What's In A Title? A Lot!

 ICv2 - 'John Carter' Ad Trailer Released

The final dumb-down of the "John Carter of Mars" movie title has apparently occurred -the movie will simply be called, "John Carter", robbing it of any immediate genre recognition or inspiring any fantastic expectations based on the movie title alone. Ultimately it's just a stupid move that will effect the film's marketing power. Right now it sounds like a film about a lawyer or something: 'John Carter, the story about a man dedicated to preserving the judicial system of America at all cost.' Or 'John Carter -a trucker hellbent on making a name for himself on the road.' Just like the comic book industry, the film industry has been invaded by fanboy read/write/artist who are determined to fuck up anything they touch. A "read/write/artist" fanboy is the most destructive kind. Not like a regular fan, who only seeks to enjoy the product that professionals make, the fanboy read/write/artist believes he can create something great as well. Or at least get into the business he craves and control the output of it. These directionless morons come into immediate conflict with the professionals in the business (if they get within positions of power) and the result usually is the professional saying, "Fuck off an die." and quitting the company. Thus the fanboy read/writer/artist/ is free to put forth his mediocre (or lower) work as the new "standard". Hopefully the folks at Disney will wake up to the title dumb-down of calling a great sci-fi book series "John Carter" instead of the full blown credentials the series deserves, "John Carter of Mars". What's in a title? A lot! Here are a few other examples of title dumb-down and the effects they could have had on our expectations and enjoyment of a film, comic book, or other visual storytelling artistry: Space Wars: A New Hope (Star Wars: A New Hope) / The Computer Nightmare (The Matrix) / The Fantastic Three (The Fantastic Four). As you can see, the differences are minute but the effect is great. My suspicion is that the movie they made sucks so bad that they felt the need to be a bit awkwardly subliminal about the whole thing in order to get you to see it. Subliminal messages are just messages with hidden meanings in them. So by calling their awful movie 'John Carter' it SUGGEST the 'of Mars' part to your mind. Hahaha. Well, maybe that'll get me to walk like a zombie and go watch the thing. But it probably won't.