Episode 126 : Take Face

William rehashes some things he’s said before, Tony is very, very tired. And William gets lessons in how to behave if he’s ever around humans. Oh, and debauchery! Enjoy!

QUESTIONS (* indicates the question was “digested.”)

Dear The Magical Talking Hat, Did you enjoy the new Superman movie? — Craig

Dear meat puppets of The Magical Talking Hat, Are you and the podcast real? Or just an elaborate J.J. Abrams show that will confuse everyone until the last episode (like Lost)?*   — Mark McKibben

Dear TMTH, Wikipedia reports William, prince of Orange (1840 – 1879), although heir apparent, died before taking the throne. Cause of death: debauchery. Please discuss.        –Beth

 

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10 Responses to Episode 126 : Take Face

  1. jas says:

    hmmm, I may be having a William moment in that I didn’t mean to leave the impression that I disagreed with the overall idea that Clark is being portrayed as a kind of dim farm boy stereotype. What I meant to say is that I don’t think that the explanation for the plot hole is that the creators of the film said to themselves–“hey, there’s an obvious solution to the plot problem but let’s have Clark do something stupid instead because that’s more consistent with his characterization.” I don’t think the creators of the movie cared about creating consistent characterization. Rather, I think the plot resolution happens the way it does because it uses imagery which plays on fears of terrorism and allows them to throw a lot of special effects and violent action at the viewer.

    I don’t think I can say whether Clark comes across as a rube overall. My overall impression was that they were playing up his alienness in the growing-up story. The characterization that bugged me the most was Jonathan Kent’s. It made no sense in terms of Clark developing the value system that he is supposed to have as Superman. In fact Pa Kent’s values are kind of the opposite of a boyscout approach.

    • William says:

      Ah, sorry, Jas… didn’t mean to misrepresent your point.

      But the thing is, Pa Kent’s behavior also informs my opinion about this. His approach to dealing with Clark’s origins might be considered… well, isn’t it kind of a “hick” stereotype that they are “clannish” and only care about protecting their own, even if it means others might come to harm? At first I thought they wanted the audience to sympathize with Jonathan, but I’ve been wondering if we weren’t supposed to think that… well, of course a hick from Kansas is going to think this way about his adopted son — not see the bigger picture, etc.

      I think you’re right about what the filmmakers did in terms of manipulating fears of terrorism, too. I just think they also thought about what kind of people the Kents would be and how they could make Clark less “scouty”, since many people who don’t like Superman often list his “too goodness” as their first complaint. Without going into some of the mistakes Clark made in dealing with Zod… it just seems to me if you think of him Clark as a rookie hero who was “raised in a barn”, his errors can all make some kind of sense. Although this isn’t the version of Clark that I like to see stories about. So… however popular this recent movie Superman is, he’s not going to matter to me. But, of course, that’s fine. There are plenty of versions of Superman to go around. 🙂

  2. jas says:

    Yeah, I was thinking that Pa Kent’s parochialism does fit with what you’re saying. I don’t know how that stereotype about clannishness or farm boy dimness fits with other things in the movie (predominantly the religious and anti-Science and anti-Government stuff–which also contradicted itself) but it’d be interesting to speculate about a connection.

  3. SirGuido says:

    My problem with people who don’t drink is that the ones I have encountered seem to feel it gives them some kind of moral superiority over those who drink. For example, I have a friend who has never in his life even tasted an alcoholic beverage of any kind, and whenever he is near me when I have a drink he always makes a comment to that effect. As if he is saying “By the way, I’m better than you, and here is why.”

  4. B-Smart says:

    I hope you’re not talking about me in that last comment. I’ve made it clear to others that I’m a teetotaler, yes. Even the reasons. But it has never been with a ‘and that makes me better than you’ vibe. Unless someone else reads that from me, I guess. It was never intentional though.

    And now I have a band that regularly plays in local watering holes, and drinking abounds. I play, converse, have a good time. I don’t make any bones about the drinking one way or the other, unless I’m asked why I’m not partaking, or it’s pushed toward me with a ‘you don’t look like you’re having fun – have a drink’. Otherwise we all just have a good time, and I drink my soda, and everything’s good. Is it a moral imperative for me not to drink? Sure. Do I push that on others? Absolutely not.

    • themagicaltalkinghat says:

      Dude! I didn’t know you were listening again! Welcome back! 🙂

      Definitely not talking about you. For one, I pretty much didn’t start drinking until after I moved away. But also, the few discussions we’ve had about drinking are how your friends give you crap for NOT drinking, which I think is just as bad as giving people crap for not-not drinking.

      Yeah, definitely not you. 🙂

  5. William says:

    I think it might surprise people to find out that 99.9% of the time I bring up that I don’t drink and have never had a drink, the topic is not really brought up by me. Our culture pretty-much assumes that everybody drinks. For example, just about everywhere I’ve ever worked, bringing in beer or taking folks to a bar after work has been used as an incentive, clearly without considering that some folks don’t drink. There’s no way to address this situation without letting people know that you don’t drink at all. And then it isn’t enough to say you don’t drink, because then folks assume you just don’t drink often or you’d drink if you were introduced to better liquor or you’re a recovering alcoholic or some such thing (and if you’re not clear about this when it comes up, you risk being accused of being misleading about it later). Now, of course, you know that people are going to think you sound like an ass if you point out that you have never had alcohol. You know they’re going to think you’re a moralizing jerk. But you don’t feel like you have much of a choice.

  6. B-Smart says:

    I have to have something to do when I’m supposed to be working on my audio with my headphones on, and need a break without telling anyone, right? It’s ‘me-time.’

    Usually I listen for 5-10 minutes at a time, then go back to editing, then take another break when I get to it (c’mon let’s take a break when I hit the 20 minute mark on this chapter).

  7. Mark says:

    New Seacrest: Really?

    If William wasn’t there for the whispering voices; maybe that’s why he’s never invited to the business meetings?

    Of course The Magical Talking Hat is part of a larger cult; we’re all beloved little hatlings following its magical commands.

    Dresden files: Did you decide you don’t like the system or ….. ?

    I’m kind of amazed that Tony only had one attempt at making William squirm with the whole “all the interesting bits were in the women’s prison” statement.

    Aliens, Predator & AvP: I’ve not seen all of the Alien films (just the first two) and not seen any of the AvP, but the original Predator movie was a perfectly acceptable summer action flick with horror overtones. And quite frankly, I think it’s about on par with what I vaguely remember of the second Aliens movie.

    Signatures and identifying question authors: Actually all of my emails to you guys have my name as an automatically inserted signature and I don’t explicitly identify myself in them. Yet, you always quote my questions by name…..

    Drinking & William: I think you’re overthinking what you think we think about you think you said.

    Sounding like an idiot: Nah… that’s too easy.

    Tony paid off an African guy to be declared nicer than the Producer? Wha? That’s a new low. :p

    William: If people are being offended by misunderstanding you; then by knowing what I know of you, that’s entirely their fault and not yours.

    Don’t Trust People Who Don’t Drink: What Tony said. Also if it was Mark Twain that said that; you have to consider the historical context as well. He lived pre-Prohibition and there was a strong movement at the time to ban alcohol.

    New Superman Movie: I’ve not seen it though I suspect once it hits Netflix streaming; I’ll probably watch it then.

    Nope that question was not digested, just silly.

    I’m not sure who to congratulation, the Producer or Tony, for the Producer shouting out that Tony is in fact familiar with debauchery.

  8. Craig says:

    Yes I am still listening, am just horribly behind due to issues with my phone so have only just got to this episode.

    As for Superman I didn’t see it, the whole Superman concept just doesn’t appeal to me for the simply reason that I prefer flawed characters and Clark / Superman is meant to be this perfect hero which is just boring.

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