 days. Give it at least a week.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2016 08:02

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:00

GonSmithe: Apr 25, 2010; Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.

Y'all are good on the spoiler tags now, I think everyone who cares about spoilers has seen it at this point (besides me).

# ¿ Apr 3, 2016 15:23

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Batman v Superman: Dawn of Color?