What kind of "fans" of Venom actually want a sequel film to be R-rated?
Here's a sugarcoated piece on Screen Rant about recent efforts to turn the notable supervillain from Spider-Man's world into a more profane one:
They're still not going all the way, as all the asterisks, strudels and ampersands make clear. So why does this dopey film site think it's such a big deal? Obscured raw profanity and vulgarity has long been a common approach since the Bronze Age, even when milder forms of profanity became more accepted and noticeable, and even then, it wasn't all that frequently you'd see the milder forms either.
In the months leading up to the Venom movies theatrical release in 2018, it seemed no one knew whether fans would get their wish of an R-rated Venom on the big screen. While fans may have been disappointed when the film would release under a PG-13 rating, the film still was a smash at the box office. But, knowing fans are still holding out hope that Venom 2 will see an R rating, the House of Mouse and Marvel comics have finally given Venom an ability to earn that R-rating: a potty mouth.Gee, what kind of "fans" are we talking about? Because anybody so desperate for crudeness can't possibly be that interested in merit, and profanity alone does not a good comic or movie make. To turn Venom into more R-rated fare for the sake of rawness runs the gauntlet of making fans look...insular.
Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have been together a long time, but even long-lasting relationships can have surprises, like when the Venom symbiote decides to drop it's first ever cuss word. It is hard to believe the symbiote has never used foul language in the past, especially given its extensive time spent as a murderous villain and pain in the side of Spider-Man. But the symbiote does just that in Venom #27, deeming being transported to another universe's version of Earth ruled by Knull a perfect moment let out his very first profanity.But it's not so hard to believe the writers assigned to telling stories about the symbiote never made use of raw profanity and vulgarity for over 30 years, or that the editors held back on such ideas. And if the following example is any indication:
Come to think of it, the notion Venom and host Brock would acknowledge this as the first profane moment of the symbiote seems awfully forced too. When mainstream comics began using more profanity in the 70s, the writers usually didn't go out of their way to address the moments as though it was the first time, or was such a big deal. Certainly not if they weren't trying to break the fourth wall like She-Hulk's 2nd solo book did during its 1989-94 run. Venom was known at times for sporting a sense of black humor back in the day, and that angle worked well enough, so why these SR columnists think this is a major achievement is bewildering indeed. Mainly because, when you look closer and see no actual F-bombs or S-bombs were typed into the word balloons, you realize it's little different from past examples (i.e-the Punisher) where disguised profanity was put to use either.
And the story merit is bound to be as underwhelming as anything else Marvel's put out of recent.
Labels: golden calf of villainy, marvel comics, msm propaganda, Spider-Man, violence
