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March 09, 2012

Comments

Jennie

gross. this movie sounds terrible. You should make a movie about Winston. I think it would be way more popular and meaningful.

jeremy

Of course Edgar Rice Burroughs' book is racist and sexist. I mean, dude wrote Tarzan, y'know? I wish it hadn't been rated R and had all the freaky Martian orgies and over-the-top violence of the books and, more recently, comix.

claire

Given when they were written, I'm sure the books were just as bad, if not worse. Although it would have been interesting if the movie adaptation had totally skipped over all the Big Strong White Man stuff and instead really tried to make it look Victorian or steam punk. As it is, it's just another shitty sci-fi movie with a guy shirtlessly wearing leather. The one thing that makes the story interesting is how old it is, but it's like the movie decided to ignore that and go with the racism instead.

Nike Shox

On the other hand, he said that taxi drivers have to deal with differing boundaries depending on the model of their taxi unit.

john carter

You all really have no idea what you are talking about... the movie was extremely bad and was a complete failure when trying to compare to the book. This is mostly due to the changes made to the story to make it appeal to a wider base but in my opinion simply the made the plot that much more confusing...

Moving on though, most of the people on the planet are not white... they are supposed to be red, although I guess disney thought a single red face tattoo was enough....
Then the part where he begins to understand the language; it
is due to the fact that telepathy is an inherent skill on mars so I guess his understanding was through this. Although in the book he still has to learn the language.
And the last comment I will make to your poor excuse of an article is the fact that he can move how he does, is not due to bone density... It is because he is used to the stronger gravity and thicker atmosphere of earth. For this reason, his muscles can allow him to do much much more while he is on Mars...
And sorry he had to be white, I don't think Edgar Rice Burroughs had equality on the mind when he wrote this in the 1910's

BIll

The big thing these days is to denounce movies where the theme is "white person saves the natives". Totally agree that this can be offensive. But what's not mentioned is that white people (or their analog) are always the villains, with one or a rare few of their numbers breaking ranks from what is apparently their entire race's innate evil. Meanwhile the "natives" are almost always noble beings, with one or two a-holes tossed in to provide a weak attempt at balance. So really, when drilled down, the premise of these movies is simple-minded and offensive all around.

BIll

Oh, and I love that finally a human gains powers when on another planet. Always thought it was lame that in sci-fi movies and shows, Earthlings are always the weakest physically and/or mentally. But that's just the inner-12-year-old sci-fi geek in me speaking :-)

Tim Jones-Yelvington

mr rich, the second you said bazooms you doomed me to singing OTTO TITSLING under my breath for the rest of the day.

jeneria

Burroughs' was writing at a time when white conquest was considered next to Godliness and while his views are outdated and even reprehensible, his novels serve as a good reminder to always consider novels in their proper historical context and to learn from their mistakes. What is disgusting is that Disney chose to make this movie in the same vein as the original text without modifying the reprehensible racist themes. In my mind, this is not the fault of Burroughs, but entirely the fault of Disney.

Jessica

So what I'm hearing you say is, "Go see The Vow!"

But I'm kind of repulsed by the premise.

Bobby

That thing he's riding probably inspired tauntauns, seeing as this is one of many works that "inspired" George Lucas.

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WRJ

If it makes you feel better, the movie earned $500K this weekend. I.e., .02% of its budget.

Allen

I took my kids to see this movie this past weekend, at their behest, and I regretted every minute of it. The violence was copious and not really justified, which was somewhat unexpected in a Disney flick. There was blood (albeit blue) everywhere, kicking and fighting over newborn babies, "stupid savages" who couldn't control their warlike behavior, and on and on. I'm no prude, though I'd argue that we probably have it backwards in the ratio of sex to violence we allow in less than R rated entertainment, but this wasn't the sort of mock violence of Tarzan either; it was just wanton violence in a fig leaf. It didn't add to the excitement or the plot in any way. It had no underlying theme of good vs. evil (for the most part). It had no (believable) tension or danger for the protagonist. And it didn't advance the plot by overcoming any significant adversity... it was just there for its own sake.

I agree completely that the film was internally inconsistent as well. Completely different cultures -- not humans, but "Barsoomians" -- and yet the had the same ideas of marriage and family but they drank from a glass instead of feeding each other cake. How wild and crazy those Martians are.

I also agree that the mistake here was Disney making this into a movie that can neither be appreciated for its insight into the culture of Burrough's contemporaries (since it didn't stay true to the original story), not for its insights into how we (should at least try to) behave today, because there were none. That too may have been okay if it was just an action flick without any attempt at substance, like Transformers, but it actually had long, sleep inducing segments of vapid dialogue with no action. I must have nodded off half a dozen times, and without the large Coke to accompany me, I'd probably still be asleep in the theater.

This movie will appeal to a very limited segment in my opinion: those with a deep love of SciFi, though it's stretching things to call this SciFi, who are willing to overlook any flaws, no matter how deep, in order to get even the slightest escape from reality. I really wanted to like it as a popcorn action flick, but it deserves all the bad press it's received.

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eline

I read this interview recently in which they ask why certain things in the movie are so and so and the explanations are so crazy lazy, I actually feel insulted by the existence of this movie.

http://io9.com/5891741/why-is-everyone-on-mars-british-and-other-pressing-john-carter-questions-answered

matthew (hardcore ANTMer)

Glad you chose Louise as your hero this week Rich! She was truly awesome in her stand against the bullshit. Looks like Kelly can dish it out but she can't take it herself. I know that's a cliché but I'm not the writer, you are lol

Mara

"The big thing these days is to denounce movies where the theme is "white person saves the natives"...But what's not mentioned is that white people (or their analog) are always the villains, with one or a rare few of their numbers breaking ranks from what is apparently their entire race's innate evil."

Lmao!! All this comment screams to me is 'Will no one think of the white people?!?!' If that's all you take away from movies like this, that they're "offensive all around" instead of looking at the history of white people and their horrible relations with minorities through the ages and the sad reality of the situation, well then your privilege has truly blinded you.

jasper

Don't know if you have seen El Orfanato. It's a great horror movie, my favourite from the last decade.

Tim

Eh. It was ridiculous and racist, but I didn't think it was terrible per se. I liked it about as much as I liked Avatar. I mean... it was basically the same movie. I'd take this over Twilight any day of the week.

Ryan

Just finished reading "Warlords of Mars." Some of the most admirable characters in the book are "black" Martians. Also, John Carter directly addresses his contemporaries racism. While describing the warrior Xodar he states that it is the very blackness of his skin that makes it so beautiful "which you may find strange coming from a Virginian." Or words to that effect. Also, the Red Martians, ERB's favorite of the races, are revealed to be a fusion of the black, white (who are the bad guys), and yellow races. Sounds pretty pro-race mixing to me.

I think people who think ERB is racist need to take a closer look at the text. Also, they need to realize the nature of the rhetorical devices that he uses ("framing" the story, breaking the 4th wall). I think ERB was the opposite of a racist.

Critic

Worst movie I have seen in 3 years. Pitiful mindless watse of amazing CGI.

There is a great dog type character though!

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Her delicious meals and quiet smile graced the cabin Marta and Edward worked and played and laughed, but never loved. Amanda

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