By Joseph G. Cote
The movie, which stars 2008 Milford High School grad Caitlin Blair Thistle as Rose and Boston resident Grady Justice as Morgan, is described as a teen love drama twirled with a new kind of werewolf fable in the "Twilight"tradition.
That tradition being that these are not your father's werewolves. Werewolves in "the Clear" are not the mindless savages brutally transformed by moonlight a la "The Wolf Man." Instead, the werewolves--including Rose and Morgan--are two of the last of a dwindling bloodline founded generations before by a single Abenaki Native American on the shores of the Clear.
These werewolves aren't mindless savages a la The Wolf Man. They're mindless savages a la a thousand old Westerns.
IOW, they're Indians, which means they're animals on the inside. In this case, literally.
No doubt these noble savages will struggle not to give into their darker urges. Their bloodthirsty desire to hunt people like prey. Because that's what
Monkey see, monkey do
How is The Clear not a blatant Twilight ripoff? Quileute Indians as werewolves from an ancient bloodline...Abenaki Indians as werewolves from an ancient bloodline. I must've missed the key differences, because this sounds like a bad carbon copy.
The producers practically admit they're trying to cash in on Twilight. I wonder what their evidence is for thinking that derivative movies make money. The Star Wars ripoffs? The Indiana Jones ripoffs? The Terminator ripoffs?
Really, I'd love to compare the most successful and unsuccessful movie ripoffs and see which list is longer. I'm guessing the latter would outnumber the former by five or ten to one.
No real Indians in The Clear?
I don't get a sense that any of the actors are even part Native. How much do you wanna bet that non-Natives will play these "Abenaki" werewolves? Will the producers consult with a single Abenaki to make sure their film isn't inaccurate or stereotypical?
I doubt it. Unless Indians are involved and cast in The Clear, we should stay clear of it. And give it a big thumbs down.
For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.
Below: Lots and lots of Indian werewolves.
"Hey, I'm part Indian! I can star in The Clear too!"
Indian Werewolf--Google Images
Indian Werewolves--Google Images
Werewolf Horse
VCL--Wolf-LSI
Kashmir Siberians--About Us
The Crimson Virus
9 comments:
The funny thing of course is that star wars is a rip off of Frank Herbert's Dune and the Hidden Fortress. As for twilight it's the usual vampires 'n werewolves schlock with nonstop livejournalesque wankery; it's a formula that'll work as long as there are plenty of 15 year old girls with extremely low standards. Oh yeah speaking of vamps:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-things-i-know-about-vampires-based-on-the-lost-boys/
I'm with Rob on this one. Its highly unlikely the makers of "the Clear" will find a single Native to play their faux indian werewolves. Its a pattern that repeats itself and if we can gamble on it, we'll already be rich. And the losers are the usual--the producers.
GENO--
They will probably make some big money on it if they have movie posters and trailers that try to look like "Twilight" and they get ad blurbs into the promotion campaign that have reviewers equating it with Twilight/New Moon.
And there will probably be no shortage of Italian-Americans or Japanese-Americans to play the Native parts.
"And there will probably be no shortage of Italian-Americans or Japanese-Americans to play the Native parts." dmarks
Since there are only 4 million full-blooded Natives in America, you can hardly compete.
Not with the hundreds of millions of Japanese, Italians, Germans, etc.
Which is why these films produced by white folks are so fake. Wanna see real and authentic indians in films? There are Native directors like Chris Eyre and others who make movies with real indians in them. They're on the independent circuit though, but still good as any. The movies the white guys make with supposed "Indians" in it, is virtually the same as products made in China. Fake, fake, fake. All of it.
Well, most of them.
GENO--
To be precise, Anonymous, 2.4 million people, or 1 percent, reported only American Indian or Alaska Native as their race in the 2000 Census. Another 1.9 million people reported they were American Indian or Alaska Native and another race.
In total, 4.3 million people, or 1.5 percent of the US population, reported they were all or part American Indian or Alaska Native. Source: http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/race/censr-28.pdf.
I'm betting The Clear won't be a big success even if it appeals to Twilight fans. Why not? Because Twilight has tapped into something unique: a young girl's desire for an immortal true love.
The key to Twilight is Edward: a rich, white bad boy who's as remote and inaccessible as a rock god. He's an untapped pillar of marble just waiting for that special someone to break through his icy exterior. For the one girl who can touch his heart and assuage his pain, he's a once-in-a-lifetime catch--literally.
A hairy werewolf who snarls and rips flesh will have a hard time inspiring the same kind of lust or love. Hence Team Edward's immense lead over Team Jacob. I doubt a dirty-brown werewolf will ever be as popular as a lily-white vampire.
For more on the subject, see White Vampire Yes, Indian Werewolf No.
Bram Stoker was the first to represent groups with a monster. His Dracula is obviously his portrayal of Continental whites. Anything bad in England must come from the Continent.
Then there was American Werewolf. Anything bad comes from America.
Twilight is something different though. In Meyer's mind, being a vampire or werewolf is probably a positive.
Enjoyed your "opinion" piece. ;)
Thank you.
The Clear movie site
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