{"id":659,"date":"2010-03-12T18:40:59","date_gmt":"2010-03-13T01:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepulp.net\/PulpBlogs\/YellowedPerils_test\/?p=659"},"modified":"2010-03-12T18:40:59","modified_gmt":"2010-03-13T01:40:59","slug":"why-we-wont-be-satisfied-with-pulp-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/2010\/03\/12\/why-we-wont-be-satisfied-with-pulp-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we won\u2019t be satisfied with pulp movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seen the best pulp-based movie ever. And it will be hard \u2014 no, almost impossible \u2014 for Hollywood to top it.<\/p>\n

In fact, I\u2019ve seen scores of great pulp movies. Just not at the theater or on TV.<\/p>\n

Each time I pick up a pulp reprint or collection and start reading, a movie starts.<\/p>\n

\"A
A filmstrip of The Shadow<\/figcaption><\/figure>I can see The Shadow<\/strong> silently gliding along a darkened New York City street, trailing a unknowing thug to his hideout. I can see Curtis Newton<\/strong>, aka Captain Future<\/strong>, talking over plans with Otho<\/strong> the synthetic man, Grag<\/strong> the robot and the Living Brain<\/strong> in his serum-case as the Comet<\/em> streaks across the solar system.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m reading, the action comes to life in my mind\u2019s eye, just as it does for you.<\/p>\n

But what plays on the screen in my mind is not what plays on the screen in yours. And it is not what plays in the mind\u2019s eyes of the producers, director or screenwriters of movies based on The Shadow, Doc Savage<\/strong>, John Carter of Mars<\/strong> or other pulp characters. And eventually, it certainly won\u2019t be what plays on the screen down at your neighborhood cinema.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers aren\u2019t making those movies for us, the pulp fans. They are making them for the average moviegoer, which according to the Motion Picture Association of America<\/a> are those 12- to 24-years-old. They accounted for almost half of movie audiences last year.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably the same target age group for the pulps back in their heyday. But the nature of entertainment has change substantially since then. What readers expected from their pulps back then is completely different from what moviegoers expect from their movies these days.<\/p>\n

Though in my mind I can visualize the elements of what would make, say, a fantastic Doc Savage movie based on the novels I have read, I fear that the filmmakers feel more obligation to make what would be a fantastic Doc Savage movie for someone who isn\u2019t familiar with the character in the pulps.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping I am wrong about this. But Hollywood\u2019s track record indicates otherwise. Sure, a new Doc Savage or The Shadow movie may be a hit, but it won\u2019t be a pulp movie, at least not like the ones I\u2019ve already visualized.<\/p>\n

\u2013 William<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seen the best pulp-based movie ever. And it will be hard \u2014 no, almost impossible \u2014 for Hollywood to top it. In fact, I\u2019ve seen scores of great pulp movies. Just not at the theater or on TV. Each time I pick up a pulp reprint or collection and start reading, a movie starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6,8,11],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies-tv-radio","category-opinion","category-pulps"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2qgXO-aD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}