ROCKY IV

THE FORGOTTEN MESSAGE OF 

ROCKY IV 

Don't you just hate it when some Gen-Beta + kid rocks up and totally disses your childhood memories? 

So I came across this "Writing Coach" Brandon McNulty on You Tube with his 134K subscription list, dishing out advice on "Bad Monologues vs Good Monologues"

This featured various speeches in famous Tv and Film, among them was the Rocky Speech in Rocky IV: 

During this "fight", I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!

Come on, thats a great speech! You'd have to be some kinda robot to let that speech not get to you. And lets face it, most Russians had had it with the KG used to B. 

McNulty of course dismissed it as 'bad monologue' because it lacked realism but then praises a dwarf's speech in Game of Thrones because, well he's a dwarf. 

But then I forget no Gen-Beta + kid gives a shit about what I think. 

And alas it seems the older one gets, the less meaning yesterdays teachings have. And there lies the danger. 

Everything is a 'Dad Joke' these days. Something your Dad used to say that you never got. By default if you are old, you have no validity. Your words mean nothing. You have become nothing. 

That is what todays young people are being brain-washed into and Brandon McNulty seems to be living in a bubble, pandering to the Gen-Beta + kids who don't know any better. 

And ok, I admit that Rocky IV  is not the greatest movie ever made by any standard and on the face of it, the movie seems to entail two oversized muscle-bound-alpha-pricks cracking the hell out of one another. 

But if you actually watch the movie, you might get some context of what this film is about? 

Unfortunately no Gen-Beta + kid is ever gonna get that, unless they have a pretty good understanding of the movies context and what it was like to live under the threat of nuclear destruction. 

So to put things in context: when Rocky IV was made, our world was on the brink of NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION ?? What did Game of Thrones ever do??

Rocky IV "spent a total of six weeks as the number one film at the US box office, staying on top through the Christmas and New Years period, and grossed a total of $127.8 million in United States and Canada, and $300 million worldwide, the most of any Rocky film. It was the highest-grossing sports film of all time" (wiki).

Also when Rocky did that speech, Gorbachev was the new Premier of the USSR. Things were changing. The threat of nuclear destruction was still prevalent but Reagan had secured summit meetings with Gorbachev for nuclear disarmament. A lot of people breathed a huge sigh of relief.

So that Rocky speech y'all dissing here may seem like cheese pants today but its films like this that helped to ease relations between the two super-powers.

Otherwise we'd all be nuclear mutations scavenging around a wasteland by now, suckin on rocks...

just sayin.

BABY REINDEER: THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION?

BABY REINDEER: 

THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION? 

For those living under a rock, the Tv series Baby Reindeer became an instant television hit, resonating with one and all, who have ever experienced stalkers or the dark side of the entertainment industry.

A plot that entails a hapless stand-up comedian (Richard Gadd) and his turbulent journey to success, while trying to cope with a full-time stalker called Martha, who threatens that success.

What made the story even more intriguing was that it is ‘based on a true story’ of Richard Gadd’s struggle to succeed, whilst being harassed by a real life Martha.

And the press where quick to find out who that Martha really was. 58 year old Fiona Muir-Harvey has since denied the allegations against her, including stalking and sexual abuse.

Lately she appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored and has sued Netflix for anything between $55 and $170million for defamation, negligence and violation of privacy. A case she might actually win.

Imagine Gadd rolling out of bed that morning, turning on the TV, only to see his arch-nemeses Fiona Muir-Harvey on television basically ruining his reputation and success, yet again. 

You couldn’t make it up. And that’s the thing. Life mirroring art and vice versa.

If she wins this case, it could not only effect Netflix and Gadds working relationship, but on how we approach drama as entertainment.

All this is going to have a knock-on effect on story telling. It could potentially make it impossible for writers to draw from their own experiences because Tv networks will cite the Martha Case and say no can do.

This could also mean that writers will have to be exceptionally metaphorical in their approach to the medium. 

One can no longer just write about childhood trauma and having that played out with actors. What if the relatives of Nazi criminals jump on this band-wagon and start suing holocaust survivors for defamation of character? 

We could be looking at a whole new sub-genre of coding, as hard issues are dumbed down to child-like innuendo, just to avoid another law suit. Or just ignored completely in favour of yet more Super Hero movies or other remakes.

That said, if Fiona Muir-Harvey loses this case, then I imagine Gadds follow up sequels to Baby Reindeer will reflect that. A sort of echo-chamber if you will: actors playing actors, Gadd recapping on the whole law-suit affair and overcoming the odds etc.

It could also mean the flood gates opening to a whole new genre of hyper-realism, a mish-mash of reality and fiction. Where reality, drama and reality Tv collide. 

One could ask does the real Fiona Muir-Harvey actually exist? Or is she an actor, just like her on-screen doppelgänger? Is this all just marketing?  

On that note, are we all to become doppelgängers in someone else's televised life story? 

In any event, it will be interesting to see how all this pans out. 

Stay Tuned.