Simon Says Comic Films/Books Making Us Dumb And Childlish

[jcjames]

Simon Pegg: 'comic book films are dumbing us down'

 

Simon Pegg is 'retiring from geekdom' to become a serious actor and says comic book films are 'taking our focus away from real-world issues'

 

Comic book superhero films are “infantilising” the adult population, according to Simon Pegg.

 

Adults should be watching challenging fare that asks “moral questions”, said Pegg, who has announced that he wants to “retire from geekdom” and take his career in a more serious direction.

 

“Before Star Wars, the films that were box office hits were The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Bonnie and Clyde and The French Connection – gritty, amoral art movies. Then suddenly the onus switched over to spectacle and everything changed.

 

“Now, I don’t know if that is a good thing. Obviously I’m very much a self-confessed fan of science fiction and genre cinema. But part of me looks at society as it is now and just thinks we’ve been infantilised by our own taste.

 

“Now we’re essentially all consuming very childish things – comic books, superheroes. Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously!

 

“It is a kind of dumbing down in a way, because it’s taking our focus away from real-world issues.”

 

“Films used to be about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you felt about... whatever. Now we’re walking out of the cinema really not thinking about anything, other than the fact that the Hulk had a fight with a robot.”

 

Pegg, whose 2010 autobiography was called Nerd Do Well, said he did enjoy those films but “I sometimes feel like I miss grown-up things. And I honestly thought the other day that I’m gonna retire from geekdom. I’ve become the poster child for that generation, and it’s not necessarily something I particularly want to be.

 

“I’d quite like to go off and do some serious acting.”

 

That includes his new role, as a romantic lead in the soon-to-be-released Man Up, and an appearance opposite Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. He is also co-writing the new Star Trek -script.

 

The writer and star of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End has smartened himself up as part of the re-brand.

 

He said: “I turned 40, quit drinking, and decided that I’d quite like to live a bit longer than if I’d continued with that particular lifestyle. I also kind of made a conscious decision to stop dressing like a teenager.”

 

Discuss.

[bababooey]

 

Simon Says Discuss.

 

FTFY

[Jeffro.]

He's full of mess. Completely filled with excrement. There have been throw away movies since movies began being made and that's what superhero movies are. It's entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.

[Noodlez]

Simon says he's idiotic

 

Edited because I had to add an "ic" at the end. Website doesn't allow such slander.

[Unca Ben]

"Films about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you feel?"

 

Plenty of these since superhero movies became popular.

Such as:

 

2006: The Departed, Pan's Labyrinth

2007: No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood

2008: Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt

2009: The Blindside, Crazy Heart

2010: Black Swan, The King's Speech

2011: Hugo, The Help

2012: Les Miserables, Lincoln

2013: 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club

2014: The Imitation Game, Birdman

 

...and so on. Many more that could be mentioned.

 

I don't understand what he's talking about. Plenty of films focus on real world issues.

Not all of them have to, it's nice to have variety.

[Revol]

Simon Pegg who has built his entire career on being the 'loveable nerd', suddenly he decides it's time to become a serious artist For every Taxi Driver and Godfather, there was a Planet Of The Apes or Superman. Typical rose tinted glasses.

[jcjames]

He's full of mess. Completely filled with excrement. There have been throw away movies since movies began being made and that's what superhero movies are. It's entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.

Yep.

 

And before there was Godfather and Taxi, there was Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Sound of Music, 101 Dalmations.... and last year American Sniper, barely beat out GOTG for highest domestic box office. So what the hell does he want???

 

Besides, films and books are a temporary and necessary ESCAPE from the serious BS in the world of politics-politics-politics.

 

 

[Chip Cataldo]

Hey Simon, you don't like current movies? Pick up a damn book and shut the eff up.

 

What a hypocrite. We wouldn't have even heard of the guy if not for the type of movies he's tting on.

[krighton]

nothing more exciting than escaping from real world issues to watch a film about real world issues.

[Chip Cataldo]

nothing more exciting than escaping from real world issues to watch a film about real word issues.

Word.

[jcjames]

"Films about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you feel?"

 

Plenty of these since superhero movies became popular.

Such as:

 

2006: The Departed, Pan's Labyrinth

2007: No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood

2008: Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt

2009: The Blindside, Crazy Heart

2010: Black Swan, The King's Speech

2011: Hugo, The Help

2012: Les Miserables, Lincoln

2013: 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club

2014: The Imitation Game, Birdman

 

...and so on. Many more that could be mentioned.

 

I don't understand what he's talking about. Plenty of films focus on real world issues.

Not all of them have to, it's nice to have variety.

 

Apparently he's become a "artist" who is now butthurt that people aren't spending $500,000,000/year to see his fellow "actors" play dress up and pretend to be serious and depressed about the living conditions in India and have 10,000 people show up at the Sundance Film Festival dressed like characters from "12 Years A Slave".

 

 

 

[Unca Ben]

"Films about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you feel?"

 

Plenty of these since superhero movies became popular.

Such as:

 

2006: The Departed, Pan's Labyrinth

2007: No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood

2008: Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt

2009: The Blindside, Crazy Heart

2010: Black Swan, The King's Speech

2011: Hugo, The Help

2012: Les Miserables, Lincoln

2013: 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club

2014: The Imitation Game, Birdman

 

...and so on. Many more that could be mentioned.

 

I don't understand what he's talking about. Plenty of films focus on real world issues.

Not all of them have to, it's nice to have variety.

 

Apparently he's become a "artist" who is now butthurt that people aren't spending $500,000,000/year to see his fellow "actors" play dress up and pretend to be serious and depressed about the living conditions in India and have 10,000 people show up at the Sundance Film Festival dressed like characters from "12 Years A Slave".

 

 

 

Yep.

[entalmighty1]

Hey Simon, you don't like current movies? Pick up a damn book and shut the eff up.

 

What a hypocrite. We wouldn't have even heard of the guy if not for the type of movies he's tting on.

 

Was just thinking this.

 

Didn't he get famous for making a satirical zombie apocalypse movie?

 

Go home Simon, you're drunk.

[makeminemego]

Simon says condescending. This guy is a self-hating geek.

 

Who just cashed substantial paychecks from STAR TREK MOVIES..........

 

Now's a pretty convenient time to come out against geek movies since he's padded his coffers and made his name off of them.

 

I get it Simon, I watch good movies too. But that doesn't mean I can't watch popcorn movies as well. Go act in something that isn't some meta, self-referential joke of a story before you get on your high horse.

 

 

 

 

[romanheart]

Some comic-book movies are really good - The Dark Knight Returns

 

Others are fluff - The Avengers

 

As with any type of movie you have your good ones, bad ones, and those that fall in the middle. I am also sick of so-called drama and fact/real-life based movies that are really propaganda wildly_fanciful_statement in disguise.

[Jeffro.]

nothing more exciting than escaping from real world issues to watch a film about real world issues.

 

Right, and that's why I don't get why some of these current edgy TV shows are so popular. Maybe it's the shock value, I don't know but when I see an episode of a cop show that's based on real life instances of home invasions or rape, I just want to puke.

[jcjames]

Simon says condescending. This guy is a self-hating geek.

 

Who just cashed substantial paychecks from STAR TREK MOVIES..........

 

Now's a pretty convenient time to come out against geek movies since he's padded his coffers and made his name off of them.

 

I get it Simon, I watch good movies too. But that doesn't mean I can't watch popcorn movies as well. Go act in something that isn't some meta, self-referential joke of a story before you get on your high horse.

 

 

Oh don't be so harsh.... I am SURE that he'll give all the money he earned "dumbing down" his fans and instead donate all his earnings from his foolish, childish "infantalizing" Star Trek movies to far more important charities.

 

He wouldn't keep all his millions of tainted, dumbed-down dollars now that he's a serious artist, would he?

 

 

[koollectablz]

The mans a 24 karat tit.

[slym2none]

IDK who Simon Pegg is. I can't say I've ever seen a movie with him in it.

 

Either way, he is entitled to his opinion, even if it does make him look like a person_too_unaware_of_social_graces.

 

 

 

-slym

[Chip Cataldo]

The mans a 24 karat tit.

I love this.