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Just
because they're fictional doesn't mean they can't change. Updates and Comments to The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived Fictional characters are just like real people: they grow, they change, often in response to the rest of us. We don't want you to think that just because what we wrote has been printed, we aren't aware of the continuous evolution of these characters. We live in a very dynamic world.
Here are some of the things a few of our characters have been up to. And please tell us if you know of something that we've missed. We'd give you credit for bringing it to our attention (contact information on the home page).
Betty Boop 2024 Hot on the high heels of fellow fictional Barbie (see below), and following an "encouraging" 2-month run in Chicago last year, the Betty Boop musical is getting set to open in the spring of 2025 on Broadway (contrasted with Barbie's movie -- hey, show business is show business, like no business we know). Sure, in 2025 Betty will be 95, but it's likely she won't look a day over 25 when the musical is unveiled.
Godzilla 2023 December has just begun, and already there's another Godzilla movie, now playing in theaters. This is the 37th in the franchise, 33rd in the Toho Godzilla series. Entitled "Godzilla Minus One," the tagline is "Postwar Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb." As stated in The [New Jersey] Star Ledger (December 1, 2023, page C5), this film "shows Japan's iconic kaiju has plenty of fuel in the reactor."
Nessie 2023 The Loch Ness Centre (yes, that's how they spell it) in Scotland is trying to build a brand and grand new search for Nessie. They want to get lots of amateurs -- with their drones and infrared cameras -- to participate in a massive new search, using much of modern technology, including hydrophones, for the weekend of August 26-27. It's supposed to be the largest of its kind since the 1972 search we reported on in the essay.
Barbie 2023 She's in the news again. First, following in the steps of GIJoe, there is now (released Friday, 21 July) a Barbie movie, described by the movie's director (Greta Gerwig), as a "pink, glittery existential dance party."
And second, directly relating to to this news: the movie has been banned in Vietnam. The movie somehow managed to include a map that shows some islands in the South China Sea as Chinese territory, offending the government of Vietnam, which also has laid claim to those islands. In their effort to court the greatest population base, the producers of the movie have seen the numbers: China has a market that is at least ten times the size of that in Vietnam. In fact, the producers apparently worked hard -- though not hard enough -- to camouflage the offending scene, which incorporates errors and omissions in the cartoonish map.
Of course, in these hyper-sensitive times, attempting to placate one group is likely to irritate some other group. You can't please everybody. Not even Barbie can work that miracle.
Rosie 2023 Rosie the Riveter is again current as an adopted symbol of feminism, in an Iranian protest-poster against the required use of the hijab. It's odd that a bare arm could be accepted in an area that accepts only eyes and hands viewed, at its most extreme dress code, but perhaps that's part of its message.
Sherlock Holmes 2023 In 2023, Sherlock Holmes is no longer protected by copyright, and fully unprotected, with every detail of the sleuth and Dr. Watson now up for revision and reuse.
Marlboro Man 2022 We haven't seen much on him in recent years, apart from a few hints he was still an advertising figure in Asia, but smoking in the US has decreased in the 21st century. We said between 20 and 30%, which was accurate or a tad high in 2006. In 2005 it was 20.9% (21% of adults) and in 2022, 12.5%. None of these figures count the under-18s who smoke in school restrooms, hallways, pool halls, and locations where no pollsters dare to go, so we're confident that our somewhat higher estimates are justified. For now, we'll say smokers constitute 10 to 20% of the population. Read up on PM pollution (Particulate Matter) and you'll see that we're facing enough lung and heart problems without adding tobacco smoke to the mix. So the reduction in smoking is very good news.
What does he have in his saddle bag now? "Red Bull" and more highly caffeinated beverages?
Barbie 2022
What? More Barbie News (see below -- 2019, 2017 twice, 2016, 2015)? YES!
In June 2022 (after time out for quarantine?), Barbie appeared as a transgender woman, adding yet another variation to her hundred-plus career versions, and demonstrating her enduring power to adapt to changing cultural developments. This doll can't be pigeonholed, any more than real people can.
Nancy Drew 2020
A third Nancy Drew TV series began in 2019, adding to the already-congested Nancy Drew universe. We'll watch developments, to see how long this series lasts.
Superman 2020 Superman revealed his secret identity as Clark Kent this year. In DC Universe Superman #18, (Brian M. Bendis, et al., Bob Harras, Ed-in-Chief), dated February 2020 (but purchased mid-January), he realized that his double life was what he needed "originally," but not now. As paragon of truth, justice, and well, the Kansas-Kryptonian way, how could he continue this deception? Well, we'll see how long that lasts. He's come back from death, been afflicted who knows how many times with red kryponite, married Lois and had a son with her, and still held down his job at The Daily Planet. Is this really the original Superman, or one from another dimension? Or one from a parallel reality who'll exist for the next ten issues? Aside: We've seen pretty convincing clues that Smallville is in Kansas, but this issue gives that as a definitive statement. Good. We'd be pretty upset if it turned out to be in Missouri, or Alt-Kansas of Dimension Z10. Then again, DC-USA has Metropolis, Gotham City, and a couple other cities which may or may not be currently intact. Reference: "Truth," Superman, 18, DC Universe, Bendis, Brian Michael (writer); Reis, Ivan (pencils); Prado, Joe (inks); Sinclair, Alex (colors); Sharpe, Dave; "February 2020," © 2019, DC Comics, Burbank, CA, (UPC#) 7-61941-35774-7 (01811).
Barbie 2019 In September 2019 Mattel introduced a line of "Creatable World" dolls, which are not really Barbies, but preteen figures lacking the sexual markers of facial hair and bosoms, and also, apparently, hip width and muscle mass. These are gender-neutral, and more realistic to the 1960s preteen body (no Fat Albert doll in this line, no Lizzo, Oprah, Al Roker), but how many kids identify as "non-binary?" Some, it seems. Mattel reportedly interviewed 250 families, not saying how many identified with other than male and female (we came up with nine others for our rainbow flag, plus genetic supermale and superfemale). Some reports claimed that this is the first line of neutral dolls; we didn't investigate. (What about the pet rock, or the Cabbage Patch Kids?) There is one key marketing advantage: The new figures can be dressed as male or female, to any degree, meaning that you can buy several times as many outfits for the same doll.
Smokey Bear 2019
He turns 75 years old on August 9. In the aftermath of the devastating fires in California (and elsewhere) last year, it might be helpful to consider: Has his presence been a good thing, a bad thing, or a mix of good and bad? Many people have retired by the time they're 75. Is it time to retire Smokey Bear?
Bambi 2018
An accomplished Missouri deer poacher (references available on request) who took the heads of his kills and left the carcasses to rot has been sentenced to prison time--with the additional requirement that he must watch the movie Bambi once a month while in jail. (He and two buddies were held responsible for several hundred illegal deer kills, and fined $51,000, plus court costs.)
Rosie the Riveter 2018 Naomi Parker Fraley died in January 2018, aged 96, one of the women who were models for illustrations of Rosie the Riveter. [The cell-phone generation might not recognize this character, used to encourage women to take industrial jobs in WWII. It was a radical concept--women handling tools. Impossible! Females stayed at home or with children in that sexist era, except for a few secretaries and nurses. Until war production demanded more workers so the men could fight.]
Although
Naomi had been a lathe operator, she hadn't posed for the famous poster, in
which "Rosie" flexes a bicep, and glares at us as she raises a fist.
"We Can Do It!" was the caption.
Geraldine
Hoff Doyle, a metal-worker during the war, hadn't posed either, but in the
mid-1980s believed that she was the defiant woman in the poster.
When she died, news reports lamented the loss of the real Rosie.
But no connection between her photograph and the poster had been
established, only that she looked like the woman in the now-famous 1943
illustration by J. Howard Miller.
Miller's poster girl hadn't been named, but she came to be called Rosie in parallel with the larger woman in the "Rosie the Riveter" painting by Norman Rockwell.
Seton
Hall professor James Kimble solved the mystery in 2015 by linking Miller's
poster to a photo of Naomi that had appeared in a Pittsburgh newspaper. Ironically, the "We Can Do It!" poster doesn't show any tools or machinery.
Lady Chatterly 2017 November 16, 2017: BBC news posted a story of an art exhibition display called Lady Chatterley's Tinderbot. The display is the result of a Tinder app that used lines from the 1928 novel to have limited conversations with real men. It's on display in a theater in Salford, Greater Manchester, UK, and part of a presentation by several artists that the theater titles "humansbeingdigital." The artist of interest, Libby Heaney, created profiles for Lady Chatterley, her husband, and her lover. The exhibit's scheduled to run from late November 2017 through most of February 2018. The bot used some explicit language, but the BBC didn't post that. You have to go yourself, apparently.
Barbie November 2017 In late
2017, Mattel unveiled a new Barbie to be available in stores the next year.
It's a Muslim Barbie, identified not only by the hijab that covers her
head, but also by being modeled on an Olympic fencer on the US Bronze-medal
saber team. Photos show
the doll in Olympic white, holding what we first assumed to be an epee. However, photos of saber competition show a much thinner
weapon than we've seen in movies of Western and Civil war cavalry.
In any case, we are certain that this is not a light-saber, cutlass,
broadsword, or Claymore. Competition records imply that she's holding an Olympic saber, but don't test a Barbie with any kind of sword. Barbie's a success at anything she does. And if she doesn't win the first round, remember: plastic doesn't bleed, you do.
Barbie January 2017 In the end of January 2016 (see below), news
media reported that Mattel was making a change for Barbie.
No longer would the doll appear exclusively as the impossibly
proportioned tall, thin-waisted ideal. Her
trademark body type was joined by three other dolls, all sold under the same
name. The new Barbies were
intended to be more realistic: one each in tall, petite, curvy.
The "curvy" type seems to have gotten the most press, but she
doesn't have the hourglass shape you might expect from that description.
We'll call her "Pudgy." She's got a figure many girls can
actually achieve--given enough cheeseburgers. For better or worse, there were more options
available than three new body types. These
were reported to be as many as thirty hair colors, and at least twenty-two
hairstyles, seven skin tones, fourteen face shapes, and eighteen eye colors.
Wait. Aren't there only
seven eye colors? Did they add
red, tawny, chartreuse, maroon, periwinkle, sand pebble, beige, cornflower,
squash blossom, pinkeye, and bloodshot? There could be easily over a million possible Barbies, and
more if they add body types to match Whoopie Goldberg, Marilyn Monroe, Linda
Hunt, and Mother Theresa. While we're thinking about form, what happened to
the original Barbie, the saucy Parisian with her sleek black hair and
zebra-stripe swimsuit--can't they bring her back? Is it time they offered
the Zombie Bride® Barbie to kids?
We'll assume that Mattel isn't ready to go with gray-skinned
Walking Dead Barbie yet, complete with rotting detachable limbs.
Vampirella® Barbie seems a bit much, as would Golda Meir Barbie.
Maybe Angela Merkel. There was also the question of the video series
and its side characters. We'd
counted at least thirty Barbie videos by 2016.
Would those all be remade, and with how many of the new Barbies?
What would happen to the Fairies, Mermaids, and Princesses of these
videos? And the more ordinary
characters in Barbie's world. How
about Skipper? And Chelsea,
Stacie, Camilla, Laureen, Midge, Blaine, and of course, Ken? We'd wondered about Ken, that clean-cut suburban white kid, her on-and-off boyfriend. How long would it be before he had a similar makeover? We expected several new body types, including ones that look like John Cleese, Ben Kingsley, Al Roker, and Alfred Hitchcock. In June 2017, our wait ended with the announcement of fifteen new Kens with nine hair styles, eight hair colors, two additional body types, an undisclosed number of eye colors, and from what we've seen pictured, perhaps nine skin tones. A mere ten thousand or so possibilities. Poor neglected Ken. They should at least add a Shaquille O'Neal version, and Dwayne Johnson, Will Smith, Bill Cosby, Jackie Chan, and Michael J Fox. And we dare them to make a Woody Allen.
Barbie 2016 On January 28, 2016, Mattel -- Barbie's marketing vehicle -- announced that she's undergoing a thorough makeover. The news made headlines the world over, of course. In an effort to keep up with her audience, Barbie's going to appear with different shapes and different skin tones -- just like real people. One size and color hardly fits all. Last year's Fashionistas® line will be further enhanced. So here are some of the variations on the Barbie theme:
There could be as many as 8 Million possible Barbies -- but only 33 are planned to actual production so far. The new Barbies are expected to be in showrooms in Spring 2016. (She's probably still going to be banned in Saudi Arabia.) We think that what we wrote in 2006 -- "The trailer-park Barbie with three menial jobs and a dozen kids is not one you’re going to find" -- will continue to be true for a while. But in the fictional world, nothing is certain. What real people do you think were the models for the three new body types? What do you think they should have chosen? Will you join a Twitter® campaign to add more?
Barbie 2015 When we wrote on Barbie, we found only a couple of videos starring her. In 2015 there were more than two dozen videos, such as "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus," and picture books, too. You might find only one or two videos, but check imdb.com or Amazon, and it's amazing. We saw Barbie picture books and a few $8-$12 dolls in two New Jersey supermarkets. What stores don't have a Barbie item now? OK, maybe not at Napa Auto Parts stores.
Superman and Batman 2016 In 2016, DC Comics launched a reworking of their storylines, covering anything from Action Comics to Wonder Woman, and the revisions will probably be rolled out over the next several months. The heroes of this new series seem to be the recognizable ones we're used to, but a good many details may be different.
After an overall "Rebirth" issue, applicable to their entire universe, each affected hero has a "rebirth" #1 issue as a prologue, then a series of issues with the "R-" word after the hero's name, starting with a second #1. (Superman's second venue, Action Comics, seems immune to the numbering chaos -- so far: the "first" issue is #958--got that?)
Godzilla 2015 On 3 June 2015, Godzilla was formally granted Japanese citizenship. The monster, born on 9 April 1954, is a resident of the Kabuki-cho neighborhood of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. The monster was appointed Shinjuku's tourism ambassador in April 2015.
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News Page last updated 1 July, 2024 |
