#cronos

if i had reread my entire DISCWORLD corpus as soon as i thought i recognized a certain young shepherdess-witch in her sensible boots  instead of relying on my memory & diving for pearls of recollected reference

i wld have understood a great deal much earlier

however i wldnt have known what i was looking AT let alone FOR wo makin the whole damn journey

however it wld have been easier had i done it sooner

when i still had my library unbroken-up

also easier access to a good many films

bc i just finally watched MUMMY 3 & guess what , there are a few missing bits & pcs of PACIFIC RIM that dont come from any other identified source but match up EXTREMELY congruently w M3 : TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR , which i hadnt guessed already ( along w those which i rightly did suspect )

not many but a few & some superimportant

also i know now that it wasnt SIMPLY chivalry or rather alliance btwn the barricades that team resistance supported rachel weisz by their cryptic bit of kayfabe abt OH YEAH IT WAS RLY GALLING TO HAVE TO PLAY AN OLDER GUY W AN ADULT SON lolol @ rob cohen for lyin abt weisz refusing to play along –& also @ ridley scott for takin cohens side in it w his MUMMY 1 cribs in PROMETHEUS & mocking bellos recasting

any more than it was an unprovoked act of satire to skewer M3 along w IJ4 in HELLBOY 2

bc it turns out that M3 is PACKED TO THE GILLS ( pun intended ) w ripoffs of del toros earlier films

CRONOS , BLADE 2 , PANS LABYRINTH & HELLBOY 1 are all cribbed in ways that are not @ all likely to be accidental or coincidental

& i dont think they were meant as homages or affectionate easter eggs either

this is partly internal stylistic evidence , & partly the meta

& part of the meta is the fact that the M3 screenwriters are SPIDER-MAN 2 & SMALLVILLEs alfred gough & miles millar –not to be confused w mark millar who afaik is no relation– who is a cambridge man

which is important

bc this means they are tied into fandom from way back – fyi & neither aspect of this is irrelevant – they ALSO worked w marti noxon of BUFFY / ANGEL writing on the screenplay for I AM NUMBER FOUR by “pittacus lore” aka james frey the notorious fabricator of a fictionalized “memoir”

but also miles millar bein a highly educated brit

noway he is ignorant of pratchett

so when there are a big pile of discworld ripoffs in a very tactless & thoughtless & missin-the-spirit-of-altogether way , in MUMMY 3 , it does not seem coincident- or accidental to me

& my own personal xp w the porosity of behind-the-scns professional access in fandom leads me to suspect that there was pre-production access by the M3 screenwriters to MAKING MONEY altho i am not 100 per sure of this

but there was hella behind the scns porosity the other way –& it may well have been thru rachel weisz aka mrs daniel craigs good offices– lettin del toro in on what little tricks millar & gough were up to , bc he beat them to it on HELLBOY 2 just like he did w IJ4 & the DARK CRYSTAL / CRYSTAL SKULL metaplay via (undoubtedly ) the aid of john hurt

bc the alliances are becoming more & more obvious now

& i dont pretend to understand them

but i do understand why luc besson accuses team shatterdome / team resistance , of violating omerta in his contribution to the arty-crime-drama trilogy by team wallbuilders aka ridley scott & michael bay

altho its hilarious & an own goal bc NOBODY else outside the film industry has figured it out , I MYSELF wldnt have figured it out if they hadnt gone & been so blatant abt flaunting their mirroring game – increasingly so

& the only critics who have come w/in sighting distance , have done so bc they have noticed weird similarities btwn scotts THE COUNSELOR & bessons THE FAMILY or wondered why scott was so blatantly ripping off the coens or wtf the deal w michael bays egregious weirdness in TF4 or the daddy issues in PROMETHEUS – all of these Clues to those of us w nasty suspicious minds to be sure

which brings me to FINALLY GOT MY COPY OF “FEET OF CLAY” BACK IN MY HANDS

remember this is not the only fish symbolism in PACIFIC RIM bein but 1 out of 7 that i spotted

but its also you may recall not the only fish LAMP in del toros work either

there are a couple in the troll market in HB2 along w the QUO VADIS & minotaur & maxfield parrish-dulac fairy tale illustration homages

lamps “au poisson”

the homages to DISCWORLD in del toros monomyth started at least as far back as his fixes to goyers BLADE 2 script

& make no mistake they ARE homages , bc they say the same thing that pratchett is saying – NO FATE NO DESTINY NO DOOM OF BIRTH & HOW YOU ARE MADE TO DETERMINE WHAT YOU DESERVE IN LIFE

NO KINGS ON THRONES

but

WORDS IN THE HEART CANNOT BE TAKEN

it is all there staring passersby in the face in FEET OF CLAY

which was a ROBOCOP fixfic as well as a FRANKENSTEIN fic aka THE MODERN PROMETHEUS

but which also contained a HOBBES LEVIATHAN reference

& a guy fawkes reference

along w the english civil war & french revolution references

& the expressed hope that there were better less bloody & more lasting ways of securing freedom than the old styles of uprising

FEET OF CLAY is also a vampire novel fwiw , along w bein I ROBOT fic

Vimes looked up at the entrance of the candle-factory. He could dimly see two cressets burning on either side of a shield.

“Look at that, will you?” he said. “Paint not dry and he flaunts the thing for all the world to see!”

“What’s dat, sir?” said Detritus.

“His damn’ coat of arms!” Detritus looked up.

“Why’s it got a lighted fish on it?” he said.

“In heraldry that’s a poisson,” said Vimes bitterly. “And it’s suppose to be a lamp.”

“A lamp made out of a poisson,” said Detritus. “Well, dere’s a fing.”

“At least it’s got the motto in proper language,” said Sergeant Colon. “Instead of all the old-fashioned stuff no one understands. ‘Art Brought Forth the Candle.’ That, Sergeant Detritus, is a pun, or play on words. ’Cos his name is Arthur, see.”

Vimes stood between the two sergeants and felt a hole open up in his head. “Damn!” he said. “Damn, damn, damn! He showed it to me! ‘Dumb plodder Vimes! He won’t notice!’ Oh, yes! And he was right!”

FEET OF CLAY you may also remember is abt the king-shaped hole in humanitys heart & the eagerness of the moneyed few to exploit the populaces desire for ‘strong’ leaders who touch the public sentiments PRINCES MADE TO ORDER , GOLDEN SCIONS W SHINY SWOREDS & SMILES THAT GO 'TING’ , GUARANTEED NOT TO INTERFERE W THE STATUS QUO ! !

“And then I started thinking: who wants a king?

Well, nearly everyone. It’s built in. Kings make it better. Funny thing, isn’t it? Even those people who owe everything to him don’t like Vetinari. Ten years ago most of the guild leaders were just a bunch of thugs and now…well, they’re still a bunch of thugs, to tell the truth, but Vetinari’s given ’em the time and energy to decide they never needed him.

“And then young Carrot turns up with charisma writ all over him, and he’s got a sword and a birthmark and everyone gets a funny feeling and dozens of buggers start going through the records and say, ‘Hey, looks like the king’s come back.’ And then they watch him for a while and say, ‘Shit, he really is decent and honest and fair and just, just like in all the stories. Whoops! If this lad gets on the throne we could be in serious trouble! He might turn out to be one of them inconvenient kings from long ago who wanders around talking to the common people—’”

“You are in favor of the common people?” said Dragon mildly.

“The common people?” said Vimes. “They’re nothing special. They’re no different from the rich and powerful except they’ve got no money or power. But the law should be there to balance things up a bit. So I suppose I’ve got to be on their side.”

“A man married to the richest woman in the city?” Vimes shrugged.

“The Watchman’s helmet isn’t like a crown. Even when you take it off you’re still wearing it.”

…Vimes flourished the parchment.

“I looked and looked at it last night, and then I wound my sense of humor down ten notches and let it go out of focus and looked at the crest, the fish-shaped lamp. Lampe au poisson, it’s called. A sort of bilingual play on words, perhaps? ‘A lamp of poison?’ You’ve got to have a mind like old Detritus to spot that one. And Fred Colon wondered why you’d left the motto in modern Ankhian instead of putting it into the old language, and that made me wonder so I sat up with the dictionary and worked it out and, you know, it would have read ‘Ars Enixa Est Candelam. Ars Enixa.’ That must have really cheered you up. You’d said who did it and how it was done and gave it to the poor bugger to be proud of. It didn’t matter that no one else would spot it. It made you feel good. Because we ordinary mortals just aren’t as clever as you, are we?”

He shook his head. “Good grief, a coat of arms. Was that the bribe? Was that all it took?” Dragon slumped in his chair.

“And then I wondered what was in it for you,” continued Vimes. “Oh, there’s a lot of people involved, I expect, for the same old reasons. But you? Now, my wife breeds dragons. Out of interest, really. Is that what you do? A little hobby to allow the centuries to fly by? Or does blue blood taste sweeter? Y’know, I hope it was some reason like that. Some decent mad selfish one.”

–Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett, 1996

sir terry has been calling bullshit on it for a very long time

& so has guillermo del toro –esp since there is a whole gang of annointed media princes busily promoting the idea of a strong , manly , & above all DESTINED hero , a CHOSEN ONE whose choices cannot be questioned bc HE IS SAVIN US FROM A WORSE FATE @ every turn of the dial or corner of the cineplex

but they are notalone

& i have all the cards in hand i need to chain SKYFALL in the monomyth as a deliberate act & link the 007 reboot team w team resistance , now , just as ive connected up lots & lots of team wallbuilders dots in the past w comics & textual & screencap mirroring – i just dont have enf hrs or a decent enf computer to let me do it fast or easy

but ive given everyone enf to go on their own by way of Clues , now

oh & heres another before i get more of the george orwell –> terry pratchett –> guillermo del toro words-&-pictures mapping done

WHAT IS THE FORMER VIMES FAMILY COAT-OF-ARMS , EH??

http://cliqueclack.com/p/christian-grey-jax-teller/

smart essay by Kona Gallagher on the real monster here all the more interesting to revisit now