Im Watching Terminator Zero, And Its A Great Example Of How The Corporate Media Scenes Approach To IPs

I’m watching Terminator Zero, and it’s a great example of how the corporate media scene’s approach to IPs is a disease.

I have a lot of issues with the show on its own merits. The pacing is awkward, the only real twist I’ve seen was poorly foreshadowed in narrative but painfully predictable from metatext, and the pseudo-philosophy is framed as profound while being beyond basic when it isn’t totally incoherent.

But much greater than that, the show just can’t seem to escape the gravity well of the installments of Terminator that came before. Four episodes in, I’ve watched the show rip off a string of the more popular elements from Terminator 1 and 2. The police station shootout. Miles Dyson’s lab and character beats. Kyle Reese’s costume. The motorcycle cop disguise of the T-1000. The No Fate dream, done about half a dozen times over by now. It’s a new installment by way of meme culture, endless self reference…

…only without any understanding of what made those memes work in the first place, and that’s the fatal flaw.

As an example, why was the T-1000 disguised as a cop in Terminator 2? It was because that made it a better predator. James Cameron understood that the core fear the terminator invokes is of an unstoppable, implacable predator, and that framing it as a cop added a layer of unquestionable authority for this predator to abuse and immunity to the red tape of society. But is any of that theming or nuance actually involved in Terminator Zero when the terminator disguises itself as a cop? No. It shows up where its targets are and starts a slaughter, it just used the costume because the T-1000 did so many movies ago. So the reference feels cheap, and pointless.

This kind of thing happens time and again. In the MCU, in modern Star Wars, Star Trek, adaptations of Batman, Jurassic World, Ghostbusters, both live action AtLA remakes… I could go on. While I think the most common reason is that corporations focus on entertainment as a business rather than an art and capitalism gives them the real control over it, I don’t think that’s the only reason.

I think fandom does this too. A fan of a certain thing will get the chance to make their spin on it, whether “officially” or otherwise, and they know they like the thing but haven’t really thought critically about why. So we get nods to the original which feel totally out of place because they are narrative devices lifted out of their context and recycled into a less fitting beat.

So yeah, TL,DR: capitalism works against the creation of art and good derivative media takes solid media literacy and comprehension skills to create.

A Twitter Thread from David Bowles:

[Text transcript at the end of the screenshots]

I'll let you in on a secret. I have a doctorate in education, but the field’s basically just a 100 years old. We don’t really know what we’re doing. Our scholarly understanding of how learning happens is like astronomy 2000 years ago.

Most classroom practice is astrology.

Before the late 19th century, no human society had ever attempted to formally educate the entire populace. It was either aristocracy, meritocracy, or a blend. And always male.

We’re still smack-dab in the middle of the largest experiment on children ever done.

Most teachers perpetuate the “banking” model (Freire) used on them by their teachers, who likewise inherited it from theirs, etc.

Thus the elite “Lyceum” style of instruction continues even though it’s ineffectual with most kids.

What’s worse, the key strategies we’ve discovered, driven by cognitive science & child psychology, are quite regularly dismissed by pencil-pushing, test-driven administrators. Much like Trump ignores science, the majority of principals & superintendents I’ve known flout research.

Some definitions:

Banking model --> kids are like piggy banks: empty till you fill them with knowledge that you're the expert in.

Lyceum --> originally Aristotle's school, where the sons of land-owning citizens learned through lectures and research.

Things we (scholars) DO know:

-Homework doesn't really help, especially younger kids.

-Students don't learn a thing from testing. Most teachers don't either (it's supposed to help them tweak instruction, but that rarely happens).

-Spending too much time on weak subjects HURTS.

Do you want kids to learn? Here's something we've discovered: kids learn things that matter to them, either because the knowledge and skills are "cool," or because .... they give the kids tools to liberate themselves and their communities.

Maintaining the status quo? Nope.

Kids are acutely aware of injustice and by nature rebellious against the systems of authority that keep autonomy away from them.

If you're perpetuating those systems, teachers, you've already freaking lost.

They won't be learning much from you. Except what not to become. Sure, you can wear them down. That's what happened to most of you, isn't it? You saw the hideous flaw in the world and wanted to heal it. But year after numbing year, they made you learn their dogma by rote.

And now many of you are breaking the souls of children, too.

For what?

It's all smoke and mirrors. All the carefully crafted objectives, units and exams.

WE. DON'T. KNOW. HOW. PEOPLE. LEARN.

We barely understand the physical mechanisms behind MEMORY. But we DO know kids aren't empty piggy banks. They are BRIMMING with thought.

The last and most disgusting reality? The thing I hear in classroom after freaking classroom?

Education is all about capitalism.

"You need to learn these skills to get a good job." To be a good laborer. To help the wealthy generate more wealth, while you get scraps.

THAT is why modern education is a failure.

Its basic premise is monstrous.

"Why should I learn to read, Dr. Bowles?"

Because reading is magical. It makes life worth living. And being able to read, you can decode the strategies of your oppressors & stop them w/ their own words.

Hello I kept forgetting to make this.

I've been needing an excuse to have a little resource of links and stuff for art. Cause my ADHD ass keeps forgetting. So I'm making it a post. I should mention most of my links are going to be 2D animation related because that's what I went to school for.

This is by no means exhaustive list. Feel free to reblog/reply with your own resources. They don't gotta be animation specific for the record.

The Big Ones:

PuccaNoodles' Compiled Animation/Art Resource Sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQngQS6OcnUHJu9ldZoCva9749YW-dhaqfkbZtwu8Qw58rmYZeSCnye-lTQ8hT4dIi4q0Wdn3LK8ZZl/pubhtml Massive database for free and paid stuff. Ranging from foundational art, figure drawing, animation such. Lot of stuff.

ANIMATION WRITING RESOURCES https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DV030qteYcYmOIhn-VlD_N98kXJmMnM3stPVGD9emFI/edit

Animation/VFX/Game Industry Job Postings https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eR2oAXOuflr8CZeGoz3JTrsgNj3KuefbdXJOmNtjEVM/edit?gid=0#gid=0

https://www.animation-festivals.com/ Hub having links to various worldwide film and animation festivals.

Animation groups: The Animation Guild https://animationguild.org/

Rise Up Animation https://www.riseupanimation.org/

Black N' Animated https://blacknanimated.carrd.co/

Queer TAG https://qtinanimation.carrd.co/

Stuff I Think Be Neat: Studying Storyboarding on a Budget: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rtJQ7teHzWNmfJANr1RW6xE66jRu0TIKO-fB0VZhIN4/edit Mix of paid/free resources for animation storyboarding.

How To Animation Production: https://howtoanimationproduction.thinkific.com/ Paid class. Have not tried it myself but it looks worthwhile.

https://archive.org/details/gottfriedbammesdernacktemensch_201911/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Creative%20Illustration/ (has nudity)

Whole assortment of figure drawing books.

https://archive.org/details/morpho-fat-and-skin-folds_202307 (has nudity)

The Morpho series in general is pretty recommended for figure drawing stuff. But this especially is nice because plus-sized people do tend to get shafted when talking about anatomy.

http://www.madwomb.com/tutorials/BlenderIntro.html Free Blender tutorials.

Frank Summer https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcaJvhWPggHLsJ_5inYFFG7rJ08QAXAuZ Kyu-bum Lee https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmKGo-WEvo1pJlCH22OSlpKwoDM5H-a-H ZeBirdBrain https://www.youtube.com/@ZeBirdBrain/playlists Animation tutorials for ToonBoom and also general stuff. Zebirdbrain in particular has a TON.

https://learn.toonboom.com/modules Toon Boom also has tutorials of their own if you're more a reader.

Every Frame A Painting https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2w4TvBbdQ3sMABf317ExCob_v6rW2-4s Film analysis channel that I also recommend if you're looking into animation.

Buncha scans for Anime and games production stuff. https://setteidreams.net/

https://x.com/Studio_Meraki_/status/1756703590251393210 After Effects anime compositing tutorial. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iPrRI2mhARpgZC_FZso5BWNjlROxq8FM/view Link to pdf.

https://www.youtube.com/@MotionActorInc/videos TONS of motion acting videos. If ya like your sword and fistcuffs well here ya go.

https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/ Hey did you know BBC has ton of sound effects free for personal use?

https://www.ubu.com/sound/ Resource for sound art.

https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/ Archive of TV scripts.

Resources I don't got on me but are incredibly needed: "Hello, I am looking to do freelancing/contract work. How do I do my taxes?" Honestly business/legal advice in general is direly needed. I genuinely think any art curriculum should have at least one required business class because holy shit it is a major gap.

Also advice for animation jobs outside of TV/Film/Video Game animation. I know those are the things people think of when they think of animation, but it's also easy to get pigeonheld into thinking those are the only jobs (or the only *real* jobs) out there.

The worst trick a childhood anxiety disorder pulls is, you spend your early years being applauded for being so much more mature than your peers, because you aren’t disruptive, you don’t want any kind of attention, you don’t express yourself, you keep yourself to yourself - this makes you a pleasure to have in class, etc etc - and you start to believe it’s virtue. But you’re actually way behind your peers in normal social development, and who knows if you can ever catch up.

Some thoughts on Helga’s visual costume design in Atlantis: The Lost Empire & what it says about her:

The black dress Helga wears to Milo’s apartment serves as a way to showcase several things, the most obvious being the clear intention for her to channel the energy & look of a classic femme fatale character. The distinct black color builds on this by adding to her mysterious nature & purpose within the story, while at the same time hinting at her potentially villainous intentions early on. We’re also introduced to the fun little visual quirk of one of her straps perpetually sliding down.

The Ulysses crew outfit marks a severe departure from the dress seen previously, but it still keeps an emphasis on heavy black coloring to provide continuity with the same kinds of themes discussed earlier. This change in costuming allows us to get a much deeper insight into Helga as a character-she’s clearly able to comfortably slip between various types of clothing meant for very different contexts. Her ability to fit both the more conventional look of a woman of this alternate version of 1914, as well as assume a more masculine/martial appearance, speaks volumes about her capability as a social chameleon & her desire to dress how she wants. Helga’s more tactically-minded getup is also no doubt influenced by her time in the military and her training with Rourke.

The white tank top is the last distinct look Helga sports before her demise. Its bright white color may serve to indicate that her villainous intentions are now clear, & there is no further ambiguity as to what she intends to do. It’s interesting to note that among the main cast of characters she’s the only one who switches between black & white ensembles (possibly demonstrating some intent in her character design to display her shades of morality & ultimate villainy). The single strap sliding down one of Helga’s arms is followed up on here, providing visual continuity with her first outfit and allowing her design to effectively come full circle. Another nice touch is how Helga’s hair escapes its neat braid and flies around wildly in her final scenes to reflect the sheer rage & desperation she feels after Rourke’s betrayal. This is at complete odds with how she appears during the rest of her screen time in Atlantis where she is always coolly professional & seemingly never has a hair out of place.