Finally, we have those blue eyes us Conan fans have been waiting for. A shame his hair is still brown, Crom damn it. Dark brown, but still brown: unless there's some funky light refraction going on. I realise this is going to be as Howardian as Thundarr, but would it have killed them to give him hair "black as a raven's wing"?
Silly question, I know.
*Forgot to add, thanks to Stampfer for the news at the Robert E. Howard Forums.
Forget the color for a moment. The more pressing question is what's with the girly-wavey hair?
ReplyDeleteThe cities of the Hyborian Age were, obviously, infested with salons and cosmetologists thicker than fleas. Must have somehow missed that in my readings.
Tex
PS--Don't be dissin' Thundarr; he, at least, had a square-cut mane.
ya know tex.. some peoples hair does that naturally.. It's not always styled if its not razor straight.. and in fact if it is straight its more than likely styled.
ReplyDeleteWhat?!!! No square cut mane of black hair? Instead we get the singer of Def Leppard.
ReplyDeleteI guess I shouldn't be surprised. There isn't a literate person to be found in Hollywood these days.
Oh, far be it from me to diss Thundarr: just calling it as I see it. Thundarr's more Burroughsian than anything else, at least in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Fredrik Malmberg, they didn't go with the square-cut mane because it didn't look "cool." One wonders how many other aspects of Howard were jettisoned due to a perceived deficiency in coolness.
unfortunately, "Coolness" sells.. thats the only thing that, despite what we as Howard fans think.. they have to go on which we don't.. Focus Groups.
ReplyDeletethats why Chihuahuas peeing and humping couch cushions are more popular than talking robots.
Yeah, and that not growing a pair and stand up for what it is keeps them from being "cool". If a real Howard Conan were made, it'd be so terrific and so badass, people would follow suit. You'd see badass duded getting their hair cut like Conan.
ReplyDeleteIt dosen't matter how much We stand up for it.. unless you have invented a magical ray to get a bunch of REH fans on the focus panels for the studio which is paying for the REH adaptions.. no amount of bitching on the internet will ever help.
ReplyDeleteSure it'll help: it'll make us feel better!
ReplyDeleteBut still, I can't help but feel we make some sort of impact. Remember how Khalar Singh was changed to Khalar Zym after the talk of possible backlash from the Sikh community? Sure, they might've done that on their own, but maybe - just maybe...
If nothing else, our inability to change things doesn't mean we shouldn't be vigilant, and make sure everyone knows what's what. We might not get a Conan movie, but we can at least tell the internet why this isn't a Conan movie.
I agree with that entirely, I just don't want to see anyone getting upset when their completely justifiable rational for not liking it isn't heard.
ReplyDeleteA very good point. Ultimately, the problems with Conan's appearance - though important given Howard's worldbuilding - pale utterly in comparison to the problems with the film's script.
ReplyDeleteCase in point, I talked to Gudrun Giddings of Paradox at Howard Days (more on her in my report of Cross Plains), and she said that the rewrites have been substantial to the point where we simply couldn't use the leaked scripts as a basis anymore. While it would be great to believe that, as long as the plot synopsis reads as "The tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village," (taken from various sources) it simply isn't a Conan film.
The other problem is if we Howard fans make too much of a fuss about Conan's hair not being "quite right" we risk looking even more like insufferable nerds. I remember cringing when I saw Chris Pine's baby blue eyes for Star Trek, and lamenting the lack of eagle wings for the upcoming Captain America, but ultimately fans are going to complain about those elements no matter what.
It just makes our case look a little more difficult when people can easily lampoon as as complaining about minor details: "Oh, Conan's hair isn't the right style, WHAAAAA" and whatnot.