@chris-lang
by Chris Lang
The TikTok situation
January 18, 2025 in Chris Lang's Commentaries
As many are no doubt aware, the ban on TikTok in the United States was recently upheld, and it is to go into effect soon. Possibly by the time you read this.
I myself never used TikTok. I never had much use for it, as I’m not the sort who creates video shorts most of the time. But I do know a lot of people used it and greatly enjoyed it, and are greatly upset by this turn of events.
As to why this is happening? Well, I don’t feel like looking up or going into the long, painful story here. But let’s just say it’s paranoia about TikTok’s point of origin (China) and user data being accessed by the Chinese government, possibly combined with certain other platforms’ owners being concerned about TikTok’s rise in popularity the past four or five years, and not wanting to have it as competition. Of course these platforms’ owners have a lot of money and influence over our government, and given that the Supreme Court decision was unanimous, it seems likely the ban would have gone into effect regardless of who won the 2024 election.
Of course these other platforms also have ‘shortform’ video options called ‘shorts’ and ‘reels’, but I’m fairly sure those came about AFTER TikTok exploded in popularity in an attempt to lure people back to those platforms.
In any case, though I never used TikTok myself, I know many people did, and there was a thriving community of people there sharing their short fun videos showing off cosplay, or relating fun facts, or any other silliness they could think of. It’s never a good thing when a community gets broken up.
However, I do think this is a reminder that people should never put all their eggs in one basket. Many TikTokers already had a presence on the other platforms that have ‘shorts’ and ‘reels’ options, both for greater exposure and to have something to fall back on should the TikTok ban actually happen. (And the ban’s been talked about for many years now – it was only in the past year that it became ‘a very real possibility that could become reality soon’). So yes, it’s the end (presumably until one of the other platforms buys TikTok out or something), but many TikTokers were prepared for the moment.
We should never take any of our platforms for granted. The coming year is going to be full of chaos and uncertainty. None of us knows what’s going to happen with the platforms we currently use, whether they will still be around or whether they will be twisted into something we don’t recognize or are practically unusable. We should always have something to fall back on just in case things go wrong.
In any case, this is a sad situation for all of TikTok’s users and fans.
by Chris Lang
Fanfic Subgenres: Horror versions of lighthearted shows
November 1, 2023 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
Hello and welcome to Fanfic Subgenres, where I take a look at subgenres of fan fiction, and see how they apply to works outside of what most call ‘fan fiction’.
This time, I’m talking about horror re-imaginings of lighthearted material.
By now, we’ve seen a LOT of this, in fan fiction and in movies, television, and video games, to the point where I’m not even sure if I even need to explain it. Most of us have seen a few works where a previously lighthearted (maybe even family friendly) story, show, or whatever has a decidedly darker, scarier (and likely a bit less – it not a lot less – family friendly) take on it.
A LOT of fan fiction has fics that are much darker than the source material. Some fanfiction archives use tags to differentiate between, say, canon typical violence (in other words, not much worse than the source material usually depicts) and other types. If we were focusing on that, we’d be here all day. But here, let’s focus on when a traditionally non-horror series is re-imagined with a horror twist.
Fan fiction has this in a lot of franchises. Online fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic who read its fan fiction are probably well acquainted with the infamous fanfic ‘Cupcakes’. In the dark alternate universe that fic is set in, the sweet, fun-loving, cake-making, party-throwing Pinkie Pie has this secret basement of horror where she lures unsuspecting ponies to be tortured, cannibalized, and have their taxidermied corpses put on display. It’s inspired a few spinoffs/unofficial sequels, some attempting to explain it, some carrying it a bit further (I read one fic from the viewpoint of a pony commenting on how after Pinkie Pie’s arrest, it was revealed the whole Pie family was making many of their visitors disappear), some where it’s just a bad dream Rainbow Dash had, and some where the Mane Six (Pinkie Pie included) read the fic and laugh at how absurd and out of character it is.
It’s also inspired some other fics set in dark corners of the Pony Multiverse where some other ponies such as Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, and even Cherilee engage in horror movie villain type behavior. (Things like ‘Rainbow Factory’ and ‘Cherilee’s Garden’). And there’s at least one fic I’ve read where the characters acting like horror movie antagonists are original characters, but which is both horrifying and heartbreaking at the same time, as it suggests a dark underside to Equestrian life in its suggestions as to where that world’s glue, leather products, and pet food come from.
In other fandoms, we have alternate universes of My Hero Academia where Izuku Midoriya’s life goes down a different path when he’s given a different Quirk (instead of One For All, the Quirk he receives in canon), and he loses control of it with horrifying results. Granted, My Hero Academia is a superhero anime series that has its darker moments, with some stuff that is pretty horrifying in canon (the backstory of antagonist Shigaraki is a good example), so it isn’t quite as jarring.
There have been some Ranma 1/2 horror fics as well, even though the source material is a martial arts/romance comedy and usually is lighthearted in its treatment of supernatural entities (such as the Ghost Cat that appears in a few episodes). The cursed springs of Jusenkyo which provide much of the magical elements and source of comedy (many characters, including the title character, are cursed by those springs to shapeshift to other forms when hit by cold water, and what form they change into depends on which spring they fell into) can also be used by some fanfic writers for horror as well, given the fact that there are hundreds of springs out there neither the manga or anime mentioned, and some might be downright scary. There’s fics that state that were the cursed characters unable to change back to their normal forms (using hot water, usually) and were stuck as pigs, ducks, or whatever, it could lead to scary and tragic consequences. And then there’s material where a character’s eccentricities that were played for comedy in the source material suddenly take darker and terrifying turns.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Fan fic has lots of horror fics based on non-horror properties. And movies, television, and video games have them, too.
I’ve loved Alice in Wonderland for its memorable eccentric characters, its whimsical world, and its wordplay since I was a kid. But every now and then, someone will play the bizarre worlds of Wonderland and Looking Glass Land and their inhabitants for horror instead of comedy, fun, and whimsy.
One of the best known dark Wonderland portrayals would be the video game American McGee’s Alice, featuring a darker, violent Wonderland where (among other things) the Queen of Hearts actually DOES behead people (instead of the King pardoning them or the Queen just not caring if they run away as long as they’re out of her sight, as in the original book), the Mad Hatter has gone scary mad instead of funny mad, and the Cheshire Cat (while still a source of advice) has looked a lot better. This is all explained in a story establishing that Wonderland exists in Alice’s head, and Alice has gone crazy due to her parents dying in a fire, and Wonderland has become warped due to Alice’s trauma.
The 2010 Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland is another dark take on Wonderland, though thankfully nowhere near as dark. It too has a scenario where the Queen’s oft-threatened executions actually did take place, and Alice herself is forced to decapitate the Jabberwock (who was just a monster in a poem Alice read in the original books, and not an antagonist Alice actually encountered). But compared to American McGee’s version, it’s tame as far as horror goes.
It seems like properties both well known and lesser known have had horror re-imaginings within the past few years, as the next few examples will illustrate.
There’s The Banana Splits Movie (2019), where robotic versions of the fun-loving anthropomorphic animal rock band created by Hanna Barbera go crazy and start terrorizing anyone standing in the way of their show (and some people just in the wrong place at the wrong time). I already reviewed that movie in another blog post. It’s a very weird movie, especially for those who actually remember seeing the original Banana Splits show in their childhood or in its 2008 revival.
There’s also the 2020 Blumhouse horror themed Fantasy Island, which gave a horror spin to a lighthearted series from the 1970s. There, the guests’ fantasies turn into horrifying nightmares.
And the less said about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the better. (If you really must satisfy your morbid curiosity, I recommend Decker Shado’s review of it, or The Creature and Jarvisrama99’s review/discussion of the movie).
This is not to say that all horror reimaginings are bad. Some are actually quite good. Some might even be at the very least interesting interpretations of the material, even if one still prefers the original flavor. For example, American McGee’s Alice has its fans, but I’m not one of them, though I do think the premise is a bit interesting. At least it (unlike the Winnie the Pooh horror film) is actually looking at the source material from a different angle (as opposed to just doing a tiny bit of that in the prologue and then having little or no resemblance to the source material afterward).
In recent years, Archie Comics has embraced a sort of Archie multiverse, showing all sorts of ‘What Ifs’ for Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and the rest of the gang. There’s universes where Archie marries Betty, Archie marries Veronica, Archie heroically gives his life for a friend, and more. And there’s some universes crossing over the teen comedy with horror, bringing in elements such as zombies, vampires, and werewolves.
One of the first true Archie horror comics was Afterlife with Archie, playing zombie horror for straight, serious zombie horror. There’s tragedy and legitimately scary imagery here, as we see how familiar characters react to seeing horrifying things happening to friends and family.
Some of these horror alternate Archie universes even have ‘horror’ versions of well-known characters, such as a vampire version of Veronica in Vampironica, and a werewolf version of Jughead in Jughead: The Hunger. And many of these are actually good or at least interesting alternate universe variations that still somehow manage to keep the characters recognizable despite the dramatic differences in their lives and the tone.
And of course, we can’t forget how the lighthearted comedy Sabrina the Teenage Witch somehow inspired the much darker and scarier Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Fellow Manic Expressionite Moviefan12 has done a series of blogs, ‘The Horrors of Riverdale’, doing reviews of Afterlife with Archie and other Archie horror-verse comics. I highly recommend you read them here or at their blog.
Anyway, the best horror re-imaginings are ones that are commentary on the original with lots of care and thought put into it, while still being good scary stories. Afterlife with Archie, in the views of many, is one such re-imagining.
So all in all, there are good horror re-imaginings, mediocre horror re-imaginings, and bad horror re-imaginings. And many of these will often overlap with ‘really weird horror re-imaginings’, though rarely with each other.
However, in most cases, the original non-horror versions still retain their staying power, and even in a world where we’ve seen American McGee’s Alice and Afterlife with Archie, some people will still prefer the originals. And some might like the horror versions better. Whether any of these will have as much staying power as the originals remains to be seen. Only time will tell.
But all in all, whether you like it or you don’t, one has to admit that the horror remake trend in recent years is certainly an interesting one.
If you have any insights you’d like to add, or want to mention any horror re-imagining of lighthearted source material I didn’t mention, feel free to do so in the comments.
Related Posts (that actually are related to the topic of this post, honest)
Fanfic Subgenres: Making Heroes Villains, or Ron the Death Eater, by Chris Lang
The Horrors of Riverdale: Afterlife with Archie (a review by Moviefan12)
Movie Curiosities: Fantasy Island (2020) (a review by Curiosity Inc.)
by Chris Lang
Curious About Movies: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
April 1, 2023 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
And so we get yet another musician biopic. Yawn.
The thing is, after a while, you come to know what to expect from musician biopics. So many of them follow the same tropes as they go through the motions of chronicling events in the subject’s life, and taking the occasional artistic license with a few events and the actual timeline of events.
As with any musician biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story has the drama you come to expect. There’s the rebellion against a father who only gradually comes to accept his son’s genius in the third act of the movie. There’s clashes and eventual reconciliation with the musician’s bandmates. There’s the inspiration for one of his greatest hits after a drug-induced dream sequence. And there’s the infamous romance with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) that threatens to destroy him.
He nearly loses everything, only to end up reconciling with his friends and family, and moving on to greater fame and acceptance. At least until…
Well, this is being posted on April Fool’s Day, so I might as well come clean now.
Okay, okay. I’m not Curiosity Inc. This isn’t another Movie Curiosities column. And Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is not really a musician biopic, though it’s promoted as one.
Instead, it’s a brilliant parody of a musician biopic, co-written and co-produced by “Weird” Al Yankovic himself (Yankovic also cameos as Tony Scotti, record exec). It’s a mixture of a few true stories of Al’s early career along with a whole bunch of untrue or wildly exaggerated events.
The problem is, it’s hard to really do a review of it without spoilers. However, I’ll say it starts with the somewhat true, somewhat exaggerated story of how Al obtained his first accordion (however, I will note that in real life, both of Al’s parents were fully supportive of Al’s musical ambitions from the beginning, and while not related to ‘polka king’ Frankie Yankovic, they both encouraged him to play the accordion because they thought it’d be nice to have another accordion-playing Yankovic in the world).
It then moves on to tell of how Dr. Demento (played by Rainn Wilson) helped Al get his first nationwide exposure. There’s even a few shoutouts to other musician biopics along the way, such as when Al meets John Deacon (one of the lesser known members of Queen, despite his writing one of their biggest hits, which Al parodies as ‘Another One Rides the Bus’), and the reference to Live Aid both during the movie and during the closing credits song.
I honestly don’t know how much further I can go with this without spoiling too much. All I can say is that the more the film exaggerates or invents details or changes things completely, the more hilarious the movie becomes.
As far as acting goes, I was greatly impressed with Daniel Radcliffe’s performance as Al. He almost disappears into the role. Evan Rachel Wood also shines as this film’s Madonna, and while Rainn Wilson does a good impression of the legendary Dr. Demento.
So go ahead, see the movie in whatever format’s available. If you already have Roku or whatever streaming service it’s playing on by the time you read this, go right ahead and give this one a chance. I will, however, say that the film probably works best if you’re at least somewhat familiar with “Weird” Al Yankovic and his history, and if you’re familiar with the various biopic tropes the film parodies.
Anyway, it’s worth seeing from beginning to end. Stick around for the closing credits song and pay close attention to the lyrics and the visuals. All in all, if you’re an Al fan from way back, I’d say you’ll certainly appreciate this brilliant biopic parody.
by Chris Lang
Enough Already: Please don’t celebrate the possible demise of Twitter
November 20, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
Hello and welcome to Enough Already, where I discuss trends, tropes, and behavior that we really need a break from. This one’s more topical than most of my blogs, but I think it needs to be said.
As many of you are aware, Twitter (as of the end of October 2022) was bought by billionaire Elon Musk, and in just a few weeks, the situation over there became chaotic. Musk fired nearly half the staff of Twitter during his first week, several others were fired for criticizing him (some fired publicly via tweet), while others resigned. And then this past week (as of Saturday, November 19th, 2022) came the already infamous ‘ultimatum’ issued to remaining Twitter employees to either be ‘hardcore’ and work extra hours, or take three months’ severance pay and leave the company. A great many chose the latter.
(And that’s not even getting into the ‘Twitter Blue’ fiasco, in which what was once a means of telling actual celebrities and businesses from imposters was turned into a means of making money: suddenly, anyone could have a blue check mark if they paid $8 for it, resulting in dozens of impersonations of celebrities and businesses).
With many of those former Twitter employees having been people responsible for content moderation and site maintenance, many people are now wondering just how long Twitter is going to be around. They fear that if things keep going the way they’re going, Twitter might end up dying. An idea that seemed ridiculous and unthinkable a year ago due to Twitter’s huge role in our public discourse now seems a very real possibility.
And while some are sad at the possible end to Twitter, a number of other people are gleeful about it. They never liked Twitter, and only saw it as a toxic cesspool of negativity, trolling, and vitriol (among other unpleasant things), even before Musk came along. And some people just thoughtlessly celebrated because it meant the humiliation of some billionaire who bought a social media platform to make into his vanity project only for it to fall apart because he didn’t understand how it really worked.
As for me, I never really cared for Twitter. I’ve never had a Twitter account, and I still don’t have one. The aforementioned negativity/trolling/vitriol was one turnoff, but I also never really understood the need for a character limit when platforms without such character limits already existed. When Twitter first appeared, I didn’t think Twitter would last very long, and the (at the time) 140 character limit was the reason why.
It’s hard to get good points across when you’re faced with a character limit. Some thoughts and some ideas can’t be boiled down to a one or two sentence sound byte. Even expanding the limit to 280 characters wouldn’t really help much. While some got around it by making whole ‘threads’ numbering their multi-part posts, it’s not the same as having everything in one post where you don’t have to worry about seeing a few sentences taken out of context.
But much to my surprise, Twitter caught on, and became one of the biggest social media platforms ever. Celebrities, corporations, politicians, writers, journalists, and more used it to promote themselves, their businesses, their shows, movies, articles, whatever. What people said in their tweets became the subject of headlines everywhere in the media. TV showrunners and online game content creators answered questions from the audience via Twitter. Tweets were quoted and cited in articles everywhere.
Despite its limitations, Twitter became a HUGE success. It’s become part of our culture, to the point where it’s hard to imagine a world without ‘tweets’. Of course with its success came the downsides — lots of people saying bad things on it, or embarrassing themselves with poorly thought out remarks (and the fact that the character limit encourages people to just throw out a few sentences and post them without thinking doesn’t help), spreading misinformation, and so on. Like all social media, Twitter is a double-edged sword: It has its good and its bad sides.
But even though I’ve never actually had a Twitter account, I fully understand how people have built communities there. They’ve promoted their small businesses, or their websites, or their artwork, on one of the most high-profile platforms there is.
And some of these people are rightly concerned about what the chaos that began in late October of 2022 means for the site. ToughPigs, a Muppet fan site, mentioned how Twitter brought them together with a whole bunch of other Muppet fans they might not otherwise have met, and mourn the possible loss of what they’ve built there. So in a recent post (linked in the previous sentence), they discuss the possible demise of Twitter and mention their other social media presences on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, in order so that they can keep their connections to the greater Muppet fan community.
A lot of communities of fans will be affected should Twitter fall apart. And many small businesses are also concerned as well. While the big corporations will be fine regardless of what happens to Twitter, the smaller businesses who relied heavily on Twitter are now wondering what their options are should Twitter no longer be a viable platform for them.
So while I’ve never been on Twitter, I can still empathize with all these people. I’ve had similar experiences in my online life.
I’ve been a part of many Internet communities, and seen online projects go down before. I’ve seen the end of Prodigy Classic and a few hobby BBS boards. I’ve seen popular web sites go down or change dramatically to where they’re no longer recognizable. I’ve seen the end of the Livejournal and MySpace eras. I’ve seen some MUDs (or incarnations of the same MUD) come and go.
It’s always sad when a site or whatever hosting an Internet community — or several Internet communities — goes down. There’s always the uncertainty, the separation anxiety, and the sadness that something that was a large portion of your life is now coming to an end. If you’re lucky, you get plenty of advance warning that it’s about to happen: Enough to recommend new online hangouts for your friends and everyone else in your favorite communities, and enough time to have other places set up long before the lights are finally turned out at the previous site.
But still, it’s the end of something. So really, while one may have issues with the way Twitter is currently being run (or the way it has been run in the past), one should never lose site of the fact that people still bonded there, formed communities, and used its powers for good. These people are caught in the middle of this chaos, and didn’t ask for any of this. So don’t be so quick to gravedance on Twitter – there are plenty of people negatively affected by this who are not in a celebrating mood.
All that being said, the question is: Is Twitter shutting down? Will Twitter still be around a year after I post this blog?
My guess it that it probably will, though it’ll probably be a shell of its former self. Even if people are put in charge who know what they’re doing, the damage has already been done. Credibility lost in the manner it has this past month can’t be easily regained. Many people are already setting up new accounts on Mastodon, and/or giving Tumblr another try or a first try, or strengthening their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube presences. Though many will still be on Twitter just to wait and see if it manages to make it through the current storm, they know that it’s best not to keep all their eggs in one basket.
The other question is: If Twitter does go down (or at the very least declines to the point where while it’s still technically around, it’s no longer considered as viable as it was before), what other platforms will rise to take its place? That’s a question I don’t think any of us can really answer at this point. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But in any case, it does feel like the end of an era. And it’s perfectly all right for people to feel a bit sad about it.
I think I’ve said all I have to say about this for now. If you have any thoughts about your relationship with Twitter, feel free to leave your comments. All I ask is that you be civil.
by Chris Lang
My favorite scary WWE entrance themes
October 5, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries, Lists
Say what you will about the WWE, but one thing WWE definitely got right is the entrance music. Who can forget the sound of shattering glass at the start of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance, Motorhead’s ‘Time to Play the Game’ when Triple H arrived, Shawn Michaels’ ‘Sexy Boy’, or the car wreck sounds that began Mick Foley’s entrance as Mankind 2.0 and Commissioner Foley?
WWE music captures a wide variety of moods, from the loud and arrogant (“I Came To Play”, by Downstait for the Miz’s entrance) to the upbeat (“Let’s Light it Up”, by Kari Kimmel) to various “I Am” songs (“The Time is Now”, John Cena’s entrance music).
There are also the darker, more brooding, and sometimes downright scary entrance musics. These are the ones that bring chills to fans watching live in the arena, or watching at home, or maybe listening out of context via CDs, playlists, and so on. WWE has had a number of scary, spooky, or unsettling characters throughout the years, from the Undertaker to the Boogeyman to Bray Wyatt, and more. And WWE’s music department pretty much nailed it when it came to music that enhanced the spooky nature of these characters.
So here are some of my favorite WWE scary entrance musics. Many of which still bring me chills even long after the wrestlers who originally used them have retired, retired these particular gimmicks, or otherwise vanished from the wrestling scene.
I’m listing them in no particular order. But be advised – there’s some delightfully scary stuff here that you might not want to listen to alone and in the dark. Just perfect for Halloween.
Gangrel/The Brood (Attitude Era)
This music is the entrance music of the vampire-themed Gangrel, and the Brood. Gangrel would make his entrance ascending from a ring of fire on the stage near the entrance to this music, in a darkened arena. The music is an unsettling techno track, with scary whispers at various moments. “Blood…”, it sounds like at certain points.
It’s certainly creepy to listen to, both in a darkened arena and at home. It’d be right at home in a ‘Blade’ movie. Gangrel more or less faded into obscurity, and the Brood (Edge and Christian) went on to bigger and better (and less Gothic/vampiric) things, but this track continues to haunt me years later.
Evil Clown Doink – Evil Behind the Makeup
Doink the Clown is a character that’s basically wrestling’s equivalent to Bozo, in the sense that he’s been franchised out and played by a number of different actors. When appearing as a face, his music is more or less the standard circus calliope music. But as a heel, it’s a different story.
Doink’s heel persona is that of the evil clown, inspired by the Joker or Pennywise the clown from Stephen King’s It. This music reflects this, as cheerful circus music gives way to dark, scary, music punctuated at times with chilling, maniacal laughter. If anything, this music is even scarier listening to it at home than it is in a wrestling arena. It’d be right at home in a horror movie, or a horror video game.
Sycho Sid – Snap
When the wrestler Sid Vicious joined the WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation), WWE chose not to use that name, so as to avoid confusion with the famous rock musician of the same name. As a face, he was known as Sid Justice, but when he became a monster, scary heel, he was Sycho Sid. This music is, of course, for his dangerous heel persona.
The music is, at times, reminiscent of a certain shower scene, but this gives the impression of someone wanting to take his mayhem just about anywhere. This version contains ominous whispers, including mention of his finishing move, the powerbomb, and gives the impression he’s going to use that move on everyone in sight. It makes him sound definitely like the sort of person you’d be walking on eggshells around, and want to avoid as much as possible.
Kane – The Fire – 1997
This is the first theme music for Kane, the Undertaker’s half-brother who (according to the gimmick’s story) was badly burned as a child, and since then has had an unhealthy obsession with fire. The chilling opening notes of this music play when he makes his entrance, and also when he lays out an opponent in the ring. The music continues with a (dare I say it) burning intensity, bringing the mood of a terrifying, destructive force of nature.
Mankind – Ode to Freud
Mick Foley of course is known as a ‘hardcore legend’, and he wrestled under several different personas. One was the hippie Dude Love. The other was the barbed wire bat-wielding, pain-loving, pain-inflicting Cactus Jack. And another was Mankind, who had two different sub-personas. Mankind 2.0 (as I call him) was a sort of lovable disheveled goofball with his sidekick Mr. Socko, but his predecessor, Mankind 1.0 was a deranged mental patient who wore a mask much like Hannibal Lecter, and who ranted madly about the world and his suffering. He would say things like “I don’t suffer from insanity – I ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!”
According to Mick Foley’s book, Have a Nice Day, Foley himself came up with much of the concept for Mankind after it became clear WWE would like him playing a different character than Cactus Jack. The character the WWE came up with was depressingly generic and one-dimensional, so Foley suggested a whole bunch of improvements. Including the crazy personality, and the name ‘Mankind’, so that when he ranted about the madness of mankind, you would wonder whether he’s talking about his own insanity or making an indictment of humanity. It was also Foley’s idea that Mankind would have two musics, one for his entrance and the second for his exit.
The compilation version of the two music tracks for the original Mankind 1.0 persona is titled ‘Ode to Freud’ (implying that psychological analysts would find this character to be a very fascinating study), and includes some of Mankind’s crazy rants. The first half is dark, ominous music, as if you are being introduced to that shady disreputable asylum on the hill. The second half, starting at the 1:54 mark, takes a turn into a subtly disturbing piano track. Words can’t do justice to how bizarre and unsettling this one is.
The Undertaker – Graveyard Symphony V2
No list of spooky WWE entrance music themes would be complete without at least one entrance music from the Undertaker. And Graveyard Symphony, in its many variations, never fails to bring a chill to one’s spine. The tolling of the bells, combined with an homage to classical funeral marches, calls to mind mortality and impermanence. The added storm sound effects in V2 add to the eerie atmosphere, and bring a sense of a weakening of the barrier between this world and the next, and unknown (and possibly unknowable) forces stirring.
It’s an iconic entrance theme for one of the WWE’s most iconic superstars.
And that’s my list of my favorite scary WWE entrance music. Sadly, the Boogeyman’s entrance music and the Ministry of Darkness music didn’t make it onto this list, as I didn’t think those tracks were quite as scary as the ones that did make the list. They do get honorable mention status, though. As does Bray Wyatt’s ‘Live in Fear’, and The Fiend’s entrance music.
All in all, these tracks are great for listening to this Halloween season to get you in the right mood. Are there any scary ones I forgot to mention even in the honorable mentions? Let me know in the comments.
by Chris Lang
Chris’s Top 6 Comic Book Writers (2022 edition)
August 20, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries, Lists
Back in 2014, I posted a list of my top 6 Comic Book Writers. I’ve edited it a bit, but all in all I think it’s aged pretty well. So here it is again.
A while ago, richb posted a list of his Top 5 Favorite Comic Book Writers. I thought I’d do something similiar, using writers who didn’t make richb’s list. Don’t get me wrong — I like many of the writers richb listed, too, but I don’t want any overlap between the lists.
Okay, so let’s begin. Here’s my Top 6 list of writers whose work in comic books still ranks highly among my favorites.
6. Tom Defalco
When Tom Defalco is at the top of his game, the stories he produces are entertaining, fun, and enjoyable for comic book readers of all ages. At his best, he manages to provide a good balance of characterization and action.
My particular favorite works of his are Spider-Man in the late 80’s-early 90’s, and of course Spider-Girl, a series that not only kept my Spider-interest going long after the main 616 Spider-Man titles had their Dethroning Moment of Suck (nearly a decade before ‘One More Day’, I might add), but is a refreshing change from all the dark, morose, grimdark comic books of the past decade or so. Tom Defalco has even said that we need more fun comics, as opposed to the dark and moody comic books that mainstream DC and Marvel had been throwing at us during the 90s and the 2000s. It’s a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.
5. Chris Claremont
Chris Claremont is, of course, the writer who breathed new life into the X-Men, and had one of the longest runs of any writer, writing from 1979 to 1991. His strong, character-driven work on the X-Men in the 80’s, featuring classics like the Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past, turned the X-Men from a forgettable team book into one of the most successful Marvel franchises around. Granted, in the late 80’s, his work on the books was subjected to more Executive Meddling due to the franchise’s success, but all in all the 80’s X-books, I’d say, still hold up very well today. One of the most notable qualities of his work is a reliance on strong female characters — the women in the books, such as Storm, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Rachel Summers, Rogue, and even non-powered supporting characters such as Stevie Hunter and Moira MacTaggert — can definitely hold their own alongside the males. (Jonathan Hickman later retconned Moira to be a closet mutant at the start of the Krakoa era, but that doesn’t count as far as this post is concerned).
Claremont’s work with the X-Men had them dealing with anti-mutant prejudice, antagonists who wished to exploit mutants, and of course various incarnations of the Brotherhood of so-called evil Mutants. But while later writers would get stuck in a rut dealing with the above over and over again, Claremont also had the X-Men and the New Mutant face off against demons, aliens, and other threats not directly related to human-mutant relations.
Claremont also wasn’t afraid of the occasional change of pace story, such as where Kitty Pryde whimsically told a story of an alternate universe version of herself called Pirate Kitty, who along with Pirate Colossus stole from various bad guys, and encountered bizarre fairy tale counterparts of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Professor Xavier in the memorable ‘Kitty’s Fairy Tale’.
Claremont would sometimes rely on a few tropes that became tired with repetition, and be a bit over-expository sometimes, but all in all his work on the X-Men helped define them and made them into the big success they were in the 80’s and 90s’.
4. Dan Slott
Dan Slott is also a writer who believes that comic books, as a medium, shouldn’t take themselves TOO seriously. He of course is the writer of the Great Lakes Avengers/Great Lakes X-Men/Great Lakes Initiative mini-series and specials, spotlighting a team of misfit super-heroes and their adventures. He also had a run on She-Hulk spotlighting Jennifer Walters (aka the She-Hulk) as a lawyer for a law firm dealing in cases involving superhumans/meta-humans. Both of those titles gave us wonderful bits of comedy and satire, with a lot of barbs directed at ‘event comics’, comic book writers, and continuity-obsessed comic book readers. But somehow, he also manages to tell stories that are entertaining enough on their own even if you’re not a big comic book fan. Even if you don’t get all the jokes, I think you’ll still find the above mentioned series fun and entertaining.
3. Grant Morrison
While Morrison’s X-Men run had both its good points and its bad points (and that’s a discussion for an entirely different blog entry), they’re still one of the most Genre Savvy writers in comic books, and it shows in their work. One of Grant Morrison’s critically-acclaimed works is All-Star Superman, a book that is considered one of the best Superman stories to come out within the past decade or so.
Skilled at not just Deconstruction, but Reconstruction, Morrison is a big fan of earlier, less cynical eras of comic books. Grant Morrison also had a highly regarded run on Animal Man, which concludes with a storyline where the title character, in search of meaning behind the recent events of his life, finds himself first meeting characters who’d been retconned out of the DC universe due to reboots and retcons. From there, Animal Man finds himself in Comic Book Limbo, which is portrayed as a sort of Island of Misfit Toys where forgotten comic book characters deemed too silly or too weird to fit in with modern comic books are sent. It all culminates in one of the best ‘protagonist meets writer’ moments I have ever seen in any medium.
2. Mark Waid
Mark Waid is another comic book writer who believes that comic book storytelling can be dramatic without sacrificing the fun, the optimism, and the sense of wonder. He’s had a number of great runs on The Flash, Justice League, and Fantastic Four that keep hope and optimism intact while other comic books at the time were trying to be as dark and depressing as possible.
However, probably one of the best works Mark Waid has done is Kingdom Come with Alex Ross. One of the best Elseworlds stories ever written, Kingdom Come succeeds not only as a Deconstruction of the Nineties Anti-Hero, but as a strong story on its own about power and responsibility. While the scenario initially seems dark and dystopic, the ending is more optimistic than one might expect.
1. Gail Simone
Gail Simone is another writer who fits the trend on this list of writers who don’t believe that fun is bad for comics. Like many of the writers on this list, she strikes a good balance between the lighter and darker elements of comic books. She knows when to be funny and when to be serious, and nearly all of her works are strongly character-driven. Her Birds of Prey run is among my favorite comic book runs (up until Executive Meddling reared its ugly head and had Black Canary taken out of the book, but that’s a rant for another day), and she’s also written Secret Six, one of the most interesting villain-focused series produced in recent years. And of course, as someone who (even before she started writing for comics professionally) is well-known for being a strong proponent of well-written female characters in comic books, you’ll certainly see plenty of that in her works. All in all, I’d say her writing is well-worth reading.
I will add, of course, that the exact numbering DOES jump around in my head, as I’m terrible at ‘ranking’ stuff (hence why I haven’t done many of these ‘list’ articles). But all in all, these are the six comic book writers that come to mind when listing favorites that weren’t on richb’s list. Honorable mentions go to Marv Wolfman, Mike W. Barr, and Alan Moore, who made richb’s list.
Anyway, feel free to leave your comments and give your own thoughts and musings.
Categories: Chris Langs Commentaries, Comic Books, Top Lists
This article received the following comments.
BigBlackHatMan
12:55 PM on March 30, 2014
Mignola is still a favorite of mine, but these are all quality writers. Good work
Infamous Jak
11:52 AM on March 30, 2014
All excellent writers. Good pick my friend.
T-kun Unusual Wordsmith III
11:13 AM on March 30, 2014
I believe a good amount of my childhood is in this list, so how I not like this list. A good amount of love in this, and brings an shine of gems through all the writers of comics come by through the years. Thumbs up on this!
richb
10:57 AM on March 30, 2014
Great list my friend
by Chris Lang
Big Lipped Alligator Moment: Revisiting the Trope Namer
August 19, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
The term ‘Big Lipped Alligator Moment’ is also known by a few other names on some of the trope wikis, but it’s still a well-known meme from the 2010s, so I’ll discuss the movie and the scene that gave the trope its name.
Okay, at the end of my WIJDW (Why It Just Doesn’t Work) column on Superman III, I stated that I would do a later WIJDW column on a certain scene from All Dogs Go To Heaven. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure whether or not I can truly say that what I’m discussing ‘just doesn’t work’.
I might as well start by describing the plot and setting of All Dogs Go To Heaven. Directed by Don Bluth, this 1989 animated feature is the story of a bunch of gambling dogs. Charlie Barkin, his best friend Itchy, and his former partner turned enemy Carface (as well as most of the minor and supporting characters) are all dogs who run gambling operations in junkyards.
Carface wants Charlie’s half of the business, so he arranges for a runaway car to hit Charlie and kill him. Charlie finds himself at the gates of Heaven, despite his roguish gambling ways, because (as the title says) all dogs go to heaven. Charlie, however, decides that heaven can wait, and (against the warnings of the angel) grabs the stopped watch that represents his life and starts it up again. So Charlie ends up back on Earth, eager to get revenge on Carface.
by Chris Lang
More on the revamped Manic Expression site (August 17, 2022)
August 17, 2022 in Site Policy
As James has let many of you know, I’ve basically spearheaded the makeover of this site. I figured, given James promoting the new era of Manic Expression with his announcement about the YouTube channel last month, that the site needed a fresh coat of paint and some more polish to go with it.
So I looked through the themes, and found ChromeNews, which looks like a more modern version of the Newsup theme Manic Expression has been using since the end of August 2020. I’ve been experimenting with a few widgets and plugins, and have responded to the comments in my previous survey post.
In response to feedback, the floating social media buttons that floated down the page have been disabled. They won’t be coming back under my watch. If someone re-enables them, it won’t be me. I found them pretty annoying myself, but once I found a better way of presenting social media links, I ditched them and went with the better way.
Said better way is social media link buttons on the top bar of the main site (the same one that contains the date and time), as well as social media links at the footer (bottom of the page). In addition, all blog posts now have social media share and follow links, so you can share posts on Facebook and Twitter (and maybe Pinterest), as well as check the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok pages of Manic Expression by following the ‘follow’ links.
If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or whatever, feel free to ask me or James. We’d love further input on what would be great for the site.
One more thing: If the demotivational poster saying “PHOOEY!” to the Inuyasha-Kagome relationship turns up at the bottom of this post between the last paragraph and the comments, I feel I should add this disclaimer for all Inuyasha-Kagome shippers out there: The views expressed by the creator of the demotivational poster are those of said creator, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Manic Expression community as a whole. Everyone is free to have their own opinions as to whether they like or dislike this character pairing from a popular anime/manga.
by Chris Lang
Manic Expression Theme Survey: Newsup, ChromeNews, or Whatever?
August 16, 2022 in Site Policy
As you may have noticed, a new theme has been installed for the site. ChromeNews seems to have more bells and whistles than Newsup, the theme Manic Expression has been using since late August of 2020.
Among other things ChromeNews has that Newsup seems to lack are dark mode, greater customization (authors can customize where or whether the sidebars appear in their posts), and multi-author post support (thanks to a plugin). It also has a somewhat more modern look than Newsup.
Newsup has its old-style charm, though. It’s pretty simple and easy, though it lacks some features like ‘dark mode’.
However, I’d like to give a survey to everyone. Which theme do you prefer?
A. Newsup – I liked the old theme
B. Chromenews – It looks better, has dark mode and other cool features
C. Some other theme
D. Either way is fine with me, I’m not all that interested.
by Chris Lang
WIJDW: Feature-length Dr. Seuss Adaptations (2022 edition)
August 15, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
On February 8, 2013, I wrote a ‘Why It Just Doesn’t Work’ blog post about why feature-length Dr. Seuss adaptations just don’t work. Nearly a decade later, I’ve updated this post a bit, but I still stand by what I say here. Read on to find out why.
WIJDW: Dr. Seuss feature-length adaptations
Posted by Chris Lang on February 8, 2013 at 11:50 AM
Welcome to Why It Just Doesn’t Work (WIJDW) where I analyze scenes from movies, comic books, and other entertainments and explain why they are illogical, out of place, and/or just … don’t work.
This column is a bit different. Rather than focusing on just one movie in particular, I’m going to be focusing on the cinematic adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ classic books.
Dr. Seuss was one of the most brilliant writers of children’s literature ever, producing several works that are enjoyed on many levels by children and adults alike. His works are full of whimsy, imagination, and sometimes bizarre names for the people, places, and things. But amidst all the whimsy, Dr. Seuss also told some fascinating stories with good morals to them. ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ tells us that there’s more to Christmas than presents, feasts, decorations, and noisy parties. ‘The Sneeches’ exposes the absurdity of discrimination, and ‘The Lorax’ has a rather obvious environmental message.
With all this in mind, I suppose it’s not surprising that some of Dr. Seuss’ works have been adapted to the big screen. We’ve had a live-action version of ‘The Grinch’ featuring Jim Carrey, and a live-action version of ‘The Cat In The Hat’ featuring Mike Myers. And in 2012, we had a full-length CG animated ‘The Lorax’. These adaptations have received mixed reviews at best. And as of this writing, I don’t remember anyone having anything good to say about the Mike Myers ‘The Cat in the Hat’ movie.
‘The Cat in the Hat’ film, in particular, had everything that was wrong with ‘The Grinch’ movie: Not only was there a lot of expansion that detracted from the original story, but there was also an abundance of crude or vulgar humor that seemed only there so that the filmmakers could Avoid The Dreaded “G” Rating. In fact, Dr. Seuss’ widow hated ‘The Cat In The Hat’ movie so much that she forbade any more live-action adaptations.
This has not, however, prevented further feature-length animated adaptations, such as the 2012 ‘Lorax’ film and another version of ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ (also titled ‘The Grinch’) by Illumination in 2018. And as of this edit (November 14, 2026) we now have a feature-length animated version of “The Cat in the Hat” by Warner Bros. Animation.
However, the one problem all of the above-mentioned Dr. Seuss adaptations share is that they are trying to tell stories that can be told in thirty minutes. The original books are not very long at all. They’re thirty pages or less.
Back in the 60’s and early 70’s, animated adaptations of several of Dr. Seuss’ books were made, and unless I’m mistaken, none of them went over 25 to 30 minutes. Even then, some expansion and addition had to be added to fill in the time.
Probably the best-known of these adaptations is the Chuck Jones-directed animated special of ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. Narrated by Boris Karloff, the special is very faithful to the original story, which is not surprising since Dr. Seuss himself collaborated with Chuck Jones in the making of it.
However, to fill time, there are a number of sections added. The Grinch’s speech describing the noisy Christmas parties of the Whos goes into far greater detail than the original version, naming the various toys and musical instruments and party items and showing how the resulting noise drives the Grinch mad. The sled ride into town is also longer, with some added slapstick. And of course, we have a lengthy montage of the Grinch stealing from the Whos’ houses, accompanied by the most popular The Villain Sucks Song ever, ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’.
Moving on, we have the animated adaptation of ‘The Lorax’. Again, we have a thirty-minute (or less) adaptation that’s faithful to the original, but with some expansion. In ‘The Lorax’, a number of songs are added to fill the time without detracting from the original’s story or morals. The Barbaloots (the playful ape-like beings) have two songs: First, there’s the joyful ‘Under the Trees’ while they play their games under the Truffula trees, and second is the dirgelike ‘Barbaloot Suits’ as they prepare to leave what is now a barren wasteland.
We also get ‘A Fish Out of Water On Hot Dry Land’ where the fish evacuate their polluted waters and head off in search of cleaner water (and this isn’t a stretch. There are some species of fish that can do this). And then the Onceler (the big businessman behind the Thneeds business that devastates the Truffula tree forest) gets a song ‘Once in A While I Sit Down With Myself’ where he has an internal dialogue without the audience ever seeing his face. There’s also some montages of the rise and eventual fall of the Onceler’s business.
The original animated adaptation of ‘The Cat in the Hat’ probably has the most expanded material, but that’s mostly because ‘The Cat In The Hat’ isn’t as strong on story as ‘Grinch’ and ‘Lorax’. The story is just ‘an unusual character visits a bored boy and girl, makes a mess of the house, cleans up after himself, and leaves’. So of course there’s plenty of new material here.
There’s the search for the Cat’s missing Three Handled Family Gradunza (just what a gradunza is isn’t explained until the end, when it’s revealed that it’s the vehicle the Cat uses to clean up everything and leave the premises with). There are also a number of songs added, most notably ‘A Cat of Many Countries (A Cat of Many Hats)’ where the Cat goes into what he and his hat are called in other languages, and ‘To Find the Missing Something Find Out Where It’s Not’ (connected to the search for the gradunza).
All these additions work, for the most part, because they’re true to the world and characters of the story, and they don’t distract too much from either. And because all of those adaptations are only thirty minutes.
However, when you try to adapt material like ‘Grinch’, ‘Lorax’, and ‘The Cat in the Hat’ to feature-length (90 minutes or more), you run into a problem. There’s just not enough material to make a full-length movie, so inevitably one has to add a LOT of things that were not in the source material.
So of course it’s not surprising that the Jim Carrey ‘Grinch’ movie, the Mike Myers ‘Cat in the Hat’ movie, the 2012 ‘Lorax’ movie (and the 2026 Cat in the Hat movie, among others) added many characters, subplots, and backstories that were nowhere to be found in the originals. The problem is, all these things end up distracting and detracting from the original stories. We get new antagonists that didn’t exist in the originals, backstories that might go against Dr. Seuss’ original intentions (especially in ‘The Grinch’), and some rather bizarre characterizations that clash with Dr. Seuss’s original version. (Making the Whos materialistic in the Jim Carrey version and having to also learn the lesson just isn’t as powerful as the original version and the Chuck Jones adaptation where the Grinch is the only one who doesn’t understand what Christmas is about and ends up having his heart ‘grow three sizes that day’ when he figures it out).
The thirty-minute adaptations stayed true to the original stories because not only were the additions true to the original stories and characters, but they also did not have to add too much. When going for 90 minutes, one ends up having to add so much that what’s added almost inevitably distracts from the original story, and ends up almost telling a different story altogether.
So for me, anyway, that is why doing feature-length adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ classics just doesn’t work.
As always, feel free to leave your comments below.
Comments from previous posting of this blog post included the following:
mraspiringactor
01:15 PM on February 08, 2013 Pretty much agreed on this!
Just out of curiosity, what did you think of Horton considering you never mentioned it in the article?
Ratin8tor
05:37 PM on February 08, 2013 I can say one good thing about The Cat in the Hat movie: It’s a really good movie…
… IF it was about an original IP. Had it not been named after the book, I think the movie would have been a whole lot better in the long run, since it’s not spoiling a classic.
But I still find the movie genuinally funny. I liked it’s oddball sense of humour and surrealist worldview. And I think it does work well as a movie, just not an adaption.
But a looooot of Suess’ stuff had political messages lost today. I mean Horton was all about America looking after Japan after the war. But that cultural example is lost on today’s audience.
Chris Lang
01:18 PM on February 08, 2013
mraspiringactor says…
Pretty much agreed on this!
Just out of curiosity, what did you think of Horton considering you never mentioned it in the article?
I didn’t mention Horton because believe it or not, I’m not all that familiar with the original Dr. Seuss story, and haven’t seen enough of it or the adaptations to comment on it. The stories I DID mention, however, are ones I’m very familiar with.
mraspiringactor
01:54 PM on February 08, 2013
Chris Lang says…
I didn’t mention Horton because believe it or not, I’m not all that familiar with the original Dr. Seuss story, and haven’t seen enough of it or the adaptations to comment on it. The stories I DID mention, however, are ones I’m very familiar with.
Oh OK.
Reply
BigBlackHatMan
01:22 PM on February 08, 2013 It runs into the problem of turning any poetry, which is what I consider Seuss, into a film. You lose the whimsy and charm of it in my cases. Good work
Infamous Jak
12:40 PM on February 08, 2013 Yeah, I just did a blog on this, and came to the same conclusion, the reason they don’t work is that there is no way to turn a 20 page kids book into a 90 minute film without it feeling padded and streched out. Good work on this article.
Reply
Moviefan12
12:04 PM on February 08, 2013 I completely agree with you that Seuss films do not work. One thing I’ve noticed with most of them is lack the spirit & charm of Seuss.
Anakin
01:43 PM on February 08, 2013
Chris Lang says…
I didn’t mention Horton because believe it or not, I’m not all that familiar with the original Dr. Seuss story, and haven’t seen enough of it or the adaptations to comment on it. The stories I DID mention, however, are ones I’m very familiar with.
It’s funny, because Horton Hears a Who-the book, cartoon and the full-length CGI adaptation have a definite story that has characters, story arcs and room to flesh out environments and the characters, themselves. In other words, it’s the only CGI adaptation that justified itself for being a full-length feature. There are some parts to it that weren’t needed, or just plain silly fluff filler, but most of it was well done. Give this story a shot, my friend. You might just be surprised. Peace.
From Facebook
Angelo Misseri
I’d disagree on the two Grinches and Cat in the hat.
The two grinches are by no means perfect but I enjoy some of the stuff they do, though I think the anxiety angle of the Illumantion one is more interesting while the 2000 film is more entertainment.
Cat in the Hat is a trainwreck and I love it.
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11m
Chris Lang
Well, I do know some people actually like the Jim Carrey Grinch movie, but it had so many unnecessary additions. And neither it nor the Cat in the Hat movie needed the crude bodily function humor that was so beneath Dr. Seuss. The Lorax (as I said) tried to be both an adaptation and a sequel to Dr. Seuss’ book, and didn’t really succeed with either. All in all, I still prefer the 25 minute animated adaptations to the attempt to drag them out to feature-length.
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Angelo Misseri
Chris Lang Lorax is insulting. It reads like they screwed up the Oncler so bad in the script to try and make him sympathetic and instead had to then create another corporate shill to try and get back on message.
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Chris Lang
Angelo Misseri The Onceler, in the original book (and in the original animated adaptation) was a guy whose face we never see, but is an important character nonetheless. He is blinded by the need to expand his Thneed business to the point that he only sees the error of his ways when his business cuts down Truffula trees too quickly.
And since Thneeds are made from Truffula trees and can’t be made unless there’s plenty of Truffula trees to spare, his business goes under, everyone leaves, and he’s left all alone in the ruins telling the story to a visitor curious enough to wonder just what went wrong. The original book did a great job of illustrating how short-sighted these big business types are, and how they only realize their mistakes once it actually hurts their business.
Angelo Misseri
I always found the Oncler worked as the faceless personification of corporate greed and ignorance. That the short term goal to line ones pockets can leave to a debilitating impact. Which I feel like the writers did acheive but then it curves into the family angle which gives credence to the idea that the Oncler is meant to be tragic because he did whatever his overbearing Ma asked of him. What I think the writers failed to grasp was it comes off like they write an excuse to have the audience forgive the Oncler for his short comings and that’s not really the point to him in the story.
Chris Lang
Indeed. The Onceler’s family joined in the business, but they really weren’t that big a factor in the story. In the end, the Onceler (in the original story) only had to blame himself for his own shortsightedness once he realized the Lorax was right all along. The feature-length movie missed the point entirely.
So those are some of the comments from previous postings and from Facebook, and some discussions on the movies. Have any further comments? Feel free to leave them below.
by Chris Lang
Fanfic Subgenres: High School Alternate Universe
August 5, 2022 in Blogs, Chris Lang's Commentaries
Hello and welcome to Fanfic Subgenres, where I discuss common subgenres of fan fiction, and then see where they apply in professionally-produced works.
Today I’ll take a look at a subgenre of a subgenre, namely the High School Alternate Universe. The Alternate Universe fic subgenre has many sub-subgenres (for lack of a better phrase) and the High School AU is one of them. (Of course technically all fan fiction is set in an alternate universe seeing as it’s not canon, but that’s something I’ll discuss in more detail some other time).
The High School Alternate Universe is pretty much what you’d expect. It’s an alternate universe where the main characters of a series are in high school. In fan fiction, it’s been done with almost every franchise. Lord of the Rings, Legend of Zelda, Star Wars … just about any series you can name.
by Chris Lang
Fanfic Subgenres: Self Insertion and Mary Sue
July 4, 2025 in Chris Lang's Commentaries
Hello and welcome to Fanfic Subgenres, where I take a look at subgenres of fan fiction, and then find examples of those subgenres in professionally-produced works.
This time, I’ll be taking a look at Self Insertion Fics and the character type known as the Mary Sue.
Self Insertion is pretty much what you expect. It’s where the author puts himself/herself into the story. They somehow find their way to the setting of a movie, video game, TV show, anime, or whatever, and interact with the characters.
Read the rest of this entry →
Tags: Fanfic Subgenres, Mary Sue, milla jovovich, Paul W.S. Anderson, Resident Evil, Sienna Guillory No Comments »