jobloffski
Posts: 1837
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: elsewhere
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Emma, King Lear, Hamlet, Moll Flanders, Robinson Crusoe...
It's not a new thing by any means, and if it's a new series of films based on material with a series of stories revolving around one central character the lead character's name is a perfectly legitimate title for an introductory film.
If people have no idea who the lead character is by the time a film comes out that's a marketing problem not a title problem.
John Carter, case in point. The marketing should, very obviously have referred to it as being the source of many ideas in/inspiration for later material like Flash Gordon (man from earth versus/allied with (delete as appropriate) aliens, Star Wars (the words Jeddak, something close to Padawan and the actual word Sith first appear in JC material), Dune, etc etc. Plus making a big thing of science fiction written by the same guy who created Tarzan. 'Of Mars' is irrelevant to the title, and if you;re gonna spend $200m+ on making a film, you use marketing that appeals to people who like the material inspired by its source and promote ther idea...this is where it REALLY began.
Although, in the case of JC, a lot is lost by moving too far from the story as a first person account that shows JC to be a swaggering hero who admits to not always thinking things through, whose 'attack first, ask questions later' compounds the situation almost as much as allowing him to save the day and is often (to me anyway) as much as a sarky take of the nature of heroism as a basic adventure series. JC is also a parody of Earth attitudes. looking at slavish aherence to duty and the problems it causes, religion and the hypocrisy it creates and control it exerts, etc. But, as ever in such observations, a bit late to comment now, by saying things such as...instead of highlighting the pioneering nature of the source that led to star wars, etc, it made the film look at times like those it inspired, and thereby lost its own relevance, because it made it look to be copying what it inspired, to people who didn;t know different.
Back on topic, name of character titles, nothing new. I'd never heard of Jack Reacher till the fuss over Tom Cruise being cast started. And how would Rocky Balboa have started a trend like this given the original 70s film was the even more briefly titled Rocky?
< Message edited by jobloffski -- 18/10/2012 11:48:23 AM >
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Yes, dreamers dream and doers do. But if dreamers DON'T dream, doers don't have anything TO do. Everything that is only here because people exist, only exists because someone thought of it., or in other words, dreamed it.
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