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commercialism nausea
Aug. 27th, 2003 12:34 pmWhy companies feel the need to create crappy merchandise for every little damned thing I shall never understand. Ok... well, it's for money, obviously. But I don't understand why people buy it. Here, in public for all to see, is my case against fandom commercialism.
Item 1: The infamous Kia/Lord of the Rings tie-in commercials and deals. Why this is insane: I know I sound like a fool, here, but Tolkien would have gone into a towering fury if he'd lived to see the day that this happened. The man was violently anti-automobile. Any fool who's seen the movie can see aspects of this hatred (*coughs*-Isengard-*coughs*), but it went far beyond that. I know we can't expect New Line to take this into consideration, but I would expect that his estate might have a bit more concern for what his wishes would have been.
Item 2: The abominable action figures. I know a lot of people like action figures. I don't mind this. In fact, some of them are quite nice and well-done. It's the ones that *aren't* well-done that bother me. The ones that, upon looking at them, I can only guess who they must be intended to portray, using the process of elimination and broad (very broad) caricature. And I'm not even going to talk about "Invisibility Cloak Harry." Why not just sell an empty box?
Item 3: Horribly ugly talking plush Gollum. I'm not kidding. It's right here if you really want to see it. I'm thoroughly appalled.
Item 4: Alas... of course Mattel would want to horn in on all this action. But *must* they make "a collectible Barbie and Ken gift set, in the guise of wedding dolls"--a wedding pair the identity of which which I'm sure all those who've read Return of the King???
Needless to say, I shall be avoiding toy stores this fall. I'm just going to pretend these things don't exist, I think. I'm sure the madness that brought us Bloated!Pregnant!Snape is far from finished yet........
Item 1: The infamous Kia/Lord of the Rings tie-in commercials and deals. Why this is insane: I know I sound like a fool, here, but Tolkien would have gone into a towering fury if he'd lived to see the day that this happened. The man was violently anti-automobile. Any fool who's seen the movie can see aspects of this hatred (*coughs*-Isengard-*coughs*), but it went far beyond that. I know we can't expect New Line to take this into consideration, but I would expect that his estate might have a bit more concern for what his wishes would have been.
Item 2: The abominable action figures. I know a lot of people like action figures. I don't mind this. In fact, some of them are quite nice and well-done. It's the ones that *aren't* well-done that bother me. The ones that, upon looking at them, I can only guess who they must be intended to portray, using the process of elimination and broad (very broad) caricature. And I'm not even going to talk about "Invisibility Cloak Harry." Why not just sell an empty box?
Item 3: Horribly ugly talking plush Gollum. I'm not kidding. It's right here if you really want to see it. I'm thoroughly appalled.
Item 4: Alas... of course Mattel would want to horn in on all this action. But *must* they make "a collectible Barbie and Ken gift set, in the guise of wedding dolls"--a wedding pair the identity of which which I'm sure all those who've read Return of the King???
Needless to say, I shall be avoiding toy stores this fall. I'm just going to pretend these things don't exist, I think. I'm sure the madness that brought us Bloated!Pregnant!Snape is far from finished yet........
