Gundam 00 Update September 4, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Anime, Mistakes, Plot.Tags: Gundam 00
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This is just a short little post I’m going to do now on Gundam 00; I’ve gotten about halfway through the first season since I last wrote on it, but I don’t want to spend a lot on it at this point until I’ve finished it. To be honest, my opinion has only gotten worse.
However, there’s one thing I noticed from the recap episode that I wanted to bring up. There’s one time in the series where a bus, for reasons of spoiling the story I won’t mention now, explodes, killing a number of people. When I was watching it happen the second time, I noticed the bus stops in front of a line of people, and for a good two or three seconds it sits there, with none of the people moving, and then the explosion, which cuts away before you can see too much damage, before switching back to show the finished carnage.
What bothers me is those people standing there. Maybe it was okay the first time, but when it comes back, everyone knows the bus is going to blow. Yet the people don’t move, or do anything, even though that’s where every single person watching the scene will look. Imagine if they had made the people move; it would make the scene pop and be amazing and suspenseful, because you know what is going to happen but now you’re watching people walk around normally just waiting to die.
Anyone who really gets into writing knows these little details and mistakes and graphic/plot goofs come back to bite you; Gundam 00 has thousands of them. I could probably make a whole series going through each episode pointing out each individual moment where things change or don’t change for no explainable reason. And don’t tell me that people don’t do deep background details; go pick up any copy of the Vagabond manga in your local book store and count how many leaves you can see on a bush, or how many individual blades of grass you can see. You’ll be shocked. And don’t say that would cost too much; I only noticed it that time because it was the second time around and all my focus was on the bus. They knew it would come back, they ought to have put the money there. And they’re Mobile Suit Gundam, the huge behemoth series that basically created an entire genre, or at least stands in the spotlight in it.
Things like that bother me, like a lot of people, because it breaks any sense of realism from the medium you’re watching. It happens in written word and visual media just as much. Plot holes are bad. Don’t worry about filling them. Worry about keeping them from ever existing.
The Dark Knight and Story Structure September 3, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Analysis, Movies, Plot.Tags: The Dark Knight
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I recently saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, in theaters. Twice actually, but that’s not as important. I’m sure most people have already heard the great things about it, and about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Yep, it’s incredible. Probably one of the best performances of, well, anything that I’ve seen, and an acting performance that delivers a wonderfully memorable and evil villain. But, that’s not what I’m here to talk about right now. Besides, other people can talk about that sort of element much better than I can, so I’ll leave it to them.
What struck me was a comment one of my friends mentioned after I had seen the movie. He said one great thing was that, unlike most movies, you couldn’t exactly see where it was going to go, and the twists were real twists. Most movies set themselves up for one great big shock, which, when they’re not as good, can be seen long before they come and ruin any surprise and suspense that they try to build with that. But here, he said, time and again something new jumped in and threw everything for a loop.
I won’t say that the story was the most original thing I’ve ever seen, but I have to say it was an amazing story. It took the standard superhero versus supervillan story and pushed it, hard, until it reached a point of becoming much more. The realism, the growing and breaking and changing and lying characters, and a constant devotion to holding itself to the same standards it’s set up have made it great. It hits us as real because, while some of the technology is is beyond us and some of the physical feats are more than we could assume possible, there’s nothing really in the movie that we stop and say “that’s not possible, ever.” Exactly what you want to see in science fiction; and, when you think about Batman, and his utility belt, as well as all the other toys he plays with, he is a science fiction superhero. The characters are like people as well, growing tired, reacting to their conscience and thoughts when they know what’s coming, or are caught off guard, and the events affect them and make them rework their opinions and lives. And never does it slip; never does the dialogue stop snapping, do the characters break from this mood, does the story let up from it’s grip on you. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling, even if it may not be deep or philosophical, which one could certainly argue — I’m just not feeling up to it right now.
