Homestuck is a webcomic that prides itself on being hip and intellectually elevated. The response from fans to an article I wrote indicates that such hipness and intellectual snobbery may be somewhat less than deserved.
What is Homestuck?
If you remain unaware of Homestuck as an internet phenomenon and MS Paint Adventure and Kickstarter success story then you either don’t have kids or aren’t aware of this here thing called the internets. (As George W. Bush liked to refer—and probably still refers—to it.) Homestuck, created by Andrew Hussie, may one day move out of its comfort zone as an MS Paint Adventure and become a movie of one sort or another. (Either funded by Kickstarter or not). There is an old saying in the world of entertainment: “A comic is a person who says funny things; A comedian says things funny.”
That makes Homestuck a webcomic.
Homestuck Fans Response
This article in its original form was deemed too confusing by Homestuck fans. Andrew Hussie went on Twitter to call it the most baffling article about Homestuck he’d ever read. This is hilarious since Homestuck fans pride themselves on their beloved webcomic being more akin to something by James Joyce than Charles Schulz AND that Andrew Hussie’s creation has been called much worse than baffling by its critics (see links below). Based on comments by Homestuck fans that the article—since removed—received, I can only say that any comparison to James Joyce must be based on those who have found the comic to be too abstruse for comprehensive understanding since it appears that the typical fan would have a difficult time following the linear progression of a William S. Gray book, much less a Charles Schulz comic and that anyone single sentence by James Joyce would be well outside any possibility of understanding by those Homestuck fans who took the time to leave monosyllabic commentary.
Homestuck Fans’ Problems with Apprehension
Experimental non-fiction is too far above the ability of the average Homestuck fan to latch onto. Allow me to further alienate the fan base of Homestuck by forcing them to attempt comprehension of a movie a thousand times more complex than their own beloved MS Paint Adventure webcomic by quoting Bogey from “Casablanca.” Just like Rick Blaine relative to deciding to emigrate to Casablanca for the waters, when it comes to the heightened level of intellectual ability of Homestuck fans, “I was misinformed.” Judge for yourself, however. Here is the rest of the article that seems to have been far too confusing for the minds of many Homestuck fans to apprehend.
The Original Article That Confused Homestuck Fans
Comedy is hard. Death is easy. That makes Homestuck a juggler.
Those balls or knives or eggs or bowling pins or chainsaws that Homestuck juggles are known in the literary world as themes. Or, perhaps tropes. Hard to say in this postmodern world where themes and tropes sinuously intertwine in a way that confuses people nearly as much as irony and coincidence.
Theme or trope? You decide. A cursory examination of what the Homestuck webcomic offers and what a Homestuck movie would deliver includes concepts touching upon the literature of the classic Gods that you may know better as mythology, video games (which means everyone under the age of 60 at the very least can relate) and the convergence of television and internet entertainment. In a way, there is something about Homestuck that almost seems organically disinclined to take on the medium of cinema. But don’t let that stop you, Jack!
Internet culture. Is that one of those things like compassionate conservatism and military intelligence? Not to judge from how Homestuck attacks a world where “trolling” is most definitely not about gruff billy goats or a world in which “to Tumblr for ya” has nothing to do with boys named George. Webcomics are not necessarily all about comedy as the name might suggest, but enough comedy exists on the almost daily updated Homestuck to create as much laughter among high school students as used to be stimulated by the 1970s cast of “Saturday Night Live” and primetime sitcoms combined.
The world those of us over 40 used to know as reality is gone; Homestuck is the new face of John Belushi and Robin Williams. Prettier, too, if you can get past the overabundance of horns. Get ready for it if you still get your laughs above the waistline, sunshine, because very soon your world will be rocked.
Unless it isn’t. Because, after all, Homestuck has been compared to James Joyce more often than Charles Schulz. So who knows? It could become a movie. Unless it can’t.
Advice
Memo to David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Guy Maddin, and any other filmmaker who does not worship at the feet of James Cameron or Michael Bay: Do NOT be talked into making a film version of Homestuck. Your language of cinema is way, way, way too far over the heads of many Homestuck fans.
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