Tuesday, January 7, 2014

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/7/14! WARNING! MAY CONTAIN ULTRAVIOLENCE!



death punch [deth-punch]/ [shi-ken]
noun
1. A lethal blow from the fist/s either intentionally or unintentionally, especially if excessively violent or destructive.

EX. Let's start out Tuesday with just a little dose of the ultraviolence.


I dunno why-- maybe I'm just desensitized to violence after two decades of video games and anime or, probably more likely, the over-the-top violence hits the sweet spot of comedy in defying your expectations by surprising me and/or going past the graphic and into the cartoonishly over-the-top-- but I love a good bit of violence in my entertainment from time to time. Sure, I'll watch all the Disney musicals and yeah I deplore violence as a way to resolve conflicts in all but the most extreme circumstances where it is the only option or the only option left, but in fiction I can enjoy the fantasy or spectacle that is over-the-top violence. Some people may find such violence to be offensive or even a bad influence. I find it to be a harmless outlet for the pent up rage fantasies that we, as a very violent species, tend to have at least every now and then.

It's the reason why I love movies like Super; watching fantasy violence that is intentionally or unintentionally ridiculous is cathartic, funny, and harmless. The obscene and graphic, when absurd, is gratifying. It's the reason I've wanted to create an anime with a guy with a giant fist who fights super powered villains just so he could just punch the crap out of them. It's the reason I've wanted to write a comic book about a guy who comes back from each grisly death with a temporary new super power every time he is killed. It's the reason that I let my Dungeons and Dragons adventures include moments like a wizard literally blowing an Ettin's mind until his heads are a couple of blood fountains like shook up blood cola spurting a few feet into the air.

Hell, it's the reason I'm giving Dead Snow 2 any attention. They had me at death punch.