A Fan Poster that “Gets It”

Art

Every time I see a John Carter fan poster that places John Carter and Dejah Thoris together as the main elements, I feel a wave of frustration that not once during the official promotion did Disney ever create a poster like this.  Dejah never appeared on any official poster.  Why?

4 comments

  • Yes but which artist? As we’ve seen all three of the supposed “fans” who worked on this movie didn’t think much of the artists who had drawn Barsoom before. Stanton, Chabon and Andrews thought Frazetta’s art was only appropriate for hippies and their vans; Andrews dismissed Schoonover’s work as old in his response to the guy who dared to criticize the movie on his blog; Chabon loved Gino D’Achille, even though not that many people I know loved his work and I can’t say I’m a fan of his either.

    I think Disney had all the elements it needed from the photoshoots they did. The two images i this fan poster are fine (and yes, Dejah is oversized). I wasn’t a huge fan of the warrior princess approach — but I can see how it makes sense and this pose is a perfect one. I’ve seen probably 10 fan posters that in some fashion depict the same thing — JC and Dejah, plus other elements (or not, as with this one). It didn’t need to be derived from any of the book covers.

    One of the things I learned about doing movie posters long ago is that an image implying a relationship almost always helps generate a more intimate and emotional reaction. I remember we were doing an early teaser poster for a film called “Goodbye America” that was a military film, an we were doing posters that featured the guys in uniform and action images. It was just so-so. Then we came up with the idea of adding a woman (implied girlfriend) clutching a folded flag to her chest, head down…..the combination of the macho military images with that image completely transformed the impact of the poster.

    Just showing John Carter walking toward us in silhouette, or John Carter pursued by White Apes ….. it just misses out on so much of what a poster might evoke. I think it goes to the one-thought “brand” concept — DISNEY JOHN CARTER equals ACTION, although in truth I don’t know how the main poster really does even that, its’ so bland.

  • “I wish they’d done posters with the actors that were inspired by the classic, pulp art done of John Carter over the years.”

    Yes but which artist? As we’ve seen all three of the supposed “fans” who worked on this movie didn’t think much of the artists who had drawn Barsoom before. Stanton, Chabon and Andrews thought Frazetta’s art was only appropriate for hippies and their vans; Andrews dismissed Schoonover’s work as old in his response to the guy who dared to criticize the movie on his blog; Chabon loved Gino D’Achille, even though not that many people I know loved his work and I can’t say I’m a fan of his either. That said it would have been nice to have had Dejah on at least one poster.

  • The intent of the poster is quite good, but Dejah is significantly bigger than John in my perception, she should be in the forefront, or smaller in the background! But it’s good, indeed.

    The fact that Dejah was not featured in the official poster is a nonsense, and it supports the theory that Disney was after a boy’s franchise, even if they adapted a story that ultimately could appeal to everybody.

  • I wish they’d used Dejah, and I wish they’d done posters with the actors that were inspired by the classic, pulp art done of John Carter over the years. It’s like they purposefully ignored those interpretations in the marketing. Not sure whose decision that was, likely Disney, but either way, it was a big mistake.

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