Readers of the Tarzan novels may recall that Tarzan had a scar on his forehead (from a youthful fight with Terkoz the ape), as well as a tendency to get bonked on the head and suffer temporary amnesia.
What I learned only recently is that these aspects of Tarzan’s story appear to be based on the author’s own experience.
The poster for the upcoming Jonah Hex movie is out:
This could be good, or it could be soul-destroyingly awful. The casting of Megan Fox does not make me optimistic. But I await events.
Instead of a movie version with Angelina Jolie, Atlas Shrugged might be getting a miniseries with Charlize Theron. (CHT Angela Pham by way of James Tuttle.)
On the whole I think this is good news. Theron isn’t quite my vision of Dagny, but neither was Jolie; and although I’d love to see Rand’s surreal vision unfolding on the big screen, unless it’s filmed as a trilogy LOTR-style, it’s probably better to do it in a format that allows more of the story and characters to be presented. (The report says that Theron is “eager to play the role” and favours a miniseries out of concern that “a feature would lose many of the nuances of the monster-sized novel.”) Plus, if it succeeds as a miniseries we might always see a big-screen version further down the road.
Everyone knows what the “Tarzan yell” sounds like in the version popularised by Johnny Weissmuller (and unlike most of his successors he actually makes it sound scary, especially if you’re not expecting it):
But what did Edgar Rice Burroughs intend it to sound like? That’s much harder to say.
Burroughs simply described it as the supposedly terrifying “victory cry of the bull ape.” Unfortunately, there is no particular sound in real life that this description picks out: when apes are fighting, they mainly grunt or screech – not in an especially terrifying way (and once a fight is over they’re usually quiet):
There’s one particular sound – the word mangani or tarmangani (in Burroughs’ fictional language, meaning “ape” and “white ape/white man” respectively) yelled with a rising pitch – that was used in the 1932 Tarzan radio serial and the 1935 movie New Adventures of Tarzan. Burroughs himself was heavily involved in both productions, leading some to speculate that this is Burroughs’ intended sound; you can hear it at 14:14 here:
But it’s not especially prepossessing.
If one wants a sound that seems like it might actually involve an ape, I’d suggest something like this:
That one sounds like a cross between a lion’s roar and a gorilla’s grunt, which might be about right. But who knows?
I’ve never read The Human Drift, an 1894 utopian novel by King Gillette, inventor of the safety razor – and not to be confused with Jack London’s book of the same name – but judging from the book’s write-up on Wikipedia, I don’t think it’s going to be getting a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award any time soon. In particular it sounds like a cross between F. A. Hayek’s and Kevin Carson’s worst nightmares:
The book details Gillette’s plans for social and technological advancements that would replace the chaos of contemporary existence, which he termed the “human drift,” with steady and predictable progress.
Gillette starts his book with a discussion of the role of the business tycoon in social reform. Gillette propounded the somewhat paradoxical view that the business magnate is the natural leader of reform, because of his rationality and his understanding of the power of capital. …
The main substance of the book, however, is Gillette’s plan for an immense three-level metropolis (called “Metropolis”) on the site of Niagara Falls. Designed to accommodate a population of tens of millions of inhabitants, the mega-city would draw its electric power from the Falls. … Gillette’s city was to possess “a perfect economical system of production and distribution,” run by a World Corporation; it would in fact be the only city on the North American continent. Economies of scale would mean that a single one of every necessary facility – one steel mill, one shoe factory, etc. – would exist. Advances in mechanization would generate ever-greater efficiencies, and ever-greater wealth for the whole society. …
Gillette gives a highly specific picture of his metropolis: it is shaped in a perfect rectangle, 135 miles on the long side and 45 on the short. … Gillette favored circular buildings, even for residences (25-floor apartment complexes), and a hexagonal street plan. … The text of The Human Drift was accompanied with abundant illustrations and plans, a graph of the “Educational and Industrial Pyramid,” and other features of Gillette’s scheme.
A quick websearch unearthed an image of the aforementioned Educational and Industrial Pyramid, which looks pretty much as one would expect:
Accompanying text explains that “the divisions of the pyramid from base to apex represent the Grand Divisions of Industry – all of which finally merge into the ‘WORLD CORPORATE CONGRESS.’ Under this system the individual is free to choose his path of inclination, and his progress cannot be barred.” (But what if the individual’s path of inclination is to build a non-circular house or to make shoes in competition with the One Shoe Factory? That would be anarchy!)
I figure if we want to combat the use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos, we need to start calling people on it when they so use it. Here, then, are two letters I just wrote:
Joe Casey
c/o Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
417 5th Avenue
New York NY 10016Dear Mr. Casey:
In Zodiac #1 (which lists you as the writer), Zodiac says “I had a vision of a world where anarchy is a way of life.” Unless Zodiac’s vision is of a peaceful, egalitarian world without coercive authority, where all human relationships are voluntary, this is an inaccurate and defamatory use of the concept of anarchy.
Now I’m sure you can find a dictionary that supports your use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos – just as older dictionaries sometimes endorse defamatory uses of terms like “Jew,” for example. But the fact that dictionaries still promote negative stereotypes of anarchists and anarchism is no excuse for imitating them.
Etymologically, “anarchy” does not mean violence or chaos; it means “without a ruler” (an, without; arkhos, ruler). Those who equate the absence of a ruler with violence and chaos should ask themselves which group has caused more violence and chaos throughout history – rulers or the rulerless.
Andrew Kreisberg
c/o DC Comics, Inc.
1700 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York NY 10019Dear Mr. Kreisberg:
In Green Arrow/Black Canary #21 (which lists you as the writer), the villain says that “anarchy came swiftly.” Unless he’s referring to the advent of a peaceful, egalitarian society without coercive authority, where all human relationships are voluntary, this is an inaccurate and defamatory use of the concept of anarchy.
Now I’m sure you can find a dictionary that supports your use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos – just as older dictionaries sometimes endorse defamatory uses of terms like “Jew,” for example. But the fact that dictionaries still promote negative stereotypes of anarchists and anarchism is no excuse for imitating them.
Etymologically, “anarchy” does not mean violence or chaos; it means “without a ruler” (an, without; arkhos, ruler). Those who equate the absence of a ruler with violence and chaos should ask themselves which group has caused more violence and chaos throughout history – rulers or the rulerless.
Drop ’em a line of your own if you’re so inclined.
A couple of other comics-related notes: