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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: When Fan Streams Cross…

Open Thread: When Fan Streams Cross…

by Anne Laurie|  December 28, 20153:47 pm| 128 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Popular Culture

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What do YOU think about Benedict Cumberbatch as @Marvel's #DoctorStrange? ?: @EW pic.twitter.com/0suipPdtPM

— VH1 Celebrity (@VH1Celebrity) December 28, 2015

I sense a vast disturbance, as if thousands of angry middle-aged men faced tens of thousands of hormonally crazed young women across a vast metaphorical chasm of cross-purposes…

Although I hope I’m wrong, because yes I read Silver Age Dr. Strange and frankly the character could use whatever help a really competent actor can provide. And even while appreciate his acting talents, I think Cumberbatch’s extremely inbred refined aristocratic facial structure is perfect for the concept.

**********

Apart from pop culture critics, what’s on the agenda for the afternoon?

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Reader Interactions

128Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    December 28, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    I think Cumberbatch is a good casting choice for Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange, as opposed to say, a fellow named Khan Noonien Singh.

  2. 2.

    Tracy Lightcap

    December 28, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    I’m so glad to see a movie about Dr. Strange that Sly Stallone could be playing the part and I’d go see it. Cumberbatch, however, is the perfect choice.

    Now, let’s hope they don’t screw up the screenplay …

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    So what are the odds that’s an Infinity Stone in the Eye of Agamotto?

    I’m excited for this movie, but even more excited for Civil War.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 28, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    It’s a good choice. I think that Cumberbund, er, batch, will make a pretty good Dr. Strange.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    December 28, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Who is Doctor Strange? Peter Sellers once played a Dr. Strangelove.

  6. 6.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    @trollhattan: He’s The Sorcerer Supreme. :)

  7. 7.

    Marc McKenzie

    December 28, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    Works for me!

  8. 8.

    dedc79

    December 28, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    I think at least three of the seemingly endless number of previews that were screened before Star Wars were for comic book adaptations (they may all have been for Marvel). I’m just plain sick of comic book movies (and sick of being told why I should give this or that particular comic book movie a chance because it’s different than the others and bla bla bla) and I find myself hoping they’ll tank so that hollywood stops churning them out.

  9. 9.

    AdamK

    December 28, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    I’m sick of Benedict Cumberbatch. What an overused actor. They should have gotten someone more Hispanic looking, like the conductor dude from Mozart in the Jungle, only way taller.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, he looks more like Dr. Orpheus from The Venture Brothers than Dr. Strange.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 28, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    @dedc79: As long as they turn a profit, Hollywood will keep churning them out. This is the way of things. It’s never about art, it’s about lucre.

  12. 12.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    December 28, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    @NotMax:

    By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, he looks more like Dr. Orpheus from The Venture Brothers than Dr. Strange

    But, can the man talk in All CAPS LOCKS?

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    December 28, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    @redshirt:

    So what are the odds that’s an Infinity Stone in the Eye of Agamotto?

    Pretty high. The third Avengers movie (or bi-movie, since Marvel is splitting it in the name of More Money) is The Infinity War, which presumably would require all of the Stones to be on-stage. I think they’ve accounted for four of the six so far.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It’s never about art, it’s about lucre.

    Same thing, really.

    Within the bounds of the studio system, Louis B Mayer, for example, funded movies he thought were artful and what the public wanted. There are a lovely series of podcasts about Hollywood at the site, You Must Remember This. The episode on the fall of Mayer is fascinating.

    The impetus is much the same even with the latest generation of movie moguls.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    @trollhattan: @redshirt: basically Marvel’s version of Dr. Fate.

  16. 16.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    @Brachiator: Man there are a lot of those but I subscribed. Have you seen “Tired Old Queen at the Movies”?

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 28, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    @Brachiator: I like the take of The Player on the entire art vs. lucre thing. In which this movie project is pitched as “no happy ending, no big stars, and sending a message” and in the end the movie is all about big stars as extras, Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts in the lead, and a happy ending, and the message totally forgotten or sent by Western Union to someone.

  18. 18.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: So I watched one Jessica Jones episode. I’m not any kind of comic person but I was pretty surprised at how nasty it was. Are all the Marvel comics like that?

  19. 19.

    ThresherK

    December 28, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    @Brachiator: Where has this podcast been all my life? I will start binge-listening stat.

    My only contribution to the conversation is a quote from “Barton Fink” wherein our hero, as a playwright gone to Hollywood, is told by his Louis B. Mayer-style studio boss,

    When I said “I want a wrestling picture” I don’t want somebody wrestling with his soul!

  20. 20.

    chopper

    December 28, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    @dedc79:

    this. i understand it’s what the people want but FFS, it feels like every goddamn movie out there is a fucking superhero flick.

  21. 21.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:32 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Ever see Three Women? Whew.

  22. 22.

    gwangung

    December 28, 2015 at 4:34 pm

    @raven: No, but there’s a reason why it was printed under their adults imprint.

  23. 23.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @raven: Doesn’t look like The Revenant is. Jeremiah is back!

    “I’ve heard people say the movie is violent,” Mr. Iñárritu said in his deep and resonant voice, inflected with a Spanish accent. “But there is no gratuitous violence. These guys were eating animals, wearing animals; they were threatened by accidents, diseases, tribes, wars. This is the real world. This isn’t pasteurized.”

  24. 24.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @raven: Not at all. That comic is one of the rare “Adult” focused ones.

    The rest are all solidly PG-13.

  25. 25.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @gwangung: What is that?

  26. 26.

    John W.

    December 28, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @Tracy Lightcap: I don’t think at this point in his career Cumberbatch would take a bad role.

  27. 27.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    @redshirt: Ah, thanks,

  28. 28.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 4:38 pm

    @dmsilev: Agreed.

    Which implies that Strange (and Vision) will lose their Stones at some point, most likely getting them back later. I assume Infinity Wars 1 will end with Thanos triumphant, holding all the Stones.

  29. 29.

    jl

    December 28, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    ” thousands of angry middle-aged men faced tens of thousands of hormonally crazed young women across a vast metaphorical chasm of cross-purposes…”

    Is that a good think or a bad thing, for middle aged men? Let me know so I can decide whether I am for it or against, it, and if it should be a big topic for the presidential election and facebook feuds.

  30. 30.

    ruemara

    December 28, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    I love Dr. Strange so even if it’s Benzene Crumplesnitch, I’ll see it. He’s a good actor, I just think he looks like a cross eyed poodle.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    @John W.

    Hoffman. Beatty. Ishtar.

    ’nuff said. :)

  32. 32.

    raven

    December 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    My wife is sick in bed in the new bedroom so she emailed me a to-do-list! (I’m in the living room)!

  33. 33.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    When I hear about Dr. Strange I think of the Doctor Strange that appeared in the Batman comics.

    But that’s just me. I was a 1960s DC kid, not a Marvel kid, because the DC comics were all self-contained (not “to be continued”) and I was a kid on a budget.

  34. 34.

    Ridnik Chrome

    December 28, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    They should get Blue Oyster Cult back together to do the soundtrack…

  35. 35.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 4:44 pm

    Someone should start a band and call it Cult Oyster Blue.

  36. 36.

    The Pale Scot

    December 28, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    I posted this before on a thin post but what the hell,

    A new Sherlock is showing on Jan 1, if it’s not on BBC America you can use a VPN, TunnelBear offers a free 500 gig slot, which should cover it. Set you’re IP to Britain and use The Beeb’s iPlayer. There are better deals out there I’m sure.

    Hmm.. My links didn’t post, FYWP

  37. 37.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    @ThresherK: What haunted me about Barton Fink was that the answer to his dilemma was right under his nose, and he could NOT see it.

    Also that he seemed to be a one-trick pony (fish mongers, tenement, etc.) despite his pretensions.

  38. 38.

    lethargytartare

    December 28, 2015 at 4:49 pm

    @NotMax:

    @John W.

    Hoffman. Beatty. Ishtar.

    ’nuff said. :)

    I agree, great movie, great actors.

  39. 39.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    December 28, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    Also, Spousal ThresherK would like to not be left out of the scads of “hormonally crazed women” who see pix starring Bumbershoot Cabbagepatch. But I don’t know that she passes for what Hollywood calls young.

  40. 40.

    Hal

    December 28, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    @Germy:

    But that’s just me. I was a 1960s DC kid, not a Marvel kid, because the DC comics were all self-contained (not “to be continued”) and I was a kid on a budget.

    Hugo Strange was a main character in the Batman: Arkham City game from a few years ago. Huge hit, so he’s probably more well known than he otherwise might be.

  41. 41.

    goblue72

    December 28, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    I just hope they ditch the character of Wong the Manservant. Doubtful though – when it comes to Asian Americans, Hollywood is still pretty oblivious, if not straight up racist.

  42. 42.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    @goblue72: There’s no way they’ll have Wong in the movie; they’ll make the manservant British instead.

  43. 43.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    December 28, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    @Germy: Yes, but it was also an amazing treatise on how writers were faced with the new medium–famous names, lots of money, no control over their work. I haven’t seen it in years; needs a rewatch.

    I don’t know enough of Odets, either. That would probably be a great backgrounder.

  44. 44.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    @ThresherK (GPad): It was the factory system. A crazy system where people did re-writes, sometimes got credit, sometimes not. I read about Dorothy Parker’s experience in Hollywood; also S.J. Perelman’s. It was insane, but the money was good.

    All I know about Odets is Frances Farmer.

  45. 45.

    dedc79

    December 28, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    @chopper: And just when it seems like a particular superhero movie franchise has finally run its course, they start the whole thing all over again with a “reboot”, which we are all assured is much darker/better than its predecessor.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    @raven: I don’t really read Marvel and when I did it was just the X-Men titles. My understanding is that the Jessica Jones series was particularly adult themed. The character, always a minor hero, was put front and center to tell a very mature story. It is not standard comic book fare from DC or Marvel.

    And because the character was minor was why they were able to do it. They wouldn’t have done it with She-Hulk of Sue Storm or Storm or Rogue or Jean Grey – though they’ve messed with all of them. If I recall correctly they basically had then Ms. (now Captain) Marvel Carol Danvers raped by a cosmic being and forced to carry his child to term and then it basically disappeared from continuity. That was the 80s.

    I’ve never read the Jessica Jones series Alias, but understand that it is complex, deep, and dark. I do know that when Alan Moore pitched the Watchmen idea he originally wanted to use actual DC characters, specifically Batman and the newly acquired Charleton Comics ones, but DC didn’t want him to tell a story that would make the characters unusable from there on out. So he basically created composites with new names. Rorshach is The Question sort of; Nightowl is sort of the Batman; Silk Spectre is sort of Phantom Lady; Dr. Manhattan is sort of Captain Atom; things like that. Given what Moore had done with The Killing Joke – the paralyzation of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl by the Joker, as well as both her and her father Commissioner Gordon’s implied rape by the Joker, DC wasn’t willing to risk what Moore might do.

    Occasionally DC or Marvel will go out on this limb, but not too often.

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    @redshirt: They’ve already made the Ancient One into Tilda Swinton. So my guess is they’ll redo Wong as well.

  48. 48.

    Glidwrith

    December 28, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    @ruemara: Sorry, Ruemara, but yum, yum, yum, yum.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    @raven:

    Man there are a lot of those but I subscribed. Have you seen “Tired Old Queen at the Movies”?

    Nope, but I will give it a look.

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I like the take of The Player on the entire art vs. lucre thing. In which this movie project is pitched as “no happy ending, no big stars, and sending a message”

    Preston Sturgess got there first and better with “Sullivan’s Travels.” There’s lots of art at the movies, and some of the best have been popular and profitable, good stories well told.

    There has been some insider scuttlebutt over the bad experience a director (or writer) had with a recent movie starring Keanu Reeves. What was originally supposed to be a small quirky film about a Latino lead took an odd and unsuccessful turn when the writer or director was “forced” to tailor the film for Reeves. I sympathize with reservations. If you are playing with someone else’s money, you can only complain so much when the studio insists on changes.

    On the other hand, way back when, John Huston was able to get away with doing whatever he wanted with “The Maltese Falcon” (which was a remake) because the budget was low and the studio didn’t much care. Huston, with some successful screenplays under his belt, was eager to direct. The happy result was a goddam masterpiece.

  50. 50.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    2,000 Brawl In Kentucky Mall
    MSNBC: Kentucky mall St. Matthews closes after brawls involving 2,000

  51. 51.

    JPL

    December 28, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    @The Pale Scot: Sherlock airs here on January 1 also on PBS. Supposedly there are three more episodes but I can’t find air dates.

  52. 52.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Agreed.

    The really big debate among the nerd community these days is how they’ll cast Iron Fist – Danny Rand. In the comics he’s a white guy who discovers an ancient oriental power and trains to become the Iron Fist. On the one hand, these movies and shows need more diversity, and this character is a perfect chance for it. On the other hand, if they cast an Asian man in the role, is it playing to stereotypes?

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    @redshirt: I read (hear) you. The problem is that everyone gets too wrapped around the axle about this stuff. I want to see something I enjoy and if its based on an existing story arc in a book or comic book, I don’t mind if they have to take liberties as long as they do a good job capturing the story in the new/different medium.

    On that note, I’m off to get warmed up at the gym before going to the dojo. Maybe they should cast me? Though I’m probably a better fit for Sasquatch from Alpha Flight…

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    @raven:

    Ever see Three Women? Whew.

    The Robert Altman movie? I remember kinda loving it. The last act kinda fell apart. I think Altman claimed that the movie, much like Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, came to him in a dream (probably BS). But the first part of the movie is powerful. I liked all the stuff about doubles and doubling.

  55. 55.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Always love an Alpha Flight reference!

    Some Canadian actors need to join up and make it happen.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    December 28, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    I am just gutted by the Tamir Rice miscarriage of justice. Those officers — at least one of them — deserved indicting.

    I hope the Cleveland Police Dept rues the day they achieved this pyrrhic victory. Starting today.

    All police departments around the country need a special prosecutor for police shootings and misuse of force.

    That was a murder of a twelve-year old. Nothing but. The Rice family, and all of us, deserve better.

  57. 57.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 28, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    I don’t get the Benedict Cumberbatch thing AT ALL and neither does my wife. Here’s what he always looks like to me: Bernie Broccoli.

  58. 58.

    Raven

    December 28, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    @Brachiator: Sissy and Shelly and pigs in a blanket!

  59. 59.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 28, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    @Brachiator: More likely it came to him, much like Kubla Khan did for Coleridge, in a cloud of opium.

  60. 60.

    lamh36

    December 28, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    From over a year ago…but…
    In America, black children don’t get to be children

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    @ThresherK:

    Where has this podcast been all my life? I will start binge-listening stat.

    Lots of good stuff. Going back to earlier episodes, the show on Ida Lupino was quite good. I was watching an old 60s TV show the other day and saw that she was the director. Didn’t know anything about her early affair with Howard Hughes.

    Of the more recent episodes, an amazing take on Elizabeth Taylor, maybe the last star of the MGM system.

  62. 62.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 28, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    Also, I remember asking my comics-obsessed friend about Dr. Strange and he went on a whole explanation. All that I could remember was that he’d still be called “Dr. Strange” even if he had no supernatural powers because that was just his name. Like “Victor Von Doom.” I’m a nerd about all sorts of things but comics stuff just doesn’t connect. I feel a little bad about it.

  63. 63.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Yeah, his name is Stephen Strange and he’s a surgeon, so, Dr. Strange.

  64. 64.

    Gravenstone

    December 28, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    @Tracy Lightcap:

    I’m so glad to see a movie about Dr. Strange that Sly Stallone could be playing the part

    By the Hoary Hosts of Hogoth! Yo, Adrian! I did it!

  65. 65.

    Raven

    December 28, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    @Brachiator: Do they talk about her saving Monty by pulling his teeth out of his throat and threatening the paparazzi if they published pictures of him?

  66. 66.

    jl

    December 28, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    When Fan Streams Cross… (popular political figures edition)

    USA-ites had the good sense to opinion Barack Obama as the most admired man in the world. Then things got confused with Trump and Pope Francis tied for second.

    Their thinking on most admired women was more consistent: Hillz C, Malala Yousafzai and then tie between Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

    I think argument can be made for all the choices except one.

    Donald Trump, Pope Francis Tied For Americans’ 2nd Most Admired Man
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-pope-francis-most-admired

  67. 67.

    GMVictory

    December 28, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Nerdpick: Blue Beetle was the choice, not Batman. Nite Owl replaced Beetle.

    *fades back into the darkness like the Phantom Stranger*

  68. 68.

    lamh36

    December 28, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @AriMelber
    Prosecutor Matt Meyer cites unnamed associate of Tamir Rice saying he would sometimes pull the toy gun out “like a robber.”

    Notice the use of “associate” to describe the friends of a 12 year old.

    This prosecutor has never thought charges should be brought for these cops. He brought no evidence to support indictment to the grand jury. He knew what he wanted from the start.

    Yet time and time again, I’ve been told… to believe in the justice system. Sandra Bland, John Crawford, Laquan, Freddie Gray, trayvon, mike brown, eric garner…the list goes on and on.

    I am fuckin’ tired of it. And alot of people like me are fuckin’ tired of one more person saying well, “the justice system works this way”…as if the justice system in this country ever worked for POC as well as it had for non-POC.

    And no, I don’t give a fuq bout the “civil suit” may give the families some peace…BULLSHIT. It’s fuqn cop-out and it it makes some feel better thinking then great…but it does NOTHING for me…

    Why, cause…rinse, lather and repeat.

    I am beyond mad..

    ETA: Then the fuqn prosecutor used the bullshit ass press conference to shoot up that 12 year old child’s dead body some more along with thowing shit at the dead child’s parents…

    Fuq him and Fuq them all.

  69. 69.

    Ohio Mom

    December 28, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @Elizabelle: I am also sickened by this news. Last year I forced myself to watch the video of the cop jumping out of the car to kill Tamir. How anyone could view that and think anything but those two cops were beyond wrong…

    I have been bouncing around the blogosphere. The Cleveland newspaper editors are pleading that protests be peaceful because violence is not what Cleveland is about. Too late, Cleveland proved it was indeed all about violence the second Tamir hit the ground.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:33 pm

    @Raven:

    Do they talk about her saving Monty by pulling his teeth out of his throat and threatening the paparazzi if they published pictures of him?

    The section on Monty is quite touching, and deals with much of this.

    On a different podcast by another host, sadly no longer available, I ran across an interview with Jane Withers (Josephine the Plumber in old TV commercials). I didn’t know that she had been an extremely popular child star, often the bad girl to Shirley Temple’s little angel.

    She had a role in the movie Giant, and turns out one of her dearest friends was James Dean. She may have been among the last to speak to him before he died. Her memories of him were sad and delightful.

    ETA. At age 89, Withers is still with us.

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    December 28, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    @raven:

    No texting with her new phone? My kids do it all the time. It’s like the 21st century version of the Maaaaoooohm we all used to call when we were kids.

    Sorry to hear your vacation was invaded by stomach bugs.

  72. 72.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    @Brachiator:

    She had a role in the movie Giant, and turns out one of her dearest friends was James Dean. She may have been among the last to speak to him before he died. Her memories of him were sad and delightful.

    And Seinfeld’s TV Mom lived with James Dean.

    I remember Jane Withers talking about her career; for a while in the 1970s people were interested in what she had to say. She was always humorous and modest, a funny, smart lady.

    Baby Rose Marie is still living.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    December 28, 2015 at 5:39 pm

    @The Pale Scot:

    A new Sherlock is showing on Jan 1, if it’s not on BBC America you can use a VPN

    Or you could just watch it on PBS, who have the rights to Sherlock in the USA.

  74. 74.

    Gravenstone

    December 28, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Dr. Langkowski? Or the big guy himself?

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    @lamh36:

    Yet time and time again, I’ve been told… to believe in the justice system. Sandra Bland, John Crawford, Laquan, Freddie Gray, trayvon, mike brown, eric garner…the list goes on and on.

    This sadly reminds me of one of the victims in the Daniel Holtzclaw case (a cop who was successfully prosecuted for sexually assaulting a number of black women).

    The 13th accuser, who was 17 years old at the time that she was raped on her mother’s front porch, was asked why she didn’t report it immediately to the police. “What kind of police do you call on the police?” she said.

  76. 76.

    goblue72

    December 28, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: We shall see. Entirely possible, but also possibly not.

    Marvel currently has a fairly popular show on TV – Agents of SHIELD – in which one of the key characters is one of Hollywood’s favorite Asian stereotypes – Martial Arts Master. (In this case, Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May). She also initially did double duty as a second Asian stereotype – the cold, aloof, Dragon Lady. Couldn’t have had an Asian woman as the central young woman hero – that role had to go to a white girl. (At least said white girl isn’t blonde.)

    She’s also the only character on the show who, when given a love interest, happens to be another person of color. Meanwhile, the love interests of all the white characters on the show (which, are pretty much, almost all the other characters) are also white. And not surprisingly, the POC love interest they give her – sex symbol Blair Underwood – turns out to be a bad guy who turns into an giant beast creature.

    Meanwhile, of the two other notable POC on the show – J. August Richards (temporarily) turns on all his friends and gets turned into a physically scarred part-robot – and Henry Simmons notably has no love interests in spite of seemingly every other character having one.

    Course, the two brainy scientists on the show are British. Guess they couldn’t find a Southeast Asian or Indian for the roles.

  77. 77.

    Gravenstone

    December 28, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    @redshirt: When Byrne was doing it, it rocked. After he left and they unleashed the B (and C and …) creative teams on it, it went WAY off the rails.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    December 28, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    I didn’t read a huge number of Dr. Strange comics, but Cumberbatch seems perfectly cast. Hopefully they can re-tool the racial stereotypes without whitewashing the characters.

  79. 79.

    ruemara

    December 28, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    @Glidwrith: all. yours. Leave me Keanu.

  80. 80.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    @goblue72: While your points are mostly true, Chloe Bennet – Daisy on the show – is half Asian. One could argue she’s the second lead of the show (Coulson being the lead).

  81. 81.

    Tom

    December 28, 2015 at 5:45 pm

    @Germy: If only there had been a good guy with a gun!

  82. 82.

    NCSteve

    December 28, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    Nailed it. Like Robert Downey for Stark.

    Hmmm. Wonder if there’s anyone in the Marvelverse who Jeremy Irons should play . . .

  83. 83.

    JPL

    December 28, 2015 at 5:47 pm

    @Roger Moore: I assume he/she will watch it on BBC.

    Normally we have to wait months before seeing a BBC show. I’m pleased the PBS decided to air it the same date.

  84. 84.

    ruemara

    December 28, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    @goblue72: Not to be the killjoy but black sexuality presented as normal is fairly new. Presenting black people as desirable when proper white or at minimum Asian persons are about? Fucking radical. I think that’s half the reason Under covers got shelved real quick. We are not possible as desirable and decent mates. Which is a shame in 2015. Of course, YMMV.

  85. 85.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    @Gravenstone: That’s true for everything Byrne worked on. He was a master.

  86. 86.

    Tom

    December 28, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    @goblue72: Minor correction – the “white girl” (assume you mean Skye/Daisy) is actually half-Asian (American dad and Chinese mom) and is played by Chloe Bennet AKA Chloe Wang, half-Asian actress.

  87. 87.

    WereBear

    December 28, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    @AdamK: Art loves a talented unknown. Studio executives adore the known box office draw.

    Big budget? Suits win.

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    @Germy:

    She was always humorous and modest, a funny, smart lady.

    In the interview I heard, Withers was an amazing repository of Hollywood history from the earliest days of the studios, and had interesting stories about everyone from extras to the hottest directors. And yes modest, eager to talk more about the people she worked with than about herself.

  89. 89.

    ab_n0rmal

    December 28, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    Chloe Bennet, who plays Skye/Daisy on Agents of Shield, is Chinese American.

  90. 90.

    gogol's wife

    December 28, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    @Brachiator:

    She only appeared in one film with Shirley Temple, but it was a very striking role — Bright Eyes. Withers is hilarious in it.

    ETA: (quoting from memory, so may not be exact) “My therapist says there’s no Sandy Claus!” (to a crestfallen little Shirley)

  91. 91.

    WereBear

    December 28, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    Spent much of the Christmas holiday watching the old British science fiction show, UFO. Mr. Cumberbatch’s mom had a prominent role.

  92. 92.

    gogol's wife

    December 28, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    My bad, it’s “my psychoanalyst told me” (colorized, I’m afraid)

  93. 93.

    Gravenstone

    December 28, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    @WereBear: Only saw a handful of episodes back in the day. But UFO definitely left an impression on me.

  94. 94.

    DCrefugee

    December 28, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    That shot of Cumberbatch at the top is reminiscent of Leonard Nimoy in the TOS ep, “Mirror, Mirror.” I could get behind him playing Spock in some alternate timeline…

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    She only appeared in one film with Shirley Temple, but it was a very striking role — Bright Eyes. Withers is hilarious in it.

    This was actually on TV not too long ago.

    And you’re right. I was lazy and a little forgetful. From the semi official Wiki:

    Through the remainder of the 1930s, Withers starred in several movies every year, including Ginger (1935), Paddy O’Day (1935), The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935), and Little Miss Nobody (1936). She was usually cast as a wholesome, meddlesome young girl in films less sugary than Temple’s vehicles. Moviegoers flocked to see her films, and Withers became one of the top 10 box-office stars in 1937 and 1938. Her popularity was such that Fox gave her “name” co-stars: the Ritz Brothers (in Pack Up Your Troubles) and Gene Autry (in Shooting High).

  96. 96.

    Roger Moore

    December 28, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    @goblue72:

    Couldn’t have had an Asian woman as the central young woman hero – that role had to go to a white girl.

    That “white” girl’s given name is Chloe Wang, and her father is a Chinese American.

  97. 97.

    mclaren

    December 28, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    @Tom:
    Yes, but Daisy doesn’t even remotely look Asian. I would never have guessed her real last name was Wong

  98. 98.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 6:14 pm

    @mclaren: So it doesn’t count?

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    @goblue72:

    Marvel currently has a fairly popular show on TV – Agents of SHIELD – in which one of the key characters is one of Hollywood’s favorite Asian stereotypes – Martial Arts Master. (In this case, Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May). She also initially did double duty as a second Asian stereotype – the cold, aloof, Dragon Lady.

    Never been an Agents of SHIELD fan, but you are being unfair. In the first season, many fans hated Skye, thought she was boring and that the actress was poorly cast. Ming-Na’s character is not a mysterious Dragon Lady, but an expert agent with top fighting skills in a group of agents with fighting skills. She is not trotted out just to do martial arts. She is cold in part because she does work other agents can’t do. But she is part of a team, and there are those she trusts and is warm to and others she simply ignores. And some of the better episodes are built around her and her developing character. But I never got a sense that her detachment was because she was Asian.

    Couldn’t have had an Asian woman as the central young woman hero

    You mean, as in “Quantico?”

  100. 100.

    Germy

    December 28, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    @gogol’s wife: that old dude in the wheelchair…. it’s Mr. Muckle!
    (blind man in W.C. Fields film “It’s A Gift”)

  101. 101.

    lamh36

    December 28, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    deleted…weird repost

  102. 102.

    Satby

    December 28, 2015 at 6:47 pm

    @raven: I admit I was a bit surprised too, comics have gotten a lot darker than when we were kids. But I think that the majority of people who buy comics now are actually adults, so they’ve gone more graphic novel-like.
    I also have to say I’m binge watching Jessica Jones and thinking the guy playing Luke Cage is smokin’hawt. He was born 3 years after I graduated from high school, so I feel a bit pervy saying that too.

  103. 103.

    geg6

    December 28, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I don’t get it either. I find him repellant and can’t watch anything he’s in. I loved reading Sherlock Holmes and have enjoyed many iterations of the stories on both small and large screen, but can’t watch it with him. No matter in this case though, because I also despise comic book movies, especially the Marvel ones. They could cast Donald Trump and it would be fine with me.

    Myself, I’m going to see Star Wars in 3D tomorrow.

  104. 104.

    WereBear

    December 28, 2015 at 6:52 pm

    @geg6: I like him, but it is as much his intensity as his looks.

    I don’t have a type. Unless it’s certain personalities.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2015 at 6:56 pm

    @geg6

    Does not compute.

    While it may not have originally appeared in the four-color format, Star Wars is absolutely, primally, a comic book movie.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2015 at 6:59 pm

    @WereBear

    Certainly some people are like Gutenberg, having a movable type.

  107. 107.

    Anne Laurie

    December 28, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    @ruemara:

    He’s a good actor, I just think he looks like a cross eyed poodle.

    I think of him as having been assembled by aliens who had really good specs of what a human should look like, but who’d never actually seen one.

    All his features are individually quite attractive, but somehow the combination is just on the brink of the Uncanny Valley!

  108. 108.

    The Pale Scot

    December 28, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    @JPL: That’s nice, down here in the Tampa area (the provinces) it not on the schedule for Jan.

    Ahh.. to be back in Rome again…

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    December 28, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    @The Pale Scot:

    It’s on at 9:00 p.m. Friday on WEDU.

  110. 110.

    geg6

    December 28, 2015 at 8:01 pm

    @NotMax:

    True, but it’s not Marvel, thank dog. I’m basically a Trekkie who loved the original Star Wars. Not so big on Episodes v and VI and I have a visceral hatred of Episodes I, II and III. Comic books blow and Marvel blows the hardest of them all.

  111. 111.

    Luthe

    December 28, 2015 at 8:20 pm

    @JPL: The airdates for the next three episodes? Try January 2017. Series 4 doesn’t even start shooting until the spring.

  112. 112.

    BruceJ

    December 28, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    @dmsilev: Four of the six original Stones? Be kinda smelly when they wheel Brian Jones out…

  113. 113.

    Larime

    December 28, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    @goblue72: Daisy’s actress is half-Chinese, actually. Not white. Which several others have pointed out as I finish the thread. D’oh.

  114. 114.

    J R in WV

    December 28, 2015 at 9:11 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    Well, I’m pretty upset about the whole thing, but really – if Cleveland had dealt with the bad cop properly, they would have proven that they weren’t about nothing but killing – murdering – black people. But they didn’t do the right thing with the bad cop.

    So all considered, you’re right. Cleveland is about killing black people with impunity. The problem is that if violence is used against anyone but the bad cop, that’s compounding the wrongness.

    At this point, we know what happened. We know that the bad cop didn’t spend even seconds considering what he was about to do. He just jumped out of the car and committed murder. So I won’t drop a tear for the bad cop if he has nightmares, real or dreamed. What he deserves, nightmares every moment the rest of his vile life.

  115. 115.

    chopper

    December 28, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    goddammit, Lemmy died.

  116. 116.

    Goblue72

    December 28, 2015 at 9:26 pm

    @Brachiator: if you can’t see the stereotyping at play, you are just bring willfully oblivious

  117. 117.

    Goblue72

    December 28, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    @redshirt: If someone passes as white, yes. There’s a long history of that. Things have changed somewhat, but there’s a history of, for example, light skinned black women finding more success in Hollywood than dark skinned black women.

  118. 118.

    Goblue72

    December 28, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    @mclaren: Her last name is Wang. BUT she goes by Chloe Bennet as her stage name. Because she was having trouble getting parts with her real last name. And can successfully pass as white.

  119. 119.

    redshirt

    December 28, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    @Goblue72: So what’s your point?

  120. 120.

    gwangung

    December 28, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    @Goblue72: just let me say a LOT of hapa folks are senstive about acknowledging ALL parts if their heritage.

  121. 121.

    DissidentFish

    December 28, 2015 at 10:52 pm

    @goblue72: So are you Asian? I am (well half). And Wong was a hero to me as a kid and teen Marvel reader.

    There is a distinction to be made between an offensive characterization and and character who has cliches in his attributes. I hate Internet fighting. But speaking just for myself, I am weary of people identifying what were in many ways groundbreaking representations as offensive. Wong was always portrayed with dignity, and may well have been the first Asian American character in comics about whom that can be said. His absence from the movie may please some. It’ll sting for me.

  122. 122.

    Larime

    December 28, 2015 at 11:06 pm

    @Goblue72: But thee SHOW even made her half Chinese. Now you’re reaching.

  123. 123.

    gwangung

    December 28, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    @DissidentFish: not pleased with absence of Wong, particularly since there was plenty of of room to reinterpret his role.

  124. 124.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    @GMVictory: Good catch. I went and double checked after seeing your comment and your NerdFu is strong. Apparently Moore wanted Batman as well, which, since he was teasing having a major character being killed in the story pitch, had DC worried he’d kill of someone big – like Batman.

  125. 125.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 11:46 pm

    @Gravenstone: The big guy himself. Its an inside joke among some friends that I’m part sasquatch.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 28, 2015 at 11:50 pm

    @goblue72: @ruemara: @Brachiator: What’s interesting is that Ming-Na’s character on ER’s love interest was also African American. And they played that as part of a sub-story arc about how her Chinese immigrant parents were intolerant/bigoted and didn’t approve of the relationship.

  127. 127.

    Anne Laurie

    December 29, 2015 at 6:41 am

    @Adam L Silverman: And then in the last couple seasons, the Indian-American resident (Parminder Nagra) got paired up with the African-American chief resident (Mehki Phifer) who IIRC was once Ming-Na’s partner… before Phifer got out of his contract and Dr. Rasgotra started dating a white guy. (But one with two artificial legs!)

  128. 128.

    henqiguai

    December 29, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    @redshirt (#98):

    mclaren says:
    @Tom:
    Yes, but Daisy doesn’t even remotely look Asian. I would never have guessed her real last name was Wong

    @mclaren: So it doesn’t count?

    Personally, looking at the show, I thought she was a standard white female. But, does it count? Maybe ask Lena Horne or someone like that?

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