Peter and I finally say Van Hellsing last night. It had all the classic Universal Monster tropes. There were the throw away comic lines especially by the comic sidekicks. There were the Monsters which, in a CGI world, were pretty kick ass. I liked how a Werewolf returns to human by tearing off his wolf skin. I didn’t mind what happened to the princess in the end. We got to the end of the film and Peter asked me what I thought about it. I said that many parts were very entertaining but something bugged me about the end and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Peter finally nailed it and I have to agree with him especially since the writers had a couple of options which would allow for the same conclusion.
In the audience for the movie was one person who was sitting by themselves and I figured out during the film that this was not the first time they had seen it. Nor did I think it was the second. If I were to hazard a guess, they were in the double digits for viewing this film. This was a fan of the film in general and Hugh Jackman in particular.
I have seen and met people like this before. I think there comes a point after so many conventions as both a worker bee and a guest, you get a radar about the fans. I have discussed this with a number of people who work in the industry one way or another and they agree. I know one actress that can spot a “time sink” fan a mile away. She is very polite to the fan but manages to nudge them on and out. I have seen her take point and rescue another actor from this individual. The person is very nice and very polite. We really don’t think they know what they are doing but they do it any way or they don’t care or they feel they are owed time because they support the show. It is the “I support the show, you owe me time” people that can make me a big irritated. Especially if the show has been off the air for any period of time. The actor/director/writer/producer are only making money of the residuals of the show. Which in the beginning can be a nice chunk of change but becomes less over time. For the fans, the show is timeless. For the actors, it was a job that came with some really cool perks like the fans. The actors at the conventions really do appreciate their fans. Occasionally a line will get crossed that the fan might not know that they crossed. At convention I was at a while ago, I had some business with one of the authors as editor to author about a book I was working on. The convention was slowing down as it was Sunday afternoon. We went off into a corner away from the crowd to talk briefly about the project. The author made a point of saying that we were stepping away for a bit but would be back shortly in case anyone else needed anything signed. About five minutes into our discussion, the author sighed and said, “We are going to have to do this later. Give me a call when you get back.” I turned around and there were about 5 people who I had seen hanging at the periphery of this author for the whole convention. They were sidling toward us getting with in earshot of our conversation. The author signed a few more autographs and then left the convention because he wanted just a few minutes to himself and his friends before getting on an airplane to go home.
Over all fans are the best people in the world. It is just a few people who either can’t or won’t recognize limits that can make it uncomfortable for others. But I think that is true for just about any group in society.
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