grinninfoole

In response to an article on the AV Club about James Cameron passing off the disappointing box office performance of T:DF, I noticed a number of commenters missed the point of the movie, and in particular were upset with the decision to kill of the character of John Connor, the one-time future savior of humanity, in the first ten minutes. But I think that this is actually central to the point of the film. With the armageddon that makes him the savior of humanity averted, with the time loop created by sending his father back to 1984 broken, John Connor isn’t a figure of destiny anymore, he’s lost his plot armor and is instead just a teenager. Because he and his mom have already saved the world, his death on a beach in Mexico a couple of years later is no more meaningful or tragic than any other human’s.

Moreover, the movie reinterprets the ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cliche of sequels like this, and instead of it undoing everything Sarah and John accomplished just so they can do it all over again, they have a totally different apocalyptic future reaching back to snuff out humanity’s savior before they begin.

This has three important functions: 1) it means that the first two movies still count–every person on screen is only alive because the Connors averted nuclear war; 2) it means that we can introduce all new characters and put them in this familiar story with similar threats and stakes. 3) it takes ‘the same damn thing over and over’ of it and makes it into part of the movie’s message. Yes, it’s a whole different AI tyrant from different desperate future, but that’s not (just) because Hollywood has no new ideas, it’s because history actually does rhyme, if not quite repeat itself.

Yes, Sarah destroyed the Cyberdyne factory and tech that made Skynet possible, but some other group of researchers comes along and invents something functionally similar, because of course they do. Individual people can learn from mistakes, but humans collectively? We’re going to keep on doing the same terrible shit over and over again.

To put it another way: Sarah and John saved the world from nuclear war back in the 1990s, but so what? Col. Stanislav Petrov absolutely prevented a nuclear in 1983 in real life by keeping his cool (and we should honor his memory), but the world has moved on, and those accomplishments are just old news. The nuclear detente of the Cold War was hugely consequential at the time, and that we didn’t have a global holocaust is 100% good, but we still have to face the rising tide of tyranny, a domestic fascist movement, COVID not going away, and of course climate change.

This is the Dark Fate we all face, that today’s present is tomorrow’s footnote, that all past is prologue, and just because we saved the world today doesn’t mean it will stay saved tomorrow. And that’s why John dying anticlimactically on a beach in Mexico not only works, but is central to the movie’s message.

1) This coming Saturday will be the second Paint & Pixel Festival.  I've managed to arrange programming this year, which is good, but I still feel like I did a slap-dash job, and kind of guilty about it.  Peggy continues to impress with her passion and capability. 

We're hosting comics workshops for kids at the store as part of the build up to the show.  Colin, the education guy, has done a great job setting these up and running them.  Peggy also sponsored a couple of movie nights at Popcorn Noir, the next of which is the Muppet Movie on Thursday..... which will conflict with my Deadlands game.  aargh!

Oh, and there's a filk band performing in the Mythos on Monday at 7, which could conflict with dinner plans!  double argh!

2) On columbus day, M and I went to NYC, met with the Ladies of Brattleboro for dinner at the Green Table, and then went to see Sleep No More, which is an extraordinary experience in immersive theater.  One is given a mask & enjoined not to speak, and for up to 3 hours one wonders around inside a warehouse of four or five stories where a troop of interpretive dancers performs something inspired by Macbeth.  One can explore the trappings of the set as much as one wishes, or follow performers around or hang out in the lounge.  It's a choose your own adventure style of show, though only as an observer.   I wound up following one stunning beautiful woman around for a while, and wound up getting whisked into a locked room for a short private performance that, while a scripted part of the show, was quite intimate and moving.  Which, if you are thinking of something sexual, is completely wrong--yet it felt like everything you would fantasize about.  A great experience which was well worth the cost.  I plan to go back at some point.

3) My mom is still in a rehab hospital, still in real pain, but I think getting better.  I hope.  Dad is still slipping away a bit at a time.

4) I drove back to Andover last night, couldn't sleep, and watched the Matrix Reloaded on demand.  It's better than I recalled.  The talky scenes make more sense when I can process the sometimes ornate and philosophical dialog, and some of the WTF plot twists actual do make some logical sense.  The biggest weakness that remains, for me, are the pointless action scenes.  The first Matrix was good in part because all the fight scenes served the story, developed character, and looked cool.  In Reloaded, there a couple of set pieces that just take up time. If the Wachowskis had done more with them, they'd have greatly improved the movie.  (Three examples: the introductory fight with Seraph--what does tussling with Neo for two minutes tell him, or us, that we don't know?; then. the  big fight scene with a crowd of Agent Smiths drags on; and the fight with the Merovingian's goons in his foyer is designed to waste Neo's time, but must it waste ours?  What's the point of another display of kung fu?  Are these guys really as challenging as the huge crowd of Agent Smiths?)  On the whole, I stick by some of my earlier criticisms, but I have to upgrade my rating of the film.

5) Sometimes I'm fine, and sometimes the depression gets to me.  I need to spend more time with friends.  I clearly need that.

6) Had an interesting talk with Morlock about making changes in my life. He pointed out that I'm still struggling with some of the same questions that bugged me years ago.  Maybe, he suggested, I need new questions.  hmmmmmmmmmmm.

7) 2013 must be the year I learn to budget.  Just because my desires have heretofore not exceeded my means, doesn't mean those means are inexhaustible. I must get the hang of identifying priorities, choosing amongst them, and then setting aside the others while resisting impulsive spending.  Good grief!

Again, don't bother reading this if you don't care, or if you don't want spoilers.




Each problem is serious.  Overlapping the two, as the show's creators have done, only makes them worse. For now, I shall wait (9 months...) and see what they do.  They might be able to pull the fat out of the fire, but I do not have the faith in them that I did after first season, or even after second.