I watch a lot of foreign film, and I have been so frustrated lately with some of them, because of the willingness to kill off the main character. Well, for instance, I watched a Chinese film not too long ago, and the guy had a total mission set in place, he was kicking butt and taking names....but then he gets poisoned (they always seem to get poisoned). If it were an American film, it'd probably be a few more dramatic moments, and then boom! He's saved and can continue on with his mission. But, nooooooooo, we can't have that, can we?! I have "WTF?!?!?!" moments a lot with those types of movies, and it messes with me (being accustomed to the standard "it will be alright in the end" type of American movies where the bad guys usually give up the ghost in the end). Some of the French films I've seen can be just as bad.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking them, per se....and I like them. But...seriously, the main character??Come on!
Manga frustrates me as well, sometimes. I usually will pick up a first in a series and give it a read, and if I like it, will buy the series. I got into one that's out of print, and usually I just see how many are in the series (there are 15) and buy them at once. Manga 1-5 and 7-15 are dirt cheap, and I figure "wow, I can get the lot for under $50 (with shipping)...Yippee!. But, then I find out manga 6 is rare, so now I'm having to price shop like mad to keep from paying $50 for the one volume. And, I'm grrrr-ing at myself because I can buy volume 6 in Japanese and pay only a few bucks.....but, since I am a (rare & OOP) book collector (just not with manga...(.though looks like I'm about to be)....now I want the rare volume. LoL And what will happen, undoubtably and because I am a sucker, is that I'll buy both; the Japanese version for reading and the English for putting in the "do not touch" collection. Rarity in books is my crack. (Hello, my name is April, and I am an addict)
That happens a lot though....I've even got into one shots (usually split in two volumes) where I can get the first volume for pennies (used), but then the second one is jacked up to collector prices (and the series usually stinks or is unfinished.) I should research better. LoL
What's been making you grind your teeth lately?
I've been enjoying a lot of foreign films lately. I sometimes appreciate them for their grittiness. Haven't run across any with the MC getting killed yet. I'd probably be mad too if that happened.
ReplyDeleteThe list of things that make me grind my teeth is too large to write here, but I agree with you about the killing off of main characters in movies.
ReplyDeleteThere's a certain type of movie or book where you expect it. They're dark, gloomy and hopeless, you know right from the start that it won't have a happy ending and that's fine. But when the main person is killed off in a standard story the viewer/reader is left feeling disappointed and ripped off big time. Nothing worse than identifying with a character as they struggle for success, happiness, justice or whatever, only to have them die just as they achieve it. Very frustrating and misses the point of why we watch such movies and read such books.
I don't mind main character deaths as long as they can be justified.
ReplyDeleteMy peeve is when the first person that the main character meets turns out to be the love interest thats it. Nobody else even comes into the picture.
It isn't true love because the pair need to spend the rest of the book fighting the Bigbad and also with each other.
austro, agreed! Worse still, when they kill them off before the freakin' task is completed. I mean, at least wait until they are done before caking it. It's usually just too abrupt and makes me think the writers are a bunch of sadists. I don't mind the ones, as you described, where you kinda expect it, or even the ones where I'm invested in the character and he does die, but it leads up to it slightly so that I chant (inwardly, because it would be weird to do so aloud)"no, no, no, don't die!" until that inevitable moment....which is usually done in a heart-wretching and beautiful way. *tear*
ReplyDeleteI just watch a lot of low budget junk.
Gyran,
That is so ridiculous when that happens and I completely agree with you.
The movies where Macho Guy A meets Helpless Girl B and they hit it off right away (insert loads of mush here), and then spend the next hour and a half fighting baddies to try and stay alive (and he has to babysit because she can't handle her own)....and then in the end, in which they both survive to by the way, they are sooooooo in "love" with each other....ugh, I can do without that stuff.
I think honestly, it's less "love", and more "OMG! We both survived! Hey, you're kinda hot and I'm still high on adrenaline....wanna get a room?". Throughout the whole film, all they know about each other is that she can't handle a glock and he looks pretty hot without his shirt on while he kicks a bad guy's teeth in through his brain. Put that situation in real life, and in the end....you'll just see a couple of bitterly divorced people. *Doom*
LOL...was just sitting here thinking that I'd probably be into it if it were done to a musical.
That does sound gutsy, but annoying.
ReplyDelete-Maurice
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