The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, March 18, 2013 - 7A TV/NEW MEDIA COLUMN 'The Following' doesn't know what it's doing d F' be bendin becaus close. I don't u stand it meat And I' startin think t becaus doesn' anythi all. "It's violent FOX se Purefo roll, a s manipu Ted Bu deeds bars. M world,, becaus man: K ever) a rioratin Carrol At fi think a reenl On. Te a gift f the pro up and the sho definin course( louder criticis and "T target. Th W Th Even televisi gets aw that sla In the her ow Carroll in an E Carroll mer En a pedes mutilat corpses At th Critids, in Janu Lindel he offe issue: C ures fr he poin crepan States vast. "We movies same vi "Anyth bears a these k and inc the me (but) the maj Englan it's acce guns." He's is powe ways we But to b and gat high ra this cou at acces inacces the met serious I don tionshi vision a: one neci by caus it profo on't understand "The we respond to tragedy. Media ollowing," and that's not coverage of shootings almost ecause it's some mind- always focuses on the killer. ig, twist-ridden thriller, People demand a motive; they e it isn't - not even demand answers; theywant all I just of the details of the person who nder- could be responsible for such what horrible atrocities, and so we ns. end up with lengthy magazine m profiles of the triggerman - a g to portrait of a killer, an inside hat's look at the mind of a murderer, e it the life of a gunman. t mean KAY[A "The Following" doesn't ng at UPADHYAYA probe this dark aspect of human nature, doesn't question too people's obsession with serial ," my mom said of the killers and real-life villains. ries, which stars James Instead, it capitalizes on it. y ("Rome") as Joe Car- The show glorifies Joe Carroll, sadistic serial killer who makes him almost god-like in ulates a cult of wannabe his ubiquity and power. His vic- indys into doing his tims get barely any screentime; while he remains behind and when they do, they're shot ly mom, like most of the with the same amount of atten- was drawn to the show tion given to a lamp. The care- e of its other leading less, tone-deaf way in which the evin Bacon (Every movie script executes violence elimi- s Ryan Hardy, the dete- nates any sense of stakes or ng FBI agent who caught emotional complexity. The kill- I the first time around. ers are walking cliches, and the rst, all anyone could overuse of flashbacks doesn't bout once the show was illuminate them so much as fill ighted was: Kevin. Bacon. time. levision. It seemed like I'm honestly perplexed, and rom the TV gods. But as not just because I never thought motional tours kicked it would be possible for me to screeners were sent out, dislike a show starring Kevin iw's violence became its Bacon, but because I never :g quality. As the dis- thought it would be possible on gun violence becomes for me to dislike a show created and louder, so too stirs by Kevin Williamson. This is m of violent television, the man behind the "Scream" he Following" is an easy franchise, "Dawson's Creek" and "The Vampire Diaries." I'm drawn to Williamson's work as intensely as Carroll's acolytes e blood isn't are to him. With the "Scream" movies, he deconstructed slash- rhat makes er film and flipped its most trite tropes on their heads. But "The 'Gam e of Following" seems to be guilty of exactly what "Scream" served rones' great. to critique - a dead-behind- the-eyes thriller that's all bark and no bite. Blood for the sake of blood though it's on network doesn't make intelligent enter- ion at 9 p.m., the show tainment. "The Following" vay with the kind of gore tries its hardest to put on an shes through cable TV. edgy, grisly show, but sputters pilot, a woman gouges along recklessly. "Justified," m eye in dedication to "Breaking Bad" and "Game of 1. Next episode, a man Thrones" aren't great because dgar Allan Poe mask - they're gory - they have much [is a Poe devotee and for- more than that. "The Follow- glish professor - lights ing" has Bacon, but he's given trian on fire. Shots of little more to do than spit sassy :ed victims and bloodied comebacks (in one episode, s populate every episode. Hardy literally sits in a chair e annual Television the whole time and makes fun Association conference of the three Carroll-students- ary, FX president James slash-revolving-sex-partners) of silenced a room when and guzzle vodka from water red his own take on the bottles. "The Following" has iting gun violence fig- Natalie Zea ("Justified"), but om the United Kingdom, she's given little more to do ited out that the dis- than cry and give Bacon googly cies between the United eyes and make Kim Bauer-level and United Kingdom are poor decisions. And none of it means any- consume the same ... thing! The biggest takeaway is ,same television shows, ... everyone, literally everyone, ideogames," he said. is probably a serial killer. Cops, ing and everythingthat prison guards, former soldiers - ny responsibility for no character inthe world of"The inds of tragedies, up to Following" is exempt from being luding what we do in a Carroll crew suspect. You can't dia, should be fair game trust anyone, and asa result, if you want to look at you can't care and suspension of [or difference between disbelief becomes too much to d and the United States, ask for. ss to and availability of Regardless of how you feel aboutthe ultra-violent programs right, of course. Media dominatingtelevision these days, rful and shapes us in they're not going anywhere any e don't always realize. time soon. AMC's "The Walking lame the television, film Dead" and "The Following" post ming industries for the unbelieveable ratings week after tes of gun violence in week. Violence sells. But there intry without looking are plenty of smart, meaningful sibility of guns and the series that know how to make the sibility of health care for violence work without detracting ntally ill downplays very from the story. "The Following" flaws in our legal system. hasn't learned that lesson yet. So it think that the rela- what's the point of following in p between violent tele- the firstplace? No Country fsr Old Men.' Undercooked 'Emperor' never reaches a boil dry Stilted script ags down sloppy adaptation By CARLY KEYES Daily Arts Writer It's always a challenge to bring a story in which not much "hap- pens" (especially one that reads more like a his- tory lessonthan B- a Hollywood narrative) to Emperor the big screenA and entertain At Rave the masses, but Krasnoff Foster it's been done many times in the past and recently in "Lin- coln" with great success. Unfor- tunately, this isn't one of those times. "Emperor," based on real events during the end of World War II, takes place in Japan amid the physical rubble and emotional wreckage brought upon by the atomic bomb. The narrative follows General Bon- ner Fellers (Matthew Fox, "Alex Cross") who has only 10 days to investigate imperial, politi- cal and military officials and determine whether Emperor Hirohito should hang, guilty of war crimes, or remain in his rul- ing position as the United States steps in to rebuild Japan. As Fellers searches for the truth about the Emperor's involvement and intentions, he quests for his former col- lege flame, Aye (Eriko Hatsune, "Girls for Keeps"), a Japanese woman whom he fears perished. during the bombing. Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln") plays General Douglas MacArthur, Fellers's superior, the man who has entrusted him with the monumental task. Director Peter Webber ("Hannibal Rising") crafts a viewing experience akin to walking into a beautifully deco- rated restaurant with elegant music, only to be met with mediocre service and a strictly average meal. Maybe it's just the whole poignant-historical-film- JOIN A LEAGUE OF HEROES. -mail arts@michigandaily. corn to request an application! set-in-a-foreign-country quality, but the meticulous art direction (Jill Cormack, "Avatar") height- ens the authenticity ofthis period piece and, along with powerful and timely scoring (Alex Heffes, "Love and Honor"), production has set the stage for an aestheti- cally stimulating journey, but one that ends as soon as it begins. Fox, in his first true leading role on the big screen, resembles more of a robot with an emotion- al on-and-off switch than a man. His character marches around, vacillating between angry and stone-faced and nostalgic and teary-eyed, a combination that confuses more than it convinces. But it's not his fault - the film is written that way. Jones shines as a grouchy, yet surreptitiously tender general as he fast-talks circles of crudi- ties and orders around his men, a familiar and favorite role. This much needed comic relief, and, Jones's performance in general (pun intended), garners far too little screen time. But, again, it's not his fault - it's written that way. Writers Vera Blasi ("Tortilla Soup") and David Klass ("Walking Tall"), who adapted the screen- play from the book, "His Majes- ty's Salvation" by Shiro Okamoto, not only fail to capitalize on their resources, such as a snarky Jones and a "Fox" of a leading man, but the story stews like a promising batch of meat and potatoes that never reaches boil, and it makes for a bland main course. As Fellers meets with affiliate after affili- ate, it's hard to keep the affiliates straight, especially with flash- backs of his relationship with Aya dangling in between. While it "coulda been a con- tender," the seriously sloppy adaptation (one that misses the bull's eye by a mile) leaves "Emperor" as an inarguably aver- age illustration of enduring love, loss and compassion duringtimes of war. nd mass shootings is essarily characterized ation, but I do think undly shapes the-way Upadhyaya is rewatching all of the 'Scream' movies. To join, e-mail kaylau@umich.edu. Guaranteed LOWEST PRICES on campus Purchase your CAP & GOWN, YEARBOOK, ANNOUNCEMENTS, DIPLOMA FRAME and UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CLASS RING! michiganyearbook.comfgrad ,. Y EAR8OOK TALK TO US. Follow @michdailyarts.