hackbunny posted:

This isn't limited to Limitless. Are you a team of Mary Sues with magic high IQ powers? DHS consultants. Genius mathematician? FBI consultant. Hagiographic star forensic anthropologist? FBI consultant

What does the FBI do, though? Well, monsters in human form live among us, predators against which we're as defenseless as lambs among wolves. Especially women, if you're a woman basically imagine you have a rape/murder countdown over your head. The FBI can't save us, but maybe a warm, wise forensic anthropologist can interrogate our corpses for clues, and stern but caring field agents can save the next would-be victim in the nick of time. There are so many shows that fit this description that I won't even try to list them all

TV heroes used to be rogues, but at some point, they became cops

Easy Diff posted:

Yeah. I was racking my brain for a single hour-long drama not about cops or doctors (prosecutor's offices are cops, so law shows are out), and the only one currently on broadcast TV I could think of was This is Us.

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Peanut President posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvjJOovwX8Y
these for non americans/non football people

Some Guy TT posted:

did youtube just do that without asking because im trying to figure out why you got factoids for a short metal song with mostly random pictures but i didnt get anything like that for watching an entire shane dawson conspiracy video maybe the south korean version works differently

hackbunny posted:

I have no idea where and how Americans got "disrespecting the flag" out of the kneeling protests, and there didn't seem to be a liberal counter-narrative either, as if in the American mind the connection was obvious. Even if there was a connection, "disrespecting the flag" is such a nakedly fascistic concern, it's crazy. It's a football game, why can't you riot like civilized people, why do you have to be so militaristic

Mel Mudkiper posted:

Yeah sorry I should have included the Verhoeven exception

Dude is legit one of the all time greats

I was thinking more of the traditional Willis, Stallone, Schwarzenegger affairs

R. Guyovich posted:

the big movies with people like schwarzenegger tend to be smarter and better than most, and are the cultural objects that stay well-preserved due to their success. but there were a shitload of jingoistic lesser-known action movies that came out in those years and were poison. it's like how people remember westerns like red river or the searchers now but back when they were made there were literally hundreds of others coming out every year.

hackbunny posted:

To contribute, a thesis: the new hero archetype has a median value of "FBI agent" and a range that goes from "FBI consultant" to "CIA agent"

We live in an age where this is, somehow, not a joke:


Now, I haven't watched the show outside of a couple half episodes, but I don't remember any awareness of how absurd the premise is. A man in his twenties, who gains the ability to use the full extent of his brain's capabilities, could literally do anything he wanted, potentially become the most remarkable man in history... and goes work for the FBI. I've skimmed the episode list on Wikipedia, and there doesn't even appear to be coercion involved, he just accepts it because he's a loser and needs to make something of his life

I have often railed against fantasy where the highest aspiration of the hero is getting to wear a uniform, no matter how exceptional the hero may be: of course, you'll never amount to nothing unless you join the ranks, take your place in the organizational pyramid and... fight crime. Imagine Jesus Christ becoming a star magistrate of the Roman empire, instead of one of the most influential holy men in history

This isn't limited to Limitless. Are you a team of Mary Sues with magic high IQ powers? DHS consultants. Genius mathematician? FBI consultant. Hagiographic star forensic anthropologist? FBI consultant

What does the FBI do, though? Well, monsters in human form live among us, predators against which we're as defenseless as lambs among wolves. Especially women, if you're a woman basically imagine you have a rape/murder countdown over your head. The FBI can't save us, but maybe a warm, wise forensic anthropologist can interrogate our corpses for clues, and stern but caring field agents can save the next would-be victim in the nick of time. There are so many shows that fit this description that I won't even try to list them all

TV heroes used to be rogues, but at some point, they became cops

General Dog posted:

Well yeah, for a subversive/revisionist take on a genre to work there has to be a strong foundation of the dumb, vanilla version of the genre.

R. Guyovich posted:

yes, but it's all too common to see discussion of the former without the latter, to the point where in many academic discussions of the western i was privy to the question of "are ALL westerns revisionist???" came up with nary a hint of irony

Mayor Dave posted:

Your broader point is valid but regarding limitless the main character is extorted into being an FBI consultant

While there he discovers a passion for Making Something of Himself though, so ehhhh

hackbunny posted:

Low Desert Punk posted:

i dont have enough will to do an effort post about it, but the concept of canon in modern pop culture is inherently capitalist as poo poo and completely shuts down a lot of analysis and discourse

you will get people on this actual website arguing with you about what is and isn't "factual" in a fictional universe, when that is arbitrarily decided by some geek in a Disney boardroom in Burbank

loving boggles my mind.

Some Guy TT posted:

did youtube just do that without asking because im trying to figure out why you got factoids for a short metal song with mostly random pictures but i didnt get anything like that for watching an entire shane dawson conspiracy video maybe the south korean version works differently

Easy Diff posted:

If Dukes of Hazzard was made today, Boss Hogg would be the hero.

hackbunny posted:

hackbunny posted:

Easy Diff posted:

Yeah. I was racking my brain for a single hour-long drama not about cops or doctors (prosecutor's offices are cops, so law shows are out), and the only one currently on broadcast TV I could think of was This is Us.

If Dukes of Hazzard was made today, Boss Hogg would be the hero.

Lord of Pie posted:

Can't wait for the beige lives matter ep of the Andy Griffith show

Telephones posted:

is pop music fascist?

Low Desert Punk posted:

football is an amazing, amazing sport but like all sports it's been turbofucked up the rear end by capitalism

General Dog posted:

I guess an interesting question would be what's the most un-revisionist, retrograde western that's still considered a "classic" of the genre, or just still widely known? Stagecoach, or maybe Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy"?

Guess it just depends on what you're looking for. There are a lot of older westerns that are fairly class-conscious but still treat the Indians as a scary, unknowable Other. Spaghetti westerns are often pretty overtly rape-y, but don't seem to dabble in race much from what I've seen.

hackbunny posted:

General Dog posted:

I guess an interesting question would be what's the most un-revisionist, retrograde western that's still considered a "classic" of the genre, or just still widely known? Stagecoach, or maybe Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy"?

Guess it just depends on what you're looking for. There are a lot of older westerns that are fairly class-conscious but still treat the Indians as a scary, unknowable Other. Spaghetti westerns are often pretty overtly rape-y, but don't seem to dabble in race much from what I've seen.

Telephones posted:

is pop music fascist?

hackbunny posted:

"Consult for the FBI" (i.e. "become a superhero, fight crime") is so ingrained in TV show producers' minds that they go there automatically, even when it doesn't make sense, even when it doesn't explain how grinding the exceptional individual in the gears of HR protects the status quo. I, a random above average computer toucher, receive and refuse offers to work for military intelligence, and the most intelligent man in the world gets parked behind a desk in the J. Edgar Hoover Building and that is that? (I see the CIA borrows him for a whole episode, wow) You can't chalk it up to lovely writing alone, because it's become the rule: if you're exceptional, you fight crime. Too exceptional for regular crime? we'll invent super crime for you to fight (even if it's actually tamer than real crime). I found the monologue against the NSA in Good Will Hunting a little too on the nose when I saw it, but now I long for a moral stand that's even a hundredth as strong as that. I suppose, as a pre-9/11 movie, it could afford it

Of course Limitless the movie was even worse: unlocking the full potential of your mind is for getting rich with stock trading and becoming a congressman. Capitalism as a religion

R. Guyovich posted:

i said shane at the time and still stick by that one as the "ur-western"

Some Guy TT posted:

MOST PROPAGANDA ISNT INTENTIONAL media production in the united states today is very much a manufactured consent kind of situation where getting ahead requires you share certain values with big name producers like how sometimes rape is ok because im a movie producer it shouldnt surprise anyone that these kinds of powerful assholes are mainly interested in narratuives that benefit other powerful assholes

get that OUT of my face posted:

"no tackling a QB with full force" rule

Animal-Mother posted:

How the hell do they enforce this? Do they bring out that Rocky IV punch-o-meter to see how many pounds per square inch of pressure somebody put on the QB's body? When was this rule put into place? Right after the second plane hit?

Animal-Mother posted:

How the hell do they enforce this? Do they bring out that Rocky IV punch-o-meter to see how many pounds per square inch of pressure somebody put on the QB's body?