Ed Wood. The man, his films, and their meanings.

I will say this much to start with: I am a fan of the films of Ed Wood. In fact, Ed Wood‘s work can be considered a reason to be grateful for the joys of home video and film preservation. Without either of those things, we, the plebs of the later twentieth and early twenty-first century would not be able to enjoy his work. But this also provokes a myriad of questions. Like every celebrity that walks or walked an unusual path, Ed Wood‘s work and life prompts a number of questions that one can learn from by answering.

Learn to see the “worst” movies!

So here I am, midnight approaches, and I am watching one of the biggest disasters ever financed by Warner Brothers, one of the oldest studios that still exists today. I am watching no less a turkey of a film than Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. Superman IV is a classic example of when a franchise has gone on for too long without any real creative input or the money to pull off the ambitions of the creative staff. In the mid to late 1980s, Christopher Reeve was making it public knowledge that he was tired of playing Superman. After the debacle that was Superman III (or Stuporman ZZZ as Mad Magazine correctly dubbed it), one can hardly blame him. But all of this is beside my actual point.