Out of curiousity, are there any particular marital arts you'd recommend for a newbie? I've never been too terribly, well, disciplined about activity (in that, I like to walk lots of places, but haven't done any sort of organized athletics since dance a way long time ago...) Any type or level that's a good place to start, in your opinion? I've been kind of considering aikido or karate.
And yeah, the whole busting down doors thing...I have a friend who's an ex-cop, and there's a part of me that really wants to ask him to show me how to shoot someday. More for the skill than any actual intent -- I want to know if I can do it. Same goes for all such things -- archery, knife-throwing, etc. And really, who didn't want to be Scully? And now I've got a thing for Olivia on Fringe too.
I was won over by JGL doing Make 'Em Laugh on SNL. No, he didn't do it perfectly, but he certainly did it with great glee and commitment and more athleticism than I would have expected. As you say, he can do back flips, and with grace. And I thought his was way better than the take on Glee itself. But I digress -- I have a special fondness for Singin' in the Rain and Donald O'Connor's amazing, often unsung talent. Anyone who clearly admires that same talent with such an homage is after my heart.
JGL's clearly someone who enjoys the challenge, and keeps fit (although happily not in a creepy gym bunny way, but more in the I like to do lots of stuff kind of way.) Also, it seems abundantly clear from interviews that Nolan was completely up front about what was expected and JGL jumped on board partly because of what he was being asked to do.
To your point, though, I was incredibly pleased that JGL did his own stunts -- that they all did. I liked hearing that Leo, for example, was a consummate professional and was totally on target during all his stunts and shooting scenes. Anything that can be done in life and in camera totally should be done, IMHO. I'm very old school that way, I suppose.
As for canon, I've always felt that because Arthur was military (do they clarify that in the movie? Or is that just Nolan who's confirmed that? Either way...) he could do much of what he can do in dreams in real life as well. Likewise with Eames in terms of fighting skill. I mean, while manipulating the dream space might extend to accentuating your own talents, I feel like to do what they do they'd have to be able to do most of it in real life as well. To draw on actual experience just for sheer competency within the dream space. They control the dream space enough that it follows some realistic rules, and one would presume the militarized side would still obey the rules of physics. Otherwise you'd have people shooting bullets around corners.
On the other hand, like with Eames -- he can forge being a woman through presentation and voice, but can he really forge being a woman in all ways (like, with all the gender swap stories out there, all the way toward having sex) when he hasn't been a woman in real life? Can he only forge what he knows from experience and from observation? Or does the dreamer just fill in information, or ignore anything that feels wrong or inconsistent? I've wondered this about the dream space too -- how much of it multiple layer acts by the architect and the dreamer? Who adds what in where?
And that always makes me wonder just how rare forgers really are -- Eames is clearly a valued member of the team more as a forger than as a thief or extractor, and so...how many of them are there? Why can't everyone do it? As with the weapons (and the whole dream a little bigger darling moment), is Eames the only one who can just dream up another weapon easily? Or do it without disrupting the dream space as much? Or could anyone do it, but they just don't because it's unwise to mess with the dream once it's going?
Ah, Nolan. Your universe contains so many questions, and so many interesting places to go.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-01-02 06:31 am (UTC)And yeah, the whole busting down doors thing...I have a friend who's an ex-cop, and there's a part of me that really wants to ask him to show me how to shoot someday. More for the skill than any actual intent -- I want to know if I can do it. Same goes for all such things -- archery, knife-throwing, etc. And really, who didn't want to be Scully? And now I've got a thing for Olivia on Fringe too.
I was won over by JGL doing Make 'Em Laugh on SNL. No, he didn't do it perfectly, but he certainly did it with great glee and commitment and more athleticism than I would have expected. As you say, he can do back flips, and with grace. And I thought his was way better than the take on Glee itself. But I digress -- I have a special fondness for Singin' in the Rain and Donald O'Connor's amazing, often unsung talent. Anyone who clearly admires that same talent with such an homage is after my heart.
JGL's clearly someone who enjoys the challenge, and keeps fit (although happily not in a creepy gym bunny way, but more in the I like to do lots of stuff kind of way.) Also, it seems abundantly clear from interviews that Nolan was completely up front about what was expected and JGL jumped on board partly because of what he was being asked to do.
To your point, though, I was incredibly pleased that JGL did his own stunts -- that they all did. I liked hearing that Leo, for example, was a consummate professional and was totally on target during all his stunts and shooting scenes. Anything that can be done in life and in camera totally should be done, IMHO. I'm very old school that way, I suppose.
As for canon, I've always felt that because Arthur was military (do they clarify that in the movie? Or is that just Nolan who's confirmed that? Either way...) he could do much of what he can do in dreams in real life as well. Likewise with Eames in terms of fighting skill. I mean, while manipulating the dream space might extend to accentuating your own talents, I feel like to do what they do they'd have to be able to do most of it in real life as well. To draw on actual experience just for sheer competency within the dream space. They control the dream space enough that it follows some realistic rules, and one would presume the militarized side would still obey the rules of physics. Otherwise you'd have people shooting bullets around corners.
On the other hand, like with Eames -- he can forge being a woman through presentation and voice, but can he really forge being a woman in all ways (like, with all the gender swap stories out there, all the way toward having sex) when he hasn't been a woman in real life? Can he only forge what he knows from experience and from observation? Or does the dreamer just fill in information, or ignore anything that feels wrong or inconsistent? I've wondered this about the dream space too -- how much of it multiple layer acts by the architect and the dreamer? Who adds what in where?
And that always makes me wonder just how rare forgers really are -- Eames is clearly a valued member of the team more as a forger than as a thief or extractor, and so...how many of them are there? Why can't everyone do it? As with the weapons (and the whole dream a little bigger darling moment), is Eames the only one who can just dream up another weapon easily? Or do it without disrupting the dream space as much? Or could anyone do it, but they just don't because it's unwise to mess with the dream once it's going?
Ah, Nolan. Your universe contains so many questions, and so many interesting places to go.