Fandom: December Talking Meme #8: Fast and the Furious vs Pitch Black/Riddick

[escritoireazul]

December Talking Meme Master List

(There are still some days left open in the meme, if you want to suggest a(nother) topic.)

Day 8 suggested by devon: Can you tell us about Fast & Furious versus Pitch Black/Riddick and how you prefer your Vin Diesel?

I prefer my Vin Diesel any way I can get him. A talking tree who basically only repeated one line was my favorite character in Guardians of the Galaxy because of the way he dealt with the intonation. I live a Vin Diesel appreciate life all day every day.

The Fast and the Furious was the first movie I saw Vin Diesel in, and I fell in love. I have such a soft spot for Dominic Toretto, and I imagine he will always be my favorite Vin Diesel character. Toretto hits so many of my buttons: he's a mechanic who is incredibly loyal to and protective of his family, to the point of making terrible mistakes and becoming violent when a family member is hurt or killed, who brings people together (he's their gravity, as Mia says) and struggles to keep their world steady. Also, he's hot as everloving hell with a voice that just doesn't quit. I love big men with growly voices (see also, J), and yes, yes, yes.

Shortly after I watched Fast and the Furious and fell in love with Dominic Toretto and Vin Diesel, my friend Keya found out I had never seen Pitch Black and suggested I remedy this IMMEDIATELY. She was not wrong. I had heard nothing about Pitch Black at that point, which was a real shame, because Pitch Black is amazing.

While I like the rest of the series well enough (though I have some serious issues with Riddick that were so frustrating I had to vent to raz0rgirl over Skype because just typing up my frustrations were not enough. [Basically: OMGWTF I FUCKING TRUST YOUR MOVIES NOT TO BE SUPER SHITTY TOWARDS WOMEN. WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK HAPPENED WITH RIDDICK? WHY? SO MANY CHOICES WERE THE SHITTIEST CHOICES EVER. GODDAMN IT.]), Pitch Black is my favorite. (And Riddick could have been up there, because it really felt like a return to the Pitch Black style, except see previous rant.)

Pitch Black is a horror movie in space, and I love it. I love all the characters, I love their weaknesses, I love their fears and fighting. I love the cinematography. I love the monsters. I love the light, and I love the darkness. I used to have movie nights with my sisters and one of my brothers in law where we'd watch Pitch Black far more nights than not, and quote our favorite bits to each other until they became jokes (the "looks clear" bit remains an in-joke with Sister K) (we would also often get Chinese food and watch Lost Boys, because yes) (Sister K and I actually also make references to Tokyo Drift as a part of our in-jokes, particularly "this ain't no ten second race") (these asides are just driving home the point my real number one fandom is Vin Diesel, aren't they?). I can watch Pitch Black again and again and again and never get tired of it.

Riddick is not my favorite part of Pitch Black, though. I mean, he's awesome, and I love his controlled violence (and the many times he's bound in chains, yes, more of that please), but for me, Pitch Black is all about Jack and her disguise as a boy [and Jack as a trans guy is A+ storytelling in fanfic], Shazza's attitude (OMG SHAZZA), and Carolyn Fry's redemption. The guys are just dressing to that storyline, really, including Riddick. (And Radha Mitchell is amazing and strong and lovely.)

(Aside, I swear that Cole Hauser plays his character in The Cave as inspired by Vin Diesel playing Riddick, especially as more animalistic traits start to appear. Also, I just learned that Cole Hauser is filming a new Lizzie Borden tv miniseries, which, yay! I love Lizzie Borden stories.)

I will watch Vin Diesel in anything. (No, seriously, I own The Pacifier. /headdesk) Like I said in an earlier post, I don't tend to keep up to date on actor's lives, but the bits of things I've learned about him over the years are adorable: his love for D&D, the way he interacts with his fans via Facebook, the way he's super open about his love for his friends and family, and the way he seems so enthusiastic in creating these worlds I love.

So, basically, my preferred Vin Diesel is any Vin Diesel, but Dominic Toretto and the Fast and the Furious series are my absolute favorites. That series, and all its characters, own my heart.

Comments

[escritoireazul]

Yes. So much this. And I am just -- I'm so glad the series continued, but at the same time, it's left so much more room for heartache to follow. My shiny cars and hot people movies shouldn't break my heart, damn. It's going to be a thing all right.