Posted by
Green Faerie on Saturday, July 29, 2006 1:05:48 PM
Promoted as the biggest pop cultural fest in the world, Comic Con International is a big deal to comics geeks, Trek fans, Star Wars fans, t.v. fans, movie fans, video game fans, etc.. Over a hundred thousand people descended upon San Diego, CA last week for four days of craziness. Last weekend was the third Comic Con I've attended and it seems like it gets more popular every time. It's like you have three big holidays: Christmas, Easter, and Comic Con, or just "con" as the cool people like to call it.
There are many things I enjoy about Comic Con. For one thing, it's the one time where Hollywood comes to suck up to the people instead of Hollywood expecting the reverse. The big stars who come to promote their movies don't get a green room and a gift bag worth thousands of dollars. They actually have to respond to requests for hugs and even put up with criticism. Another thing I enjoy about it is people can relax and be themselves and not quite feel so out-of-place for having an obsession with something. Wearing costumes is encouraged. Die-hard collectors can find just about anything they're looking for, whether it's a new convention exclusive or a rare Golden Age comic book. It's exhausting fun.
Of course, there are massive crowds and some of my fellow geeks can be hygenically challenged. Standing in lines for exclusives or to pack into a room for a presentation can be a drag. But for a conservative, Comic Con presents some insights about what the entertainment industry and an "edge"-obsessed culture is attempting to dump on us, especially on the youth.
I'm not that easily offended. After 14 years of going to cons and comic book shops, I'm aware there's plenty of material that's not friendly toward Christianity or anything traditional for that matter. There are booths with Playboy models and there's sexually-explicit material for sale. I'm also aware the industry is full of liberals and far-leftists, as are many of the fans who come to these things. I recall in 2004, MoveOn.org was trying to register voters (presumably not Republican voters) outside of the convention center. There was a booth selling t-shirts and stickers with "Republicans For Voldemort" on them but alas, no "Democrats For Dolores" for sale (Harry Potter reference).
Nevertheless there were things that I saw and heard this year that disturbed me. I saw a few young men going around with black cloth masks wrapped around their faces and heads, exposing only their eyes. Were they supposed to be ninjas? I don't know, but they looked to me more the sort of things jihadists or anarchist black block types wear. Their ignorance disturbed and irritated me. How many Comic Cons has Osama bin Laden sponsored? And what's so heroic about a bunch of wimpy cowards who trash Starbucks?
I went and sat through a few panels put on by movie studios to promote their upcoming projects while waiting for the panel I really wanted to see (you have to get there early for a good seat). Fox did a promo for a comedy called Borat and showed a clip of two male characters wrestling in the nude and getting into all kinds of positions. There were profanities in the clip as well. This scene was disturbing enough for me to turn away from it, which was bad enough. But the worst thing is there were children in the audience. This was R, if not NC-17, rated material and there was no warning the clip was unsuitable for kids or anything. Earlier, there was violence and gore in a clip of a film called Pathfinder. A little bit later on during Universal's slot, there was a short appearance by the cast and producer of a comedy called Accepted. The producer said "shut the (f-bomb) up" repeatedly and a cast member said it once. Again, there were kids in the audience.
Not everything at Comic Con is unsuitable for kids. In fact every Sunday during the con is kids' day and they have promoted family-friendly movies like Narnia, Lord Of The Rings, or Star Wars. But the callous disregard for whether material's appropriate for a general audience was disturbing. It goes to show you what kind of people run the entertainment business and it shows you they'll cheerfully dish out filth and violence on the small fry any day of the week.