Terminator Salvation: What's in a Name?
Filed under: Action, New Releases, Remakes and Sequels
The film itself might lack a certain something (coherence, for example), but the opening credits of Terminator Salvation offer a lot of food for thought, especially if you like to think about names. Which I do!I was mildly surprised by the very title of the movie, which I had assumed was Terminator: Salvation, with a colon. That's how sequels are usually styled (e.g., Terminator 2: Judgment Day), but this one appears onscreen -- twice -- as simply Terminator Salvation. What does that mean? Does the story tell of how the Terminators were saved? (Spoiler: no.) Is the film about the salvation of the Terminator franchise? (Certainly not.) The only way the title would make sense is if it had the colon. Terminator: Salvation would mean that it's an entry in the Terminator series of movies, and that this entry is called Salvation. I'm sorry, but these things are important. (After some googling, I see that NPR's Linda Holmes has made a similar observation. So I'm not the only one.)
Then there are the names of the cast members featured in the opening credits, some of which are truly awesome. Moon Bloodgood! Jadagrace! Michael Ironside! Common! Some of those aren't even real names, but they still sound cool, especially when displayed in a futuristic techno font.
Finally, we come to the name of the director: McG (pictured). His real name is Joseph McGinty Nichol; he chose McG as his professional name presumably to prevent people from taking him seriously. Now he spends most of his time complaining about it, as if the name that he chose is a burden to him. A profile in last week's Entertainment Weekly discusses it at some length:
He's spent the past decade battling the perception that just because of his name, he's some shallow jackass. Or, as he puts it, ''a lightweight with some hip-hop nickname and a gold chain around my neck, who drives a Lamborghini.'' It drives McG nuts that with nearly $570 million under his belt at the global box office, he still has to explain himself. ''If you can't get past my name after 12 years in this industry, you're not invited,'' he says in his L.A. production office two weeks before the film's release. ''If you don't have the hustle to figure out that McG's short for 'McGinty,' which is my mother's maiden name, and that she's the least funky person ever, I'm kind of done. My name won't define my movies. My movies will define my name.''
I agree that it's unfair to judge people based on bad names that their parents saddled them with. But McG wasn't saddled with this one. Here's a tip, Joe: If you don't want people to treat you like you have a goofy name, don't choose a goofy name for yourself. That problem is easily preventable. Quit your crying, you big McBaby.
By the way, my new professional name is Gassy McFartsalot. Why won't anyone take me seriously?!?!?
Names, ladies and gentlemen. Names!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-19-2009 @ 8:33PM
mezzanine said...
Brutal.
Where's the Terminator review?
Reply
5-19-2009 @ 9:36PM
Erik Davis said...
We'll have a review tomorrow along with our epic McG interview.
and to Johnny Rock -- the post is more observational and obviously way over your head. Go read a newspaper if you want the news.
5-19-2009 @ 9:10PM
Johnny Rock said...
What is the point of this post exactly? The people who write for this site should just stick to reporting news. Once they start giving opinions you get pointless posts like this one.
Reply
5-19-2009 @ 9:58PM
Philpott said...
The people who write for this site have been posting their opinions (good or bad) for some time and it makes this site entertaining to some. Don't diss if you don't like.
5-21-2009 @ 3:14AM
SrA said...
This is the second time I've read a blog stating a severe inaccuracy. You guys should do more homework. It's like the Bale spasm ordeal, everyone seemed to jump on it like rabid dogs, accusing him of being this or that (when the DP had a poor tendency to f**k with lights after "action.")
Given that you write for a site that has such a grand following, it would pay to do a little more digging than some quote on EW. The actual quotation on the matter included the statement that "McG" was coined at birth so as to cut down confusion between his uncle and grandfather who were both named "Joe."
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5-19-2009 @ 10:14PM
Dan L said...
Unless his grandfather was also a filmmaker, he probably could have used a grown-up name when it came to his profession, don't you think? He'd probably not have that confusion problem then, yes? I actually have a family nickname for almost the exact same reason - I guarantee it won't be on my business card anytime soon.
5-19-2009 @ 10:05PM
carg0 said...
don't care what he calls himself, he directed two of the worst movies of all-time (charlie's angels 1&2).
he's a hack.
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5-19-2009 @ 10:45PM
Matt Goldberg said...
It's called "Terminator Salvation" because Marcus Wright is looking for salvation and he's a terminator. Mystery solved.
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5-26-2009 @ 2:34PM
Jonathan Kuhn said...
Yeah, whether or not they intentionally made this the title, the Marcus Wright storyline makes it work.
5-20-2009 @ 2:20AM
shamon said...
cant wait to read the review
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5-20-2009 @ 3:50AM
madafak said...
He's a clown, and would still be one with or without the "name"... not only for crying about it and making crappy movies...but comparing himself with Michael Bay.....wtf?
Hit him as hard as you can with the reviews and all the nonsense he says XD.
Reply
5-21-2009 @ 3:21AM
BigJ said...
If you or Mr. Snider took the time to look, McG hasn't had issues with his own name, he merely pointed out facts, no? If your family nickname was as cool as McG, maybe you wouldn't be so bitter, yes? I think what was being pointed out is that yet another article regarding McG's name is just trite. Furthermore, signing off with some childish statement, that's true, but won't be the only reason we don't take Snider seriously. Besides, where is it noted that McG's grandfather was a filmmaker?
I think the simple point is Snider answered McG by telling him to not self proclaim, which, is not factual.
Other than that, I think we would have all done better reading a review of the flick than a hack personal attack.
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5-21-2009 @ 10:25PM
William said...
If I remember correctly, McG didn't actually get to pick "McG"; since both his uncle and grandfather were also Josephs and they all lived together, he was called "McG" as a child.
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5-21-2009 @ 10:26PM
William said...
The inference being that he was called "McG" to differentiate him from the other two guys in the house with the same first name.
6-19-2009 @ 1:38AM
Ric said...
I was really surprised to see that "McG" was spelled in all caps during the opening credits... "MCG" sounds like a pretty weird name, if you don't know it's "McG"!
Reply