It seems like I can’t turn to a movie, TV show, or just about anything else produced by Hollywood without seeing the same thing over and over again.
No, I’m not talking about the plot. (That’s not a Hollywood thing, there are only three basic conflicts in all dramatic literature and that means a lot of repeated plots going all the way back to ancient Greece.)
And I’m not talking about the protagonists. (Yes, this superhero thing has gotten out of hand, but, hey, can you blame Hollywood? The more it sells the more they’ll make, at least until it stops selling.)
What I’m talking about is fast becoming a stereotypical prototype for the antagonist, the enemy of the protagonist, otherwise known as “the bad guy.” It’s not that they aren’t Continue Reading “Are The Russians The New Nazis?”
The Necessary Outsider: Why We Need The Searchers’ Ethan Edwards (But Never Thank Him)
Eyes glued to this stark black-and-white world of morality plays, we definitely knew what was right and what was wrong. Our hearts raced as the masked man burst onto the scene. But when the dust settled, the townsfolk barely nodded, and he rode off alone. At seven and eight years of age, we wondered, “Why didn’t they invite him to stay?”
Life was easy back then. The good guys wore white hats. The bad guys wore black hats. It didn’t matter the show or the leading man. He was undeniably the hero, the good guy, the stalwart star who always Continue Reading “The Necessary Outsider: Why We Need The Searchers’ Ethan Edwards (But Never Thank Him)”