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DARK_SIDES
July 07-11, 2006
GHOSTS_OF_THE_SHADOW
Consider a problem with
"The Shadow" film of 1994: Written: David Koepp
Directed: Russell Mulcahy
The plot seemed way too
much like a "Star Wars"
rip-off:
"Join me Luke,
and turn to the
Dark Side".
Why is that example
of gross imitation Part of the trouble,
an irritation? no doubt, is the
Star Wars parallel Watching another
What could be done still seemed too fresh. decade later, I
with that material find it much less
to salvage it? disturbing.
My advice to
young authors:
At a guess: take the material read widely,
seriously, and add some small, and let thy
slight notion, something plagiarism
missing from the original (or become harder
"original") treatment. to detect.
Like what? (Can't remember
who I stole
Well... the "Star Wars" bit that from...)
doesn't seem to take very
seriously the idea that
"the Dark Side" might have It might seem silly to
real tactical advantages, call for a precise
at least under some definition of "the Dark But what
circumstances. Side". By example, we're is it that
shown that it involves makes the
the embrace of cruelty, Light side
mass murder, and dark all that
clothing. light?
Blowing
up a death
star is
Let's think about it: okay,
The Shadow is a vigilante, right?
an anarchist: this is a
fantasy that arose when So the rule is
it seemed that gangsterism something like
was out of control, beyond self-defense,
the reach of government. force-in-reaction,
is justified.
A typical Shadow-fan could have
been a store keeper squeezed by Consider the
a protection racket, or a possibility that
construction worker disgusted by the Death Star
the abuses in the trade, but too was carrying some
scared to say anything about it. innocents, e.g.
some prisoners.
These people might very well
fantasize about returning Their deaths
at night cloaked in black were then justified
with automatics blazing. by some sort of
utilitarian
Any reservations about expediency, right?
the ultimate long term
repercussions of relying Speed is not only of
on vigilantism to keep concern to the lazy.
order can pale in the Sometimes speed is
light of that immediate crucial, even for the
feeling of powerlessness. righteous.
We're getting near
Dershowitz and his
contrived justification
for torture. You
One button you could could play with that:
press would be to
attempt to do what The Shadow looks for
was tried with the an alternative under
"V for Vendetta" fire, and hence is the
film: goodest of good guys.
Lean on present fears, Or gooder than
come up with a present Dershowitz, anyway.
day analog of the 1930s
fear of organized crime.
Raise a suggestion
that the American
republic has collapsed.
Instead of a yellow
peril then, the
plot should involve
tracing the conspiracy
up the chain,
rooting out the
bad guys that have
infested the system.
My vote would be
a scheme for rigging
elections.
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