O, Pioneers!
I’m not sure if all of you had it marked on your calendar, but pioneer day is upon us! It’s time to celebrate! Take the day off from work - even if you’re not in Utah! Explain to your boss that it’s kind of like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or some other Jewish holiday except that it’s a Mormon holiday.
Anyways, in the spirit of pioneering, I thought I’d do a post on, well, pioneers. Who are today’s pioneers in entertainment? Let’s give it a time frame: who are the pioneers of the past 10 years? I’m talking the people, artists, actors, directors, musicians who we will look back on years from now and say were true innovators, who blazed into new territory.
I haven’t really thought much about it myself since this post is a spur of the moment idea, so I’m throwing out to all of you. Fire away.
Cowboy Troy
Comment by Bryce I — July 22, 2005 @ 12:15 pm
Bryce, thank you thank you thank you thank you!
Comment by Karen — July 22, 2005 @ 2:06 pm
Peter Jackson, for being the anti-Lucas (and thereby restoring my faith in humanity–well, some of it anyway).
Comment by markshelby — July 22, 2005 @ 3:26 pm
Did you like that, Karen? I can’t tell.
Comment by Bryce I — July 22, 2005 @ 3:36 pm
Cowboy Troy is good, but isn’t he really following the trail blazed by the “Cotton-Eye Joe” guy?
Comment by markshelby — July 22, 2005 @ 3:49 pm
I can’t think of any trailblazers in recent years. But it seems like a lot of pioneers aren’t recognized as such until much later.
So much of recent entertainment has been rehashing old stuff.
Comment by Susan M — July 22, 2005 @ 4:10 pm
Bryce, first good hearty laugh I’ve had in a couple of bad days. That feeling is always appreciated.
I second markshelby’s comment–that was the first name that came to my mind. I think Peter Jackson is a real pioneer, melding great storytelling with technical wizardry. I love that while making “Fellowship” PJ still didn’t know how he was going to create the Gollum character, yet he just kept filming. That is artistic bravery. Apparently the last scene they shot of the third film with Gollum in it combined traditional and motion capture technology in the same shoot. (rather than shooting Gollum separately.) Anyways, one more vote for Jackson here.
Comment by Karen — July 22, 2005 @ 4:35 pm
I’m in awe of his ability to push special effects forward and integrate it in useful ways (as opposed to just flashy ways), but IMO his real “pioneer” contribution was simply gambling $300 million on the idea that you can take the subject-matter of a fantasy story seriously, that you don’t have to dumb it down and market it strictly to young children. Which is what everyone in Hollywood had been doing ever since Star Wars (which came out when I was 10 btw).
Comment by markshelby — July 22, 2005 @ 4:59 pm