James Cameron's new $200M CGI blockbuster is set...in Papyrus?
Chances are that you've caught a few whispers about Avatar, the much-hyped film from James Cameron that will open nearer the end of the year. You likely saw the trailer when it was released last Thursday, when it demolished Apple.com's record for a trailer debut with over 4 million views on that day alone.
The ballyhoo is not entirely without cause; we're talking about a film that spent four years in production and utilized new 3D capture technologies – and then Fox Film Entertainment, the studio behind the movie, went ahead and named last Friday "Avatar Day," whatever that means. Point is that this movie is not a penny-pinched, no-name, hopefully-we-make-money sort of outfit. Which is why I stared in disbelief when I saw the onscreen titles peppered throughout the trailer. The first one hit and I didn't notice. Maybe I didn't want to. But the second time I paused...scrubbed backward...wait a...is, uh...is that fucking Papyrus?! Yeah. Now, I'm not going to go off on the font. It has its drawbacks, but it wouldn't catch nearly as much ire as it does were it not so unnecessarily ubiquitous. The thing I'm trying to wrap my head around is how Papyrus was 1) recognized as a viable option at the start, 2) green-lit through the many levels of the review process, and 3) finally approved for full-scale adoption. I'm not trying to say that Papyrus has zero worth – just that there are so many others that could have done the job better, especially given the epic sci-fi/fantasy genre. Shouldn't it have been something less weak, less antique? Something unique, sleek, more chic? That would certainly incite lighter critique.
