Catch phrases, leather jackets and trench coats, dual wielding handguns, cocky characters, and two-dimensional antagonists. That's what I see in my pessimistic mind--that's what I think is what created the 90's media.
Now don't get me wrong, Forest Gump is a good movie and I watched the Crow twice and still loved it.
But times have changed. I have changed, you have changed, the world has changed. The Terminator with the (in)famous line "Hasta la vista, baby" and his sunglasses and leather coat and his cocky, but serious attitude, and the Crow's main enemy who wanted nothing but to cause chaos because he's just a really bad guy, and Forest Gump's very skeletal archetypes such as "the innocent hero", "the suicidal femme fatale", "the misunderstanding crowd"; they just do not fit in with what we have now.
We have complex characters such as the Joker, who you can compare to the main antagonist of The Crow, who does have a reason to cause chaos (makes me wonder if he's actually sort of a good guy). The archetypes do appear again, but either they appear skeletal in many B-movies, or have several layers upon them that give them several more archetypes, or are just minor characters that show us a theme.
origiDante is, to me, like the Terminator but with a coat of red and white and black, and a smile instead of a scowl. He's like Eric Draven in the Crow, for the most part invincible and a very adept shooter.
He pulls snide remarks that make some of us roll our eyes and cheesy one-liners that remind me of Sonic's and it makes me cringe with embarrassment.
That just doesn't resonate with the crowd.
This new Dante, shows an update from the old, 90's pop look of origiDante. What cool then is cheesy now. What is cool now is cool now.Rebellion and angst is the thing now, replacing machismo and confidence.
(I mean really, we live in a world where the C-string exists and where our music just goes against all morals and values that had brought up our parents)
And to those wondering why the punk rock-esque attitude is coming back--punk rock was about being an individual, even if it meant outraging the masses. It was about being ****ed off because you're tired of being nice. It was about being free in a world that told you that you can't do this and you can't do that.
In case if nobody's noticed, our world today is something like that. Where we could yell to the cops that they better not tell us we can't smoke weed (at least in the United States) and tell our parents that we will screw anybody we please.
The world of today exhibits raw, unattended humanity--something that punk rock capitalized, bashed, and spat on.
I see it as a cycle, really. We went from being crude to polite and afraid of what we are and then got fed up with it and crude again. It's been painted in different ways over the course of history, but it's the same deep down.
So, to me, to say that Ninja Theory's direction is hypocritical is ignoring the fact that we are in that cycle. Pointing at the 70's--when it comes to ideals and attitudes--is like poking at how we are now.
Some day DmC will be looked at as ridiculous and horribly cheesy, and the original DMC series will be regarded as a gem. And then it'll be vice-versa. And then vice-versa again.
For now, though, DmC is the modern, updated take on our beloved series.
Side note:
Maybe I am looking at things too deeply, but I see a sort of synergy between Ninja Theory's attitude and direction and the punk rock movement. How they did what they did and shrugged off fan backlash reminds me of how the Sex Pistols did what they can to shock and outrage the general public (not that I was there, but I read a lot of biographies and watched "The Filth and the Fury"). Their attitude towards the 90's reminds me too much of the Dead Kennedys look at the 60's.
My cycle:
"Punk" "Modern"
00's
10's (Multiple suffrage movements)
20's (Roarin'/Golden Twenties and Jazz Age...everybody was happy, so why mess that up?)
30's (the Great Depression seems like a foreshadowing of the 70's and it's depressing cloudiness and how our global economy is tripping)
40's (Nobody wanted to lose WWII)
50's (rock and roll emerged and it disgusted many)
60's (This one's a little debatable, because it was a complex decade)
70's (Punk rock)
80's (Also debatable)
90's
2000's (We were at war with terrorists, and nobody wanted to cause a ruckus with so much at stake. Homeland defense across the globe also made sure that everybody was in check).
Thanks for reading, everybody. I know I may seem a little biased or amateurish to some of you, but I tried to put out my opinions as fairly as possible. I'd love to see a response thread or comment to this.
Yes, I love punk rock and admire the movement very much. I wish I can start a punk rock band. I feel like I can influence some people.
Now don't get me wrong, Forest Gump is a good movie and I watched the Crow twice and still loved it.
But times have changed. I have changed, you have changed, the world has changed. The Terminator with the (in)famous line "Hasta la vista, baby" and his sunglasses and leather coat and his cocky, but serious attitude, and the Crow's main enemy who wanted nothing but to cause chaos because he's just a really bad guy, and Forest Gump's very skeletal archetypes such as "the innocent hero", "the suicidal femme fatale", "the misunderstanding crowd"; they just do not fit in with what we have now.
We have complex characters such as the Joker, who you can compare to the main antagonist of The Crow, who does have a reason to cause chaos (makes me wonder if he's actually sort of a good guy). The archetypes do appear again, but either they appear skeletal in many B-movies, or have several layers upon them that give them several more archetypes, or are just minor characters that show us a theme.
origiDante is, to me, like the Terminator but with a coat of red and white and black, and a smile instead of a scowl. He's like Eric Draven in the Crow, for the most part invincible and a very adept shooter.
He pulls snide remarks that make some of us roll our eyes and cheesy one-liners that remind me of Sonic's and it makes me cringe with embarrassment.
That just doesn't resonate with the crowd.
This new Dante, shows an update from the old, 90's pop look of origiDante. What cool then is cheesy now. What is cool now is cool now.Rebellion and angst is the thing now, replacing machismo and confidence.
(I mean really, we live in a world where the C-string exists and where our music just goes against all morals and values that had brought up our parents)
And to those wondering why the punk rock-esque attitude is coming back--punk rock was about being an individual, even if it meant outraging the masses. It was about being ****ed off because you're tired of being nice. It was about being free in a world that told you that you can't do this and you can't do that.
In case if nobody's noticed, our world today is something like that. Where we could yell to the cops that they better not tell us we can't smoke weed (at least in the United States) and tell our parents that we will screw anybody we please.
The world of today exhibits raw, unattended humanity--something that punk rock capitalized, bashed, and spat on.
I see it as a cycle, really. We went from being crude to polite and afraid of what we are and then got fed up with it and crude again. It's been painted in different ways over the course of history, but it's the same deep down.
So, to me, to say that Ninja Theory's direction is hypocritical is ignoring the fact that we are in that cycle. Pointing at the 70's--when it comes to ideals and attitudes--is like poking at how we are now.
Some day DmC will be looked at as ridiculous and horribly cheesy, and the original DMC series will be regarded as a gem. And then it'll be vice-versa. And then vice-versa again.
For now, though, DmC is the modern, updated take on our beloved series.
Side note:
Maybe I am looking at things too deeply, but I see a sort of synergy between Ninja Theory's attitude and direction and the punk rock movement. How they did what they did and shrugged off fan backlash reminds me of how the Sex Pistols did what they can to shock and outrage the general public (not that I was there, but I read a lot of biographies and watched "The Filth and the Fury"). Their attitude towards the 90's reminds me too much of the Dead Kennedys look at the 60's.
My cycle:
"Punk" "Modern"
00's
10's (Multiple suffrage movements)
20's (Roarin'/Golden Twenties and Jazz Age...everybody was happy, so why mess that up?)
30's (the Great Depression seems like a foreshadowing of the 70's and it's depressing cloudiness and how our global economy is tripping)
40's (Nobody wanted to lose WWII)
50's (rock and roll emerged and it disgusted many)
60's (This one's a little debatable, because it was a complex decade)
70's (Punk rock)
80's (Also debatable)
90's
2000's (We were at war with terrorists, and nobody wanted to cause a ruckus with so much at stake. Homeland defense across the globe also made sure that everybody was in check).
Thanks for reading, everybody. I know I may seem a little biased or amateurish to some of you, but I tried to put out my opinions as fairly as possible. I'd love to see a response thread or comment to this.
Yes, I love punk rock and admire the movement very much. I wish I can start a punk rock band. I feel like I can influence some people.
