I don't know if my things will match the topic directly, but it got me thinking and they are what I came up with.
I have never really been a 'go to the movies' as a form of entertainment kind of guy. Out of college, when my friends and I all moved back home, we'd get together on weekends. When you go out Friday night, Saturday can be a lull until going out Saturday night. Several guys were very much movie guys, others more of going along with it. But I used to hate it. If I was doing something I'd rather go shoot pool somewhere, or just hang out and play music and chill and catch up on things. I didn't see these guys as much as I used to. I didn't want to spend two hours together but not talking. I used to say I view a movie as two hours of wasted time.
For some time now, home viewing quality has surpassed the movie going experience, so that doesn't make it any more desirable. In general, I would only go to see a movie that I specifically wanted to see. I don't see going to a movie as a form of entertainment that I like to engage in, the experience itself. I do happen to watch movies, but I much prefer doing so at home, where I can maximize my time and the experience. So, I think I go against the grain with the movie going experience. I haven't run into many people who are as against it as I am.
With that as a mindset, most pop culture movies or just the most popular movies year in and year out, I've never seen. Again, I have very little curiosity for a movie that I know very little about, or seems not to match any of my interests. It had to be pretty good for me to cough up the two hours.
So when I did finally see the first three Indiana Jones movies, I was let down. I don't mean that I thought they were bad. I mean that by that time, they were such an icon in pop culture, almost as beloved as Star Wars, and I felt there wasn't anything special at all to them. That they might have been good movies, but I couldn't understand why they were so highly thought of. And my only thought is that they are very middle of the road, in terms of how spectacular the concepts and dialog and plot and effects were. They didn't have the wow factor of SW, or Terminator 2, that really took hold as something next level. That they hit that pocket of the casual movie goer who may not have been very into sci-fi or action movies or stunts, that don't seek the extreme in those areas.
The character Indiana Jones was bland to me. He by no means left an impression like Ford did as Han Solo, or Sean Connery or Roger Moore did as James Bond. In fact I saw the third movie first, and liked Connery the most as an actor, the character he portrayed/delivered.
So those movies leave me thinking they are way overrated and I don't understand why. Actually, the religious aspects of searching for the Grail, passing the tests, and the Knight protecting it, those moments touched something in me. I guess I like that one. Bumping into Hitler, getting his autograph. Throwing a guy out the zeppelin window, saying 'no ticket.' I find that whimsical, not knock me down funny. It is neutral and reserved with its elements, not over the top. My guess is that this appeals to a wide audience. But it doesn't develop tremendous fanhood in me, and like I said, I am surprised that it does in others. Nothing wrong with them, just don't think the fanhood hype matches them.
And this is a bit of a stray from the topic, and I don't mention it to drag it in as an attempt to overtake the topic. But I stayed with the EU when Disney cast it as Legends. I don't read the new comics or novels, haven't seen the movies. It has been long enough that I think the holiday season last fall or winter, I did see maybe ten minutes of one of them, enough to see Kylo Ren on screen, as well as Rey, maybe Han and Finn at some point. Not because I wanted to, but in flipping channels, there it was, so I stopped for a few minutes. I thought Kylo had the stupidest voice, it belonged in a droid. I should probably strike that part, as someone may defend it and I'm not here to start a war. I will say in general that none of the things I've heard mentioned, none of the conversations here, nothing has sounded the least bit interesting to me. None of it sounded better than the EU I was already heavily invested in, content wise.
I am probably one of the biggest SW fans who has absolutely nothing to do with its current position in pop culture. I follow OT/EU/PT Hasbro figures, but other than that, all of the SW doings in pop culture are going on without me. It is weird for someone to find out you are a huge fan but anti everything currently going on. So while seemingly everybody who posts on the site here is following current SW, I feel like I am wandering the halls looking for my class and I can't find it. Because there is very little current conversation that I can be a part of. However, I don't feel like I am missing out because I an not interested with what has been available. I would feel like I am missing out on what isn't being made that I would prefer, but I have a large enough collection of pre Disney SW and EU to keep me satisfied. So I am not disgruntled, I don't create old canon new canon arguments. But I think it is unusual and against the grain, that I am a big SW fan, but not its current incarnation, which happens to have exploded in pop culture.
I have seen the first Iron Man twice, and some of one of the Avengers movies when it was on regular TV last year (some battle in a city with like an undulating flying snake alien that they were fighting, and I think the scene where the Hulk slammed Loki all over like a rag doll). But I haven't seen any of the other movies, and have no real interest in doing so.
Much of these pop culture movie franchises have come about after my interests had peaked in them. I was interest in the Raimi Spidey trilogy, and the first three X-Men movies. Nothing really after, though recently I have caught up on some. Last night with Wolverine Origin, and a week ago Days of Future Past. I liked Days, and Origin was all right but didn't feel as good as the others. I did get to see Deadpool 2 and while some parts I didn't really care for, on a whole I liked that a lot. And this past week I saw the first Deadpool, and I'd say I liked that, but it was a bit of a letdown. There were certain elements that repeated in 2, and since I saw them in 2 first, they were more original there. In the first it felt like that joke again? Of course, someone watching them in order might have the same opinion the other way around.
So I have recently been catching up with the X-universe of movies, but don't really see myself doing so with the Avenger universe. Or with any Spidey universe, having no interest past the Raimi movies.
Though the topics in general don't interest me much any more, I am more inclined to reading a good story than wanting to see the movie, and that hasn't really changed in me. There's also something about how fantastic CGI has become, that the element of 'there are no limits to the action we can show' has pushed a lot of things out of the plausible realm of possibility with me. Smaller scale stunts seem more real, and it is more easy to suspend disbelief and think a superhero could pull that off. Or even a regular person.
And all of this might actually lead into the idea that I am a huge SW fan, but only specific elements (as I explained), and I am not really a pop culture nerd as many people seem to be today. I like SW, I used to like Marvel comics in the 80's and have some lingering interests, I like the original series of Star Trek, but I don't go for any and all sci-fi or pop culture fandom. Just like I am not a 'movie going' guy, that I like specific movies. I am also not a pop culture guy, I like certain elements that may have a place in pop culture. To me, nerd and geek are still negative terms, and I am not one. And I think a lot of people feel part of a bigger pop culture and embrace more elements of it, than I do. I like my subsections and have very little interest in other subsections. I could be wrong, but I think I am in a minority on that general outlook, and that seems to fit with the concept of this posted topic.
