Comments on: Friday the 13th: What’s it all about, Jason?

By: marvinmartian

marvinmartian — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:52:09 +0000

I was writing about the Wolverine Origins game earlier and came to a similar conclusion. Jason and Logan have something in common.

They are brutal, unstoppable killing machines whose fanbase continually has to come up with traumatic backstories to explain their violence.

It’s total crap. Just enjoy the characters for the vicarious thrill that is there. Don’t get twisted in knots trying to come up with a moral explanation for what they do.

I tell ya…Steve Ditko wouldn’t put up with that crap.

By: buzz

buzz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:46:52 +0000

Joe England: "The hockey mask works because those simple black circles convey no emotion. If someone kills you because they’re angry, well, at least that’s understandable. True horror is when you are killed by something which simply does not care." Which is why Michael Myers is so effective in the HALLOWEEN movies. 'cuz he's wearing a William Shatner mask.

By: Justin Zyduck

Justin Zyduck — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:35:07 +0000

Oh, don’t get me wrong; I did say “He’s not a character, he’s a big scary guy who walks around killing whoever he comes upon.” He’s still able to *represent* something, though: that sort of senseless, finger-of-God, disproportionate punishment.

“There are thousands of people in the world having a carefree time with no consequence, but YOU are going to get bit in the ass for it.” *hack*

By: Ambrael

Ambrael — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:32:26 +0000

Gustopher, I don’t know why, but the alien eggs in the ship look like cargo to me, not a nest. The crashed ship just doesn’t have that Geiger look to it, in my opinion. I could be wrong.

And Justin, I get English majors. My sister is one. We spend hours watching bad SyFy movies and tearing them apart. There’s nothing wrong with analyzing it, I just think that you’re looking at it wrong to see Jason as a character, rather than a element of the setting. I think Friday the 13th is more of a haunted house story, than a psychotic killer story. Horribly bad things, often inexplicable, happen to anyone who ventures into the Crystal Lake area.

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:03:16 +0000

I’ve never liked these sorts of movies. And the fact that the kids who get high and have sex are the ones who die is one of the things that bother me. I’ve always been disturbed by superstitious morality, in which people who do ‘wrong’ are punished in some way which has no cause-and effect relationship with their offense.
And I don’t think it makes a lot of dramatic sense, either. Wouldn’t it be more terrifying if the victims were completely random and unpredictable?

By: Sofa King

Sofa King — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:41:00 +0000

Was I the only one rooting for Jason in Freedy vs. Jason? Somehow he was more sympathetic.

And the confusion comes from mistranslation. It’s actually the story of poor Yacob Vorstein, a sad fat Jewish kid sent to a fat camp and tormented by anti-semetic counselors and other kids. He was drowned when a pork chop hit his head while swimming. Now he roams the woods, seeking to keep all within it kosher. Or else.

By: Joe England

Joe England — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:36:19 +0000

It brings to mind a scary comic I once saw, one of those short stories in one of those anthology deals, like Creepy or Tales From the Spooky Place… I think it was British… anyway, “Bear-Bear.” It was about a new mother waking up one night and (spoilers!) finding a little teddy bear wandering the house. It’s clear that it’s making for her baby, so she tries to stop it and becomes seriously wounded because to touch the thing is death. And that’s what it is… infant death syndrome incarnate, pointless, unfeeling, horrific, the simple terrible unfairness of life, perfectly conveyed by its soulless black teddy-bear eyes. And I’d say there’s some of that in Jason.
He is the merciless dissatisfaction of a child, completely without empathy. Is there anything worse than a kid throwing a temper tantrum? Don’t we sometimes see a glimpse of something inhuman in a child’s displays of vindictiveness? Something we cover with adult civility, but which remains forever near the core of us. That’s why I rolled my eyes at Jason X. Because they changed his mask! They gave him angry eyes! Idiots…
The hockey mask works because those simple black circles convey no emotion. If someone kills you because they’re angry, well, at least that’s understandable. True horror is when you are killed by something which simply does not care.

By: MooseAlmighty

MooseAlmighty — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:31:56 +0000

I’m just impressed(?) you can sit through all those movies, much less try to write any justification for the character

John has it right. Just a nearly empty plot device to move along scenes of inventive gory deaths and some T&A.

By: Hour42

Hour42 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:27:00 +0000

That documentary on Jason couldn't have been any better than this one on Michael Myers ... er, were the latter even real, I mean.

By: gustopher

gustopher — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:55:44 +0000

“He’s sort of like the critters in Alien that way. (Seriously, what alien genius came up with the bright idea of shipping those things across the galaxy, especially in such large quantities? How does someone not know that is a Bad Idea?)”

I thought it was pretty clear that the dead alien in the first movie was just an innocent victim of the chest burster, and that the crew of the Nostramo was just the next bunch of idiots to have the same thing happen to them.

—

Also, Freddy as Fate works on so many levels. Often, the most dominant, controlling force in life is some idiot who hides behind a mask and does untold damage to everyone around him for some stupid reason that makes no sense to anyone but himself.

By: Justin Zyduck

Justin Zyduck — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:49:58 +0000

drmedula: Very much agree about Jason and Freddy being children’s characters for grownups. Freddy vs. Jason was basically a supervillain vs. supervillain movie (but I love it just the same).

Josh: Either that or they sprung for an amphibious cruise boat.

And for all y’alls who say movies like this shouldn’t be overanalyzed … dude, I graduated college with an English major. I have a DEGREE in overanalyzing things.

By: MrGale

MrGale — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:26:44 +0000

I am personally all for more “versus” movies. Aliens vs Predator didnt work, nor did Freddy vs Jason. I think its because they are not fighting ENOUGH people. Jason vs Aliens vs Mike Myers vs Predator vs Rocky vs Captain Haddock… now thats a surefire hit.

By: piranhtachew

piranhtachew — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:00:35 +0000

“It is very possible to analyze something to death.”

Ooooh, Now THAT would be a plot.

By: Ambrael

Ambrael — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:07:10 +0000

The best part of Jason is the lack of logic. It is very possible to analyze something to death.
Jason is scarier and cooler as an inexplicable and apparently unstoppable juggernaut. He’s sort of like the critters in Alien that way. (Seriously, what alien genius came up with the bright idea of shipping those things across the galaxy, especially in such large quantities? How does someone not know that is a Bad Idea?)
Just accept that Jason is more of a plot device than a character, and enjoy a bunch of high school stereotypes get filleted. I, for one, really don’t want twenty minutes of psycho analysis of my monsters to interfere with my movie.

By: Zifnab

Zifnab — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:47:42 +0000

Jason is Fate, Jason is Consequence, and those things do not really operate with any rhyme or reason.

When do we get to hear your pitch for the Jason meets Final Destination cross-over?

Also, keep in mind the original Friday the 13th didn’t even feature Jason. It featured Jason’s deranged mother. In that sense, it wasn’t about a conservative fate conspiring to murder liberal teenagers, but about a bunch of haves being executed by a crazed and jealous have-not.