The Media Trends

I've decided to write a rant.



You can leave now if you want.




Anyway, I was thinking about how there tends to be trends in our media, and there's a lot more than we think. Like for example, take 2012.



In 2012, we had not one, but TWO Snow White movies. Both of which were utterly terrible.



Why were these made? A trend. Snow White and the Huntsman was made because their tends to be a trend with movies to take classic literature and make them more darker. For example:



Yeah, it's been going on for a while. And only some of them end up being good. As for Mirror Mirror, I don't really know why that was made. Maybe a more "kid-friendly" alternative? Maybe they just wanted to jump on the Snow White bandwagon?

But if you think the whole Snow White thing is bad, wait until 2014 and 2015! We're going to get two Frankenstein movies AND two Hercules movies.



I can tell you that I have very little faith in the upcoming Hercules: The Thracian Wars. You know why? This man right here is Hercules:

Dwayne, stop. Seriously, stop.

As for the Frankenstein movies, I have no idea. They may be good. I, Frankenstein will star Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy (Not the Science Guy). Frankenstein will will star James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe (Yes, Harry Potter).

Anyway, back to trends. Trends influence a lot of media. Another noticeable trend is the Vampire Trend. Once Twilight came around, we just happened to get two shows about vampires.



Both of which are not very good. And I can tell you I've had a terrible experience with True Blood. With three other guys. In a hotel in San Francisco. Who are the guys? They will remain unnamed.



But you know who you are.



Anyway, on to the next big trend happening right now. And it happens be in the magical world of TV.



It all starts with one of my favorite shows.



It's hard to beat Sherlock. They've done such a good job with taking Sherlock Holmes and adapting him into the modern day. And to take a classic literary character and put him or her into modern-day society seemed like such an original idea...



...Until everyone started doing it.



Now let's hop across the pond to here in America. In 2010, when Sherlock first aired, we had a pretty successful show air as well.



Yeah, I know Once Upon a Time is not the greatest show on Earth, and the visual effects could be better, but the story is interesting. In case you're unaware, it's basically about classic fairy-tale characters running around in modern-day society, and an alternate world that most people can't see where the characters take their classic form.



Then a year later, we had another show air called Grimm.



At first I thought it'd be a knock-off of Once Upon a Time, but after watching the first episode, it turned out to be not that bad, and now it's one of my mom's favorite shows. My favorite aspect of the show is how they incorporate the different fairy tales and folk tales into modern-day crimes (ie. Little Red Riding Hood is a kidnapping and what not).



Yeah I know, all of these are good shows. But this is where it goes downhill.



In 2012, us Americans saw how successful Sherlock had become, and decided to do the same thing: take Sherlock Holmes and put him in the modern-day. The only thing is, we didn't seem to learn from our mistakes of taking ideas from the British.



Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about.



So because of that, we thought up this little abomination:



Okay, abomination is a little too harsh of a word. It's a decent show, but it's really not my cup of tea.



(Hee hee. Tea. British.)



Sorry. Anyway, why don't I really like it? They're trying to put Sherlock Holmes in the modern day, but it just doesn't seem "Sherlock Holmes-y". And I'll break down why.



The big thing that many people talk about is that, well, Watson is a girl.



Uhhhhhh, yeah. I still don't really know how they misinterpreted Watson's sex. Not to be sexist, but Watson always has and always will be a guy. Why is that? Uh well, let's see, if you read the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Watson is, well, a man.



Martin Freeman is disappointed in you CBS.



Yup. Pretty much. I mean, it's kind of hard to screw up something like that. While we're at it, we might as well make Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter.



Oh wait...



Second off, along with Watson being er, untraditional, Holmes just isn't really...Holmes.



Jonny Lee Miller doesn't really seem to be Sherlock Holmes. He just seems to be a quirky British man who solves some crimes.



With a lot of tattoos.



Anyway, despite being British, he just doesn't seem to fit the character. They could make him more serious and get a bunch of ladies and you might as well call him James Bond.



The third factor is that it all takes place in New York. I love New York, don't get me wrong, but Sherlock Holmes is strictly British. To take him out of London is to take away a lot of magic that comes with him. I get that they want to have Sherlock Holmes appeal to an American audience, but as far as I'm concerned, many Americans enjoy Sherlock even more. And believe me, you do not want to see the fanfiction...



Let's see, Watson had a sex change, Sherlock is just a witty Brit, Inspector Lestrade has only just appeared in Season 2, what other good characters can they butcher?



Later on in the series you hear many times about the mysterious figure Moriarty (Ooh, well it's about time...), and his complete mysteriousness is what intrigues you to keep watching the show. Who is he? What is he doing?



You also meet Irene Adler, who if you know a thing or two about the original stories, becomes Sherlock's love interest.



Now this is where it goes completely wrong. Not only has the creators butchered one character at a time, but they've led you down a long path into a trap...and butchered two.



Yes, Irene Adler is Moriarty.



I'm sorry, but that can't be possible. Not only did they make Moriarty a girl, they made Moriarty Sherlock's love interest. Do you know how wrong that sounds? This is Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis we're talking about here! And besides they're two different characters. You might as well make Watson and Holmes the same person. You might as well poop all over the script and serve it as a main course at a Cracker Barrell because that's what the creators have clearly done with their interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

Anyway, I've completely veered off my point. All-in-all, forget what I said. Elementary is not a very good show. Don't watch it.

After Elementary comes the recently aired Sleepy Hollow, which is basically about Ichabod Crane and his adventures in the modern day.



Only this is Ichabod Crane like you've never seen him before.



This is Ichabod Crane, the MONSTER BUTT-KICKING DETECTIVE MAN.



Ooh. Kill 'em Terio.

That idea, for me at least, is kind of hard to digest, because whenever I picture Ichabod Crane, I always picture the old Disney Ichabod Crane.

Can this man kick butts? Probably not.

I watched the first two episodes, and you know, it's not too bad. It's actually pretty scary too. But I can tell you, I was utterly confused when they killed off the Headless Horseman in the first episode. I thought, "Wait, they killed off the Headless Horseman? Isn't he a big part of the story? How are they supposed to make a show out of this now?"

But apparently he will fight other monsters like witches and stuff. Pretty cool I guess. Still though, it'll be weird imagine girls in this country fanboying over Ichabod Crane. Ugh.

So now you're thinking, "Whatever happened to trends, huh? I thought that's what this is all about, not critiquing TV shows," Well, if you look at the all the described shows, there is a trend.

Fairy tales...in the modern day. Sherlock Holmes...in the modern day. Ichabod Crane...in the modern day. Seriously, a lot of our shows now are just old characters put in the modern day. The more I've thought about it, the more its pissed me off. I mean really, what's next?



Oh.



Well, I can't really tell you much about this show being that I haven't really watched, other than it actually takes place in Victorian London, which is a bit different than any of these previous shows. But it is taking an old character and presenting him to a modern audience.

I guess all I have to say is...where are the new ideas? All I see are sequels and reboots in both TV and movies.

Maybe because Dracula will be a period piece, it will break the trend!



...Or it could pave way for more shows to be set in Victorian England like this one:



Maybe we have a new trend. Victorian England.

Ugh crap.
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