The Media Today

Hey, me again... -.-

I've noticed something about the media of today. Lots of movies seem to follow a trend. The average guy falls in love and/or has broken up with the honesty and commitment-loving, disturbingly beautiful female and wants to turn his life around. The guy gets caught up in something he doesn't think he's ready for. Once he learns to believe in himself (ugh...), he makes it big, gets the girl, and it's a happily-ever-after. The End. And it's all done in a dry sense of humor.

...

BOO! HISS!

Teen shows. The main characters are goofy and silly with stupid friends and annoying stereotype school jerks. The parents are shamefully stupid and useless. The jokes are cheap, but the laugh track laughs at really dumb, unfunny things. These shows are mainly seen on Disney and TeenNick. The actual plots have TRUE potential, but are destroyed by weak actors and trite themes.

...

LAME ON!

Is it just me, or do the media writers seem to think we can't handle more complex, intricate plots and characters? Or is there a deeper meaning to what they're doing? I hate to sound

paranoid, but doesn't it seem a little weird that the only message these shows appear to be saying "Everything is okay. Sit back and relax?"

That looks like their formula. Telling us that life is all fun and games. That everything's okay.

Being a writer, it's annoying to see boring, corny garbage sell millions on the big and little screens. Again, don't wanna look paranoid, but it's almost as if there's some brainwashing business going on.

Look what happened to the Harry Potter movies (see my post 'Harry Potter and the Half Baked Prince' for the full "magically romantic" scoop)! For now, I'm leaning towards the idea that maybe they want to raise us on this stuff while we're still green and keep us coming back for more mediocre productions for years to come. It's unfortunate, but it's happening.

Later.

Harry Potter and the Half Baked Prince

WARNING!!! HARRY POTTER MOVIE SPOILERS!!!



Okay, so yesterday I saw the Half Blood Prince...

I couldn't possibly describe how much they messed up. It wasn't a magical movie with a little bit
of romance. It was a romance movie with a little bit of magic! There was way, way too much
lovey-dovey, mushy, gross stuff, a lot of it which wasn't in the book at all. Some things I understand, like how they had to get Harry and Ginny together in the Room of Requirement.
The book's way would have taken too long. Although effective in showing Harry's... ahem...
longing for her, he and Ginny didn't have such prominent run-ins.

Plus, Hermione never liked McLaggen in the book. Harry, Ron, and Hermione
ABSOLUTELY did NOT climb Borgin and Burke to spy on Malfoy. Ginny, until they
finally did get together, showed no obvious signs of feelings for Harry in the book.
The Burrow was NOT attacked by the Death Eaters! I don't even know where they got that
idea... -.-'
And why was Harry in a cafe when he first showed up? Hitting on some waitress? Was this in
some hidden never-before-seen edition of HBP that I've never heard of? Or maybe some
invisible print in the original printed versions?
No?
Then what the heck was he doing?! What were the movie makers doing?! This book is not
like others! It's beyond other books! So they don't have to dumb down HP on the big screen!
On a last bad thought, it felt like a "Best of Harry Potter" vid; it was so abrupt in scene changes.

On the good side of this, Sir Michael Gambon truly disappeared into the Dumbledore role
in this movie. The effects were swingin'. The scene with Katie Bell was amazing. The Quidditch matches were awesome! I'm glad they didn't change the music too much this time; they
pulled that a lot in the last movies.

If I were a movie reviewer (which I'm not and I don't own anything from HP in anyway), I'd give this movie...

A 5/10... Yeah, it wasn't bad... but it wasn't that good either. They messed up.

Later.