Snake Eyes in Name Only
DDayCobra | May 14, 2021 |
Today, the first official images of the new GI Joe: Origins movie, Snake Eyes, were released.
From the start, I was not a fan of the casting of Henry Golding because Snake Eyes is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white guy that doesn’t take off his mask and cannot speak due to injuries sustained in a helicopter accident.
Identity politics is ruining so many of our properties, and GI Joe is getting caught up in that as well. We’ve already seen it happen in the comics, and now they’re taking one of the most iconic characters in that universe – if not the most iconic – and ruining him before the film even releases.
I’ve been a big GI Joe fan my entire life, and I’m a heavy collector of the 3¾” action figure line. I also love the recently released Classified line. If you want to see a great GI Joe movie, check out GI Joe: Resolute. It’s fantastic, and it gives you great insight into Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.
I’m also a big fan of the 1987 feature film GI Joe: The Movie. While a lot of Joe fans have significant issues with the story and the characters, I have a lot of nostalgia for it, and it will always be one of my favorite animated films.
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra and GI Joe: Retaliation are both terrible films, but one thing they both get right is Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.
It’s sad to see another iconic character fall to identity politics, but that’s what Hollywood is known for… and knowing is half the battle.
Comments (5)
Unfortunately no, the more sacred it is the more inclination to screw with it. The usual excuse is,
“wE nEeD tO rEaCh a bIgGeR aUdIeNcE…”
Which I get, but at the expense of the characters and their TRUE backstory is where the disconnect comes in? Cause Harveywood only functions based on focus groups and current trends to get their, “ideas” from. So instead of being FULLY original, their “idea” of original is just changing the immutable characteristics around and VOILA! A completely new and “original” concept…
Yeah, its dumb and frustrating. The other two GI JOE live actions movies sucked for different reasons and bastardizations and changes, but they at least tried to stay true to old Marvel comics(which IDW continues) insofar as Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow/ninja lore. They should’ve made Golding since he’s mixed race, Snake Eyes’ son if they wanted to go this route.
I have the whole ’82 run of original comics. I’m a big fan of Snake Eyes from the comics. A movie made about the original character would have gotten my money. This movie will only get ridicule from me. I hope word will spread that this another movie that is showing prejudice against white males, and that it will affect its income. I would never want them to change the race of Quick Kick and Jinx from Asian, or Stalker and Roadblock from black (to name a few). So it is NO MORE ACCEPTABLE to change Snake Eyes from white to anything else. Even if the movie does well, that disappointment won’t compare to the joy i still get from the original stories.
Is nothing sacred anymore? ♂️