King’s Western Fantasy Series “Comes of Age”

King’s Western Fantasy Series â€Å"Comes of Age† King’s Western Fantasy Series â€Å"Comes of Age† â€Å"I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I do not shoot with my hand. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun. I kill with my heart.† So says Roland Deschain, the final gunslinger who has been involved in an eternal battle with the Man in Black, Walter O’Dim. The goal? to keep the Man in Black from toppling the Dark Tower, an edifice that holds the universe together. In just a few days, The Dark Tower: Gunslinger will open. It is a part of Stephen King’s western fantasy book series, that has never achieved the fame of his other famous books-turned-movies. Not Without Controversy The film has not come to launch without controversy, specifically over the selection of Idris Elba in the role of the Gunslinger, pitted against Matthew McConoughey as the Man in Black. Much of the controversy swirls around the fact that Elba is black, and those aficionados of the book series insist that the Gunslinger was always portrayed as white. While many angry fans insist that they are not racist, their comments sometimes come off as such. But in general, the anger does stem from the insistence of readers/fans that Elba was always portrayed as white. On Stephen King’s twitter account, the battles began to rage in 2015, to wit: And in a Wikia.com forum on the casting, one angry fan wrote the following: A FANDOM user 64.139.97.24 I can't believe they're casting Idris as Roland Deschaine in the new Dark Tower movie. I like the guy just fine, but he's NOT ROLAND!!! You can't just CHANGE the main character's race, especially when it will directly conflict with the ENTIRE storyline! WTF are these morons thinking? And I'm definitely NOT racist, so don't even go there. And I can't freaking believe Stephen King doesn't have the balls to stand up and say, "No F-ing Way!!. Roland was NOT BLACK!!!" Making Roland black changes the entire backstory of Roland, and for those of us who have perseveered through the years and invested more than just money into these stories, this change ruins it completely. Where I was once very excited to see the Dark Tower saga FINALLY made into a movie, now I can't imagine even watching it. Ever†¦ King’s Reaction It was pretty swift: The fact that King did not see the casting as an issue did serve to calm some of their anguish. And Producer Akiva Goldsman shared his thoughts/rationale for the casting. A Long Time Coming Most do not know that this movie has been â€Å"in the works† since 2007, and that at different times, directors J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard had some involvement. At one time, it was envisioned as a trilogy with an ensuing TV series, and during the planning phases, it was passed among Universal, Warner Bros. and finally to Sony Pictures. Filming began in South Africa in the spring of 2016, with an intended release date of January, 2017. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Box Office Predictions Obviously, the weekend of August 4-6 stats will tell us of the enthusiasm for this movie. Stephen King always has a big draw, but this older novel series (1980’s) is not as well known. Still there is a large demographic that will love the sci-fi aspect and the combination of the â€Å"wild west† with sci-fi. And there is certainly a huge contingent of King fans who will want to take a chance on the film. The controversy over the Idris Elba casting has indeed died down, despite some die-hard fans who continue to object. What will really matter, as King himself says, is how Elba carries the role. For those expecting a typical Stephen King plot, there may be some disappointment. The plots, themes, settings, etc. are not anything like King’s later novels and, in some respects, are more akin to Star Wars without the environment of space. Many, in fact, liken this series more to a Lord of the Rings genre, and those who love Tolkien may indeed love this film as well. The overriding theme is, of course, good vs. evil. As for the Controversy Over Elba It is important to look at the role history of Elba to understand why he was a logical pick for the role of the Gunslinger in The Dark Tower. These roles include major parts in two Thor films, American Gangster, Pacific Rim, Prometheus, Mandela, and The Losers. His roles have been amazingly varied and in each of them, he has demonstrated exceptional versatility. There is no reason to believe that his performance in The Dark Tower will be any different.

The Long Telegram of George Kennan

The Long Telegram of George Kennan The Long Telegram was sent by George Kennan from the United States Embassy in Moscow to Washington, where it was received on February 22nd, 1946. The telegram was prompted by US inquiries about Soviet behavior, especially with regards to their refusal to join the newly created World Bank and International Monetary Fund. In his text, Kennan outlined Soviet belief and practice and proposed the policy of containment, making the telegram a key document in the history of the Cold War. The name long derives from the telegrams 8000-word length. US and Soviet Division The US and USSR had recently fought as allies, across Europe in the battle to defeat Nazi Germany, and in Asia to defeat Japan. US supplies, including trucks, had helped the Soviets weather the storm of Nazi attacks and then push them right back to Berlin. But this was a marriage from purely one situation, and when the war was over, the two new superpowers regarded each other warily. The US was a democratic nation helping put Western Europe back into economic shape. The USSR was a murderous dictatorship under Stalin, and they occupied a swathe of Eastern Europe and wished to turn it into a series of buffer, vassal states. The US and the USSR seemed very much opposed. The US thus wanted to know what Stalin and his regime were doing, which was why they asked Kennan what he knew. The USSR would join the UN, and would make cynical overtures about joining NATO, but as the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, the US realized they now shared the world with a huge, powerful and anti-democratic rival. Containment Kennans Long Telegram didnt just reply with insight into the Soviets. It coined the theory of containment, a way of dealing with the Soviets. For Kennan, if one nation became communist, it would apply pressure on its neighbors and they too might become communist. Hadnt Russia now spread to the east of Europe? Werent communists working in China? Werent France and Italy still raw after their wartime experiences and looking towards communism? It was feared that, if Soviet expansionism was left unchecked, it would spread over great areas of the globe. The answer was containment. The US should move to help countries at risk from communism by propping them up with the economic, political, military, and cultural aid they needed to stay out of the Soviet sphere. After the telegram was shared around government, Kennan made it public. President Truman adopted the containment policy in his Truman Doctrine and sent the US to counter Soviet actions. In 1947, the CIA spent considerable sums of money to ensure the Christian Democrats defeated the Communist Party in elections, and, therefore, kept the country away from the Soviets.​ Of course, containment was soon twisted. In order to keep nations away from the communist bloc, the US supported some terrible governments, and engineered the fall of democratically elected socialist ones. Containment remained US policy throughout the Cold War, ending in 1991, but discussed as something to be reborn when it came to US rivals ever since.