Still not clear about GI Joe's affiliation...
- Thread starter Thespeckledkiwi
- Start date
A Clockwork Lim
Lieutenant Commander
1. Fail.
2. Somehow I doubt that by calling members of other nations "G.I. Joes" is going to improve that. I really don't think they want to be Americanized.
2. Somehow I doubt that by calling members of other nations "G.I. Joes" is going to improve that. I really don't think they want to be Americanized.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
After a long discussion and very insightful one with exodus, I tend to agree with his assessment over this.
It isn't a fail. If you are trying to reach a wide audience, what do you do? You don't make it centric to one country. Hence why they've changed this in Master and Commander.
Studios are out to make money. You can't narrow it down to one or two different markets but a variety of markets.
I would also point out that the international team thing is in keeping with Sigma 6, the last time Joe was on TV as a cartoon. In that version, they were a team under a blue flag resembling the UN's.
A Clockwork Lim
Lieutenant Commander
That's StudioExec(tm) brain waves you have going there. You either go all the way or not at all. If they wanted to make a movie about an international special forces team, it shouldn't have been G.I. Joe. Do you really think people in France, Iraq, or Japan (just to name three off the top of my head) are going to spotaneously say "oh, they're trying to Americanize our people; that's cool! I gotta see this movie now! Cause it's not all American, it's just... all American gone International Police Force! Nevermind that's the number one complaint most of the world has about America and nevermind that it completely undermines and insults our individual socieities and peoples!"
It's a tragically bad move. Dunderheaded to the extreme. We're talking George W. Bush style move.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
GI Joe is trying to find a new market. You bring in people by branching out to other non-American markets. The best way is crafting certain characters from certain areas. It brings about a unique way of crafting an army. People will enjoy the fact that the studios tried to show that there ARE good soldiers not just in America but also elsewhere in the world.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
^ So you pick and choose when you bitch about movies and TV shows not following the continuity of comic books?
As I said, I had a long and productive talk with exodus over the matter and afterward what he said was right.
While there is much I dislike about the new GI Joe Movie, I do not discount the fact that they had to go global.
I did air my -- bitterness over the change of Ripcord from a white character to a black character and the fact that they couldn't have Roadblock in the movie and had to rely on Heavy Duty...
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
I think the "international marketing" thing is a dodge...in the past, good, positive, American action films about American military and soldiers have done well in both the domestic and international markets.
Top Gun, the Rambo series, the Missing in Action Series, Navy Seals, Delta Force, et al. All good, solid pro US military films. All did well in both box offices.
Top Gun, the Rambo series, the Missing in Action Series, Navy Seals, Delta Force, et al. All good, solid pro US military films. All did well in both box offices.
This is GI Joe. Not those lame superhero/superspy wannabes .
Back to those of us who don't put their teeth into a glass each night....
Everyone knows about the "original" GI Joe, but this movie is definitely not being made about that era of toys. This is an 80s Joe influenced movie, and without those fans this would not be getting made.
Ok, so instead of it being an American team with an extremely American name, they changed it to...
an international team that for some reason has an extremely American name.
Yes, fucking brilliant, and not at all totally retarded. It makes total sense that an international team would adopt an American name and just play with the Acronym until it means something else.
"We're GI Joes" *turns to audience and winks* "An international team that happens to have an acronym exactly the same as the American military! We are not American!"
Yes, having a heavily Americanized "international" team is so not insulting to pretty much everyone.
*italics=sarcasm...in America!
an international team that for some reason has an extremely American name.
Yes, fucking brilliant, and not at all totally retarded. It makes total sense that an international team would adopt an American name and just play with the Acronym until it means something else.
"We're GI Joes" *turns to audience and winks* "An international team that happens to have an acronym exactly the same as the American military! We are not American!"
Yes, having a heavily Americanized "international" team is so not insulting to pretty much everyone.
*italics=sarcasm...in America!
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Or it could be a group that started in the US and expanded out into the world and became an international organization?
Back to those of us who don't put their teeth into a glass each night....
....and decide to rejoice in their own ignorance. Or, it seems, have any knowledge whatsoever about recent history.
It's like somebody deciding that the Huguenots were the pope's secret army, that "Yankee" refers to Spanish settlers in Alaska, or that the word
"rendezvous" is German for "avoid each other." It prompts anyone whose knowledge of the world predates the Daily Show to say "what the fuck are you talking about?"
Last edited:
This is GI Joe. Not those lame superhero/superspy wannabes .
Back to those of us who don't put their teeth into a glass each night....
Everyone knows about the "original" GI Joe, but this movie is definitely not being made about that era of toys. This is an 80s Joe influenced movie, and without those fans this would not be getting made.
It could be worse, this is my first memories of GI Joe:
This seems logical, but people aren't always logical. Instead of Americans making assumptions about how non-Americans are going to feel about this movie, maybe we could get a firsthand reaction from somewhere?
TheBolianChef, instead of just telling us that exodus made a compelling counterargument, why don't you tell us what he said? Or better yet, why doesn't exodus tell us?
Marian
Has that ever happened?
Anyway, no matter what sort of cheap unAmericanizing they try to pull, the name of the thing is GI Joe. There's really no way around it, the title could just as easily be "Yankees". Having it mean something else inside the move is kind of false advertizing, and really, most people will expect a movie called GI Joe to be about American stuff.
If they want this to be not-American they can't use 'GI Joe' in the title.
speaking as a 100% True Brit:
BRING ON GI JOE!
i can't WAIT for next summer!
YO JOE!
BRING ON GI JOE!
i can't WAIT for next summer!
YO JOE!
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Basically (and I am going to paraphrase) is this and something I forgot about:
The comic book industry is in decline from what it was. While there are more books out there (multiple runs, this isn't new but lately there HAS been a lot of runs on some characters. Like multiple Batman and Superman comics, multiple Wolverines), comic books are trying to find a new niche in this world.
What the movies are trying to do, or well more or less what the companies are trying to do is let the studios branch out and reach a younger audience to bring them into the printed age. More and more of the younger group relies more on television, video games, and computers than a comic book.
Comic books are also expensive. Massively expensive and when you have something like 52 that runs every week, well it gets pricey, especially for kids.
So what the movie industry is trying to do is help the comic book industry.
The basic matter that I've also have had with GI Joe is the fact that it makes more sense to have them an International group. Especially in the comic books, if you get to down to the core. It makes sense to branch out and make them an international group instead of an American group.
With MARS and Cobra being WORLD wide, the United States will have to branch out to other countries. Cobra even has an international island called Cobra Island.
If it was purely American, it would be against the Dreadnocks since they are stationed and operate out of Florida.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Yes, actually that has happened.
As we mentioned Big Ben and the Oktober Guards. GI Joe has expanded and moved into international territory.
What I am saying is this:
GI Joe started as an American led group but branched out and became an International fighting force but kept the name GI Joe.
In GI Joe, both the show and the comic, they deal with foreign countries (South America, former Soviet countries, parts of Tibet and Asia) because MARS and Cobra are an International organization. They are not solely focused on the United States.
Similar threads
- Locked
