I was delighted a week ago to see this article on the absolutely insane plan for an early Dazzler film. I recommend you go read this and marinate in the crazy.
Yes, Dazzler, Marvel's disco superheroine mutant, in a movie that would have Cher, superpowered KISS and Village People, and . . . well OK you sort of had me at superpowered Village People. It's totally, over the top nuts, and the kind of thing that clearly would make you say "only in the 80's."
You know what? I kind of wish this was made. Because in our media? I'm starting to miss crazy.
Oh there's manufactured crazy like all the Transformers films. There's plenty of attempts to be subtle, or edgy, or cheesy, or silly. But I miss some of the utter craziness in media, the sincere, over-the-top, possibly-due-to-insanity, stuff. The big ambitious, potentially destructive crazy that can turn into greatness.
Instead? I get test-marketed stuff that pretends to be crazy. I get tepid dressed up in a crazy costume.
I've seen some good crazy over the years. Peter Jackson brings good over-the-top with heart. 'Farscape' was a great mix of crazy and character. Some of the later Godzilla films were decent – and the latest was nicely nuts. Heck the best crazy I see now is in some Indian films – and trust me, you need to see Indian cinema to appreciate the incredibly creativity brewing there.
But still . . . I find I miss some real nuttiness. Lately thanks to blog regular Ewen I've been getting back into 90's fantasy anime, which of course could be delightfully nuts – with a lot of heart. I find I miss some of the stompy monsters now that Godzilla is on hold. I don't get my fill of crazy-insane from Transformers.
I miss crazy. I'd like to see someone with the courage to go nuts on the screen, to go insane, to do less focus-group, to go and just have fun.
Maybe this is nostalgia. I did grow up in the 80's, a kind of Cambrian Explosion of culture and technology and globalization. But still, I'd like some sincere nuttiness right now in media.
So do you miss the nuttiness?