AAaA Jason Waltrip
John and Jason were often nearly silent partners in Guilded Age, and to some degree that was probably for the best. As, er, vocal as Flo and I could be about all aspects of the series, we benefited a lot from working with a couple of pros who were just like, “Okay, let us know when you agree on the goals and we’ll execute them accordingly.” Working with a highly opinionated and vocal pair of artists would probably have created a too-many-cooks situation in the long run.
Still, we got self-conscious about it now and again, so I definitely understand why Flo wanted to cap this series off with a little spotlight on Jason and John and their personalities. I think the most revealing thing about it is the modified photography Jason used to render himself. For all the skill he and John have in stylizing reality, if you ask them to show themselves, they generally do so warts and all.
It’s funny to go back to the days when we were all kind of waiting and seeing about J.J. Abrams’ first Star Wars movie (which I think many would consider a success) and not even thinking about his second (which was, erm, more controversial). I think Flo may’ve had a falling out with Marvel’s main universe (Earth-616) since this story came out, but I still generally appreciate it, so I’ll let the alt text stand. And speaking of controversial works…
Tomorrow and for the next five days: a giant wall of text, just what webcomics readers can’t get enough of, right? Well, I still love this one for the most part, so you guys’ll just have to suffer.
Hi Jason. I really liked your work on Dangerously Chloe.
I’m not sure Rise of Skywalker was controversial exactly. I’ve only met one person who liked it, though I guess I’m only privy to a rather limited range of opinions.
Yes, I don’t think even Abrams and Terrio thought it was all that good; their primary goal seems to have been undoing everything Rian Johnson set up.
Unless there’s some pretty compelling evidence I’m unaware of, I think it’s a lot safer to assume that Abrams thought or at least hoped he was making a good movie. I really don’t get why fans so often think creative work is motivated primarily by spite, especially when it would be at the expense of profit and viewership.
I don’t think it often or primary in most cases. Rise of Skywalker is the exception.
Yyyyeah, I ain’t buyin’ it.
I mean, I think you can fairly say that TLJ and RoS have contradictory creative priorities (Snope was nobody/important, Rey’s ancestry was insignificant/significant, Star Wars should be about moving forward/recycling the past… oops, let my preferences show there, sorry). And I don’t know J.J. Abrams’ innermost heart, so while he’s sounded conciliatory in interviews, I might concede it’s possible that he took some satisfaction in course-correcting where he thought TLJ went off the rails.
But to say “They just wanted to undo the last movie, they didn’t care about making a good one” goes well beyond that. It basically asks me to visualize Abrams, a man who has given his life to storytelling, throwing the world’s most expensive snit-fit and burning down Star Wars to own the libs. “If my vision of Star Wars can’t guide its future… nobody’s will! AH hahaha hahahaha!”
Moreover, it asks me to imagine Disney letting him do it. Disney the company has certainly acted spitefully now and again… but it’s done so to gain more money, not to severely deflate the value of one of its key franchises. Nobody hates Rian Johnson enough to throw away billions just to piss him off, except people who are never going to have billions to spend in the first place.
No, it absolutely makes no sense. The only way a movie like Rise of Skywalker happens is that Disney and Abrams… clearly rattled and stumbling after TLJ divided the faithful… genuinely believed at the time that they were making the best decisions they could for the franchise.
When movies go bad, it seems so obvious to us. “Didn’t they know they were making a stinker? They must’ve!” But speaking as someone who’s written for public consumption most of his life… most of the time, we’re really not sure. We just follow our instincts as best we can and hope for the best.
See ‘Pinky and the Brain and Elmira’. :-(
I… don’t get it.
For what it’s worth, my family liked it, and I enjoyed a lot of the individual PARTS. I suspended judgment about other ones. It wasn’t until I put together my thoughts afterward that I was like, “Yeahhh, this movie is in open conflict with other movies and I enjoyed those more, so I know which ones I’m picking.”
Same story with me, except I did not see a need to “pick a side”.
They’re movies.
They’re entertainment, and pretty light entertainment at that – mainstream corporate fare.
They’re not religious texts.
I don’t actually need to care if they conflict.
Suspending disbelief just wasn’t that hard.
Ultimately, I think people try very hard to NOT be entertained by a lot of things.
And I find it silly.
You have not met me, but I certainly liked it.
OTOH, I haven’t seen a single one of those “rabid fan opinions” I’ve agreed with for about 10 years.
Maybe all the channer psy-ops have just soured me on bandwagoning, but I find all those outrage-fueled rants to be trite and dishonest.
The prequels … oh, those prequels. I held Star Wars in the highest regards before the prequels cam out. I than sat through all of them, in the cinema, holding my mouth and trying to enjoy them, and … nope. They’re completely incoherent rubbish. They actually tainted the original trilogy.
When the seventh movie came out (I’ve forgot the name by now!), it was kinda nice to see that it wasn’t complete rubbish, but by that point I’d seen so many things wrong with Star Wars movies that it just didn’t really click. It’s a nice movie, and it’s Star Wars themed, but I can’t get myself to care anymore, which is a little sad, but I guess it’s okay. Star Wars and me have parted ways some years ago, and it no longer hurts. I’ve found other things. It’s just a shame it had to end that way.