There are rumblings about an interview Pegg did with "Radio Times" wherein some suggest he is denigrating science fiction and comic book superheros - a genre which has paid him handsomely of late.
His actual words:
“Obviously,” he said, “I’m very much a self-confessed fan of science-fiction and genre cinema. But part of me looks at society as it is now and thinks we’ve been infantilised by our own taste. We’re essentially all consuming very childish things – comic books, superheroes… Adults are watching this stuff, and taking it seriously!
“It is a kind of dumbing down because it’s taking our focus away from real-world issues. Films used to be about challenging, emotional journeys. Now we’re really not thinking about anything, other than the fact that the Hulk just had a fight with a robot.”
I can't speak for Pegg, but I will speak for myself. I grew up on science fiction. I was reading Heinlein and Bradbury by age nine, was a Trek fan when we were few and far between, and was one of those movie buffs waiting in the desert when Star Wars revitalized the entire science fiction movie genre.
At fourteen, I was head of a local Star Trek fan club all of whose members were between four and thirty years older than me.
I'm not as avid as I once was, but I still love the genre and enjoy chatting about comics, super heroes, movies, etc..
Throw in sports and beer, and that's pretty much the range of conversation available from 95% of my male friends and acquaintances.
Yes, I enjoy those topics, but I would also really enjoy being able to have extended conversations about other topics - history, current events, art, literature, chess, photography, language, anthropology, poetry, camping, psychology, film noir, philosophy ... and a few dozen other things. Unfortunately, all conversations gravitate back toward action heroes and all the myriad reboots they've undergone in the past five years or so.
Honestly - 95% of the time, it's the Triad, sci-fi, sports, beer, and that's it. If I get more than five minutes on another topic, it's current events, and more often than not, just partisan polemics, and then it's back to the comics.
On one level, I get it. It's great escape and a fantastic distraction, and I'm all for escape. I just don't want to live there. And I freely admit, part of my frustration is solely tied to my personal hangups.
All the guys I know can give marathon dissertations on the afore-mentioned topics. I'd be willing to pay money to have conversations on anything but the Triad for more than 5% of the time.
Actually, and to be fair, I do have a bit of a release. I find that the women I know tend to be much better-read and have much broader interests than most men I know. My wife, in particular, has almost as broad a range of interests as me. And we're not talking about Pampered Chef parties and skin cleansers. We're talking about books and ideas and movies that aren't just Sci-Fi. Just not for-the-love-of-God-shoot-me-in-the-head-now Nicholas Sparks. Not that ... y'know ... there's anything wrong with his work ...
Don't get me wrong. I love having conversations with women. I'd just love to also take as much enjoyment from my conversations with the other 47% of the population.
So, yeah, I agree with Simon Pegg, at least how I read his comments. A lot of the time, I hope for a grown up conversation with other men, and we end up talking about the same things we used to discuss in Seventh Grade, though boobs probably substituted for beer back then.
The sad thing is, it wasn't always true. In my mind, I have faded daguerreotypes of great conversations had once-upon-a-time. It's frustrating.
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