Army of Crime Podcast Opening Statement
What is the army of crime? I first discovered this phrase from the French war movie Army of Crime. The name of the film references a Nazi propaganda poster, that sarcastically asks “Liberated? By an army of crime?”. This seemed like a perfect little bit of Orwellian nonsense. The word army implies some sort of organization, bureaucracy, training and so on. Crime refers to the intentional breaking or violating of legal norms, usually for some kind of profit or from a place of malice. So the phrase seems inherently contradictory, but also suggestive of rebellion, revolution, unrest or uprising.
What is the subject of this podcast? It's pretty straightforward, every episode we plan on doing a bit of a critical look at a movie and a comic book. I am old enough to remember buying comics off a magazine stand and still remember how big of a deal it was when the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies came out. I remember Netflix DVDs opening up a whole universe of film that was otherwise limited to renting VHS tapes from a local bait shop (the tapes were in the back). I even remember when streaming movies online became possible. Since then, everything has exploded in every direction. The world is different. Anything niche or genre has become mainstream. Game of Thrones, an unabashed sword-and-sorcery fantasy show, is the most popular thing on television. The Avengers and other superhero films are all-time box office champions. Not only that, but thousands of films from around the world, dating back over a hundred years, are available online at the push of a button (so to speak). Many of the things we want to read can be found in digital formats, waiting online for rental or purchase. We live in an unprecedented time when there are almost no, or very few, barriers to entry for any kind of entertainment. Everybody can watch and read everything at their leisure. This is why we aren’t limiting ourselves to what might traditionally be called nerd or geek pursuits, or even just to cinema. After all, in a world where you can access important Russian literature, back issues of the Legion of Superheroes and classic silent films at will, why would you limit yourself?
Everything is mainstream. Niche is dead. Long live the “Army of Crime”.
What is the subject of this podcast? It's pretty straightforward, every episode we plan on doing a bit of a critical look at a movie and a comic book. I am old enough to remember buying comics off a magazine stand and still remember how big of a deal it was when the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies came out. I remember Netflix DVDs opening up a whole universe of film that was otherwise limited to renting VHS tapes from a local bait shop (the tapes were in the back). I even remember when streaming movies online became possible. Since then, everything has exploded in every direction. The world is different. Anything niche or genre has become mainstream. Game of Thrones, an unabashed sword-and-sorcery fantasy show, is the most popular thing on television. The Avengers and other superhero films are all-time box office champions. Not only that, but thousands of films from around the world, dating back over a hundred years, are available online at the push of a button (so to speak). Many of the things we want to read can be found in digital formats, waiting online for rental or purchase. We live in an unprecedented time when there are almost no, or very few, barriers to entry for any kind of entertainment. Everybody can watch and read everything at their leisure. This is why we aren’t limiting ourselves to what might traditionally be called nerd or geek pursuits, or even just to cinema. After all, in a world where you can access important Russian literature, back issues of the Legion of Superheroes and classic silent films at will, why would you limit yourself?
Everything is mainstream. Niche is dead. Long live the “Army of Crime”.
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