Editorial: Pick Your Geek Battles
by Mike Lunsford, Editor-in-Chief of The Great Geek Refuge
The year is almost over. Many other writers will talk about how excited they are that 2020 is nearly done, but what has made this year so awful is it seemingly never ends. Just because the calendar is about to change doesn’t mean the pandemic magically went away, or that the corrupt traitor in the White House magically disappeared… we get to have this nightmare roll over into 2021! That being said, we have had some exciting geeky content to chew on at the end of the year to keep us entertained and distracted from the endless trash fire burning under our collective society. We are like the residents of Centralia, only we can’t evacuate. Fun, huh?
Automated message: “as the trash fire in the a coal mine rages on, remember we’re here for you in these unprecedented times.”
The two pieces of nerd distraction I am referring to in particular and the purpose of this editorial: the Star Wars franchise-saving Disney Plus series The Mandalorian and Warner Bros. recent DCEU release via HBO Max Wonder Woman 84. Let’s start with Star Wars.
The Mandalorian was great, right? Season 2 was action-packed, it was full of shocking moments, amazing reveals, classic characters from all over the spectrum and ultimately had a very satisfying ending. But you know geeks, you know how they do: there is always something to complain about. I’m sure there’s some quote about “you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all the time” that has Star Wars references in it. Probably Ewoks or nerfherders… at any rate, one of the biggest gripes I’ve heard from people is the digital masking they used to make Max Lloyd-Jones look like Luke Skywalker.
So, that’s Luke Skywalker. We all know it’s Luke. It doesn’t look exactly like Mark Hamill did circa 1983 because of that pain in the ass thing known as time. You literally can’t turn back time on Earth. Disney/Star Wars has done this before with Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin to mixed reviews. I’m just tired of hearing about “it looks so bad!” from people who watched it. I’m just curious…what were you reasonably expecting? To be so shocked by how much it looks exactly like a young Mark Hamill that you stand and point at your TV screaming “WITCHCRAFT?”
“DISNEY USED THEIR SECRET CLONING FACILITY THAT’S UNDER SPACE MOUNTAIN TO GROW A NEW MARK HAMILL!”
No matter what you do to digitally de-age someone, you’re going to be able to tell. Why? BECAUSE WE ALREADY KNOW IT’S NOT REAL. I didn’t like it either, but I didn’t think it looked “SO BAD.” My biggest gripe? Respect your audience. Cast a new Luke. Find someone who kinda looks like him and is a good actor and we’ll just accept it. Black flight suit, one black-gloved hand, one regular hand, ridiculously tall boots, green lightsaber, kicks butt and flies an X-Wing? Yeah, that’s Luke. That’s all you need. I mean…why would Disney think Star Wars fans would complain about a new actor playing a younger version of a classic character?
sh*t. YOU SEE THIS??? THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!
Yes, I’m insinuating that the digital masking thing is your fault. There have been like 85 actors who’ve played Batman or Superman respectively, why is Star Wars some sacred cow that can’t be recast? For crying out loud, the creator of the damn series went back and digitally added space slugs and song and dance numbers for digital Muppets to his “opus.” This is not the battle to pick.
I’ll tell you one that might be worth picking though: what the hell is going on in the DCEU? It seems that no matter what they do movie-wise there’s always something very troubling. Justice League had so many issues that were structural to begin with, then add the tragedy that befell Zach Snyder’s family. Then you replace him with Joss Whedon and his rap sheet of bad choices…and now you have ANOTHER version of it coming out. That’s how much of a mess it was. Wonder Woman seemed to be the one shining example of how to do it. Female-led, female directed, female written. HELL YEAH! Then we get the long-awaited sequel, Wonder Woman 84. Surely, it would continue the momentum the first film provided.
“Shhh. Don’t ruin my opening weekend, Mike.”
Sorry Wonder Woman.
It was entertaining…but troublesome. The movie has a lot of flaws, chief among them the way women are portrayed and written. But there’s more, too. Minorities are played as stereotypical tropes, and there’s a big issue with consent that I won’t go into detail for those who haven’t seen it yet. Wonder Woman is a symbol of feminism, and a lot of this movie is spent taking a backseat to her boyfriend who she really missed. And I get that! Grief can be awful, but she’s an Amazonian! A God killer! I also get that this movie was set in the 80s and women have come a long way in 40 years, but the movie is for today’s audience. It has a responsibility to those watching. Now, all that said, did I dislike the movie? Nope. I enjoyed it. Pedro Pascal was great as Max Lord. It was fun seeing Chris Pine again, he’s always a delight. Gal Gadot certainly looks the part as Wonder Woman and does a great job acting, but she’s got some really troubling beliefs about Israel/Palestine. This is a problem because she plays a character who is a pro-peace warrior princess. And, full disclosure, this mindset is shown in WW84, so the writers got that correct and Gadot portrays it well. It’s hard to separate art from artist though, especially in this day and age when we know better and expect more from our heroes. THESE ARE CONVERSATIONS WORTH HAVING! THIS IS A FIGHT WORTH BRINGING UP!
A digital mask to make an actor look like a younger version of another actor is NOT worth devoting entire articles. People literally stayed away from Solo: A Star Wars Story because it wasn’t Harrison Ford. How stupid is that? We should be talking about the things that will have a lasting impact on our world. Things that could really shape future generations. Let’s stop worrying about things that were an attempt to keep fans happy and in the end…wasn’t that bad.