Year: 2015

Pete (may I call you Pete?) I loved “INSIDE OUT.” Everybody loved “INSIDE OUT.” It’s got something like 100% approval rating. People are wondering what you’re going to do next.

I beg of you: let it be animated. Stay the hëll away from live action.

Now I have no idea if you are even considering live action, but if you are, don’t.

Andrew Stanton. Huge Pixar success story. Director of “WALL-E” and “FINDING NEMO.” Both huge hits.

He went live action. Directed “JOHN CARTER.” I loved it, but people didn’t bother to come see it. Lost millions.

Brad Bird. “THe IRON GIANT.” Moved to Pixar and gave us “THE INCREDIBLES.” His name was associated with quality.

He went live action. Directed “TOMORROWLAND.” I loved it, but people didn’t bother to come see it. Lost millions.

Don’t be strike three, Pete.

PAD

I mean, yes, “Inside Out” was wonderful. A terrific response for any Pixar nay-sayers who claim the company can only do sequels, etc.

But I’m wondering: All of Riley’s mom’s emotions are female. All her father’s are male. All the teacher’s are female. The ending sequence went by so fast that I didn’t note the genders of the other characters (except the bus driver’s, who were definitely all male.)

But Riley’s are three female, two male. Does that indicate something about her future sexual personality? Granted, she does have a fantasy male boyfriend, but all that indicates is that she’s contemplating boyfriends. But we don’t see her with any boy. She bumps into one at one point, but we don’t see her display any sort of romantic reaction. We see her with female friends, but no males.

Or is it that when she becomes an adult, some of the emotions will change genders, so they’re uniform like her parents?

Just has me wondering.

PAD

I’ve been reading some angry fan comments about Bryce Howard’s character in “Jurassic World.” How incredibly sexist her portrayal is, mostly because she has a character arc rather than starting out as Ellen Ripley from the beginning. Fans seem outraged that she begins as a corporate shill but ends up so worried about her nephews and thus somehow has acquired maternal instincts. Even though Ripley effectively has something of that same arc, being willing to risk her life by the end for a little girl who ends up embracing her and calling her “mommy.”

And as I thought about Ripley, it made me wonder about “Aliens” and, more specifically, the character of Burke.

And I wondered, if Burke had been a female–with NO change in dialogue or characterization other than gender–would any fans have decried that as sexist? Would they have said that the only reason she was so nasty was because the writer felt the need to balance out the strong female character of Ripley with a total villain?

Thoughts?

PAD

I find it interesting that people are comparing the “Supergirl” trailer to the Black Widow spoof on SNL.

This despite the fact that the Supergirl trailer is actually evocative of the feel of the Silver Age Supergirl: the story of a young girl trying to adjust to using her powers in an environment that doesn’t know her, and figure out her place in the world. The Black Widow sketch spoofed some of that attitude, but the series is starting there and will ideally grow from it. What in the world is wrong with that? Yet some people actually seem to believe that a sketch that aired three weeks ago influenced a TV pilot that was shot three months ago.

Been there, done that. I got SO sick of people claiming that I was ripping off “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” when I was writing the Supergirl comic. People declared that Buzz was a rip off of Spike even though his creation preceded Spike in the series. One guy declared that I ripped off an episode of Buffy that had aired THAT WEEK for the first time in an issue that came out the next day. Because I had no idea what to put in that issue and, after watching Buffy, I stole the story and we got the entire book written, drawn, colored, lettered and printed in 24 hours to make shipping.

I’m sorry, the Supergirl pilot looks fun and I’m personally looking forward to it.

PAD

I can very much sympathize with Joss Whedon’s recent abandonment of Twitter, and the astonishing spectacle of jerks letting loose on the creator of one of the greatest female heroines in fiction as being a misogynist hater of women. Why? Because they disliked his treatment of Black Widow in “Age of Ultron.” (Yes, Joss has since claimed that it was simply a time management thing, but that does nothing to explain or excuse his treatment.)

Continue Reading “You Forget It’s Not Just You” →

Or at the very least put down a major legal marker as they hear the lawyers argue the merits of state recognition of same sex marriage. Four states are insisting that it’s their right to refuse to recognize gay marriage because ostensibly it’s not protected by the Constitution.

Technically I suppose they’re right. Then again, neither is straight marriage. However the Fourteenth Amendment which states, in part, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” pretty much seems to cover it.

Is it possible the Supreme Court could stun everyone and make a dumb ášš decision? Of course they can. But one hopes that they take this occasion to just state the obvious and make it illegal for states to decide that gays are effectively not American citizens deserving of the same rights as straight citizens.

To me, it’s amazing how within one generation this issue has gone from being an unspeakable, way-out-there concept to something so commonplace that it’s made it to the Supreme Court. Yes, there are still idiots out there declaring, “What next? Man marrying dogs?” Because two male adults making a conscious decision is exactly the same as deciding to fornicate with a dumb animal.

Let’s hope that next June brings good news.

PAD

My father, Gunter David, passed away today at 2:53 in the morning. He died of cancer at the age of 85. He has been in hospice care for some weeks and lapsed into a coma several days ago. He died in his own bed, with his daughter Beth and my mother lying next to him.

I miss him terribly.

PAD