Fandom Tropes: Let's Go In To The Movies
Apr. 8th, 2008 07:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficDespite what Alan Moore may want, just about everyone sees movies as the grand culmination of a work of fiction. Sure, it's great to have a best-selling novel or a TV show that runs for seven seasons, but what if it was on the silver screen with an A-list cast, a budget that ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars, a visionary directory, and a screenwriter we found working at Kinko's? And in live-action, no less. There's a reason fans were so much more impressed by a movie with a weirdly-voiced Batman and confusing action sequences than with a decade's worth of animated glory. And why no one wanted to see Justice League with Beowulf-style CGI rotoscoping (okay, no one wants to see Justice League anyway, but come on! Armey Hammer playing Batman? What the shit is that fuck?).
Comics are no different. Perhaps it's because cinema gives comics a sense of validity. While it would be embarrassing to hand someone a volume of Marvel Masterworks depicting Spider-Man's origin and his battles with the Green Goblin, you can plop them down in front of one of the Spider-Man movies and expose them to the Marvel universe without any shame! Unless it's Spider-Man 3.
Besides, it's always nice to be able to see the Hulk and the Abomination throwing cars at each other instead of just imagining it from some still pictures.
So, with so much energy devoted to movie adaptations, here are some key tropes to keep in mind.
1. Dream-Casting. So who's going to PLAY the superhero? Fans will get their hopes up about which superstar could assail the inner torment and staggering class of Dr. Doom (Gary Oldman? Daniel Day-Lewis? I SAID DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, SIR!), only to be inevitably disappointed when it turns out to be the guy from Nip/Tuck playing the Green Goblin with the powers of Colossus and Electro's ass-baby. The key thing to note here is that fans will usually cast based on looks rather than acting ability (or they'll just type-cast an actor into a certain archetype. Ryan Reynolds can play both Wally West and Deadpool!). When casting the Black Cat, though Elisha Cuthbert may look good in a leather catsuit with long white hair, her proud breasts nearly escaping from the confines of that partially-unzipped bodice, her pert ass encased in skintight vinyl, her long legs... where was I again? Something about how she can't act? I watched 24, you're gonna have to trust me on this, people.
2. Story outline. This can be as simple as a vague summary ("I want Kingpin and his men in the first one, then Bullseye in the second, and add Elektra into the third!") to a full-on fan script. But ask any comics fan worth his salt what they would like to see if TPTB filmed a trilogy about their favorite superhero and he'll probably bring out charts and poster mock-ups from the back of his car. This is where a lot of misconceptions about the movie industry come into play. Namely, that it exists to translate comics to film as if they were the Holy Writ. Hollywood doesn't even treat the Holy Writ like the Holy Writ. Imagine how "guy in red satin tights who beats people up" works.
First off, I've never heard about a trilogy being filmed back-to-back. Lately, there've been trilogy sequels filmed this way, but only when the first movie is a monumental success (The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean). Or not (Chronicles of Riddick, Jumper). Lord of the Rings was famously filmed all at once, but then it really doesn't work as one film and then maybe sequels, or two films and then maybe a sequel, or (God forbid) one film. That was quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime event (just look at what it's taking to get The Hobbit off the ground, if you don't believe me). And that was Tolkien. Most comics aren't Tolkien. Debate amongst yourself whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I saw one guy who wanted to see a Flash trilogy with a new Flash each movie. First Jay Garrick, then Barry Allen, then Wally West. But the very point of the sequel is that the audience already likes the character. Think about what happened when Halloween 3 didn't have Michael Myers. Imagine how you'd feel if you went to see Indiana Jones 4 and it was about John Lee Hancock, played by Chris Rock, a wacky waiter who finds himself embroiled in a crazy hunt for archaelogical artifacts! If the audience sees the first film and likes it, they want more of the same. More Jack Sparrow, more Black Pearl, more adventure... with a careful rationing of new elements to make sure it's fresh. That's why the latter Friday the 13th films still revolve around Jason, but they all add shit like "he's fighting a psychic," or "he's going to New York," or "he's dead!" Well, he was dead to begin with, that's the problem.
Besides, Wally West could wipe the floor with all those other goobers. Why do you think DC killed Bart to get him back?
Truth in Television alert: The production team on Iron Man has made no secret about how they've planned for sequels, including Tony Stark's alcoholism and Rhodey becoming War Machine. How did us fans get so lucky? Well, it has to do with the fate of my firstborn son. Sorry, Junior, but IRON MAN BLOWS UP A TANK. My choice was clear.
3. Actual movie! The ever-popular pastime of getting excited about, nay-saying, and trying to find out about a movie that's actually in production (SQUEE!/THEY'RE GOING TO MESS IT UP!). This is rather self-explanatory.
Comics are no different. Perhaps it's because cinema gives comics a sense of validity. While it would be embarrassing to hand someone a volume of Marvel Masterworks depicting Spider-Man's origin and his battles with the Green Goblin, you can plop them down in front of one of the Spider-Man movies and expose them to the Marvel universe without any shame! Unless it's Spider-Man 3.
Besides, it's always nice to be able to see the Hulk and the Abomination throwing cars at each other instead of just imagining it from some still pictures.
So, with so much energy devoted to movie adaptations, here are some key tropes to keep in mind.
1. Dream-Casting. So who's going to PLAY the superhero? Fans will get their hopes up about which superstar could assail the inner torment and staggering class of Dr. Doom (Gary Oldman? Daniel Day-Lewis? I SAID DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, SIR!), only to be inevitably disappointed when it turns out to be the guy from Nip/Tuck playing the Green Goblin with the powers of Colossus and Electro's ass-baby. The key thing to note here is that fans will usually cast based on looks rather than acting ability (or they'll just type-cast an actor into a certain archetype. Ryan Reynolds can play both Wally West and Deadpool!). When casting the Black Cat, though Elisha Cuthbert may look good in a leather catsuit with long white hair, her proud breasts nearly escaping from the confines of that partially-unzipped bodice, her pert ass encased in skintight vinyl, her long legs... where was I again? Something about how she can't act? I watched 24, you're gonna have to trust me on this, people.
2. Story outline. This can be as simple as a vague summary ("I want Kingpin and his men in the first one, then Bullseye in the second, and add Elektra into the third!") to a full-on fan script. But ask any comics fan worth his salt what they would like to see if TPTB filmed a trilogy about their favorite superhero and he'll probably bring out charts and poster mock-ups from the back of his car. This is where a lot of misconceptions about the movie industry come into play. Namely, that it exists to translate comics to film as if they were the Holy Writ. Hollywood doesn't even treat the Holy Writ like the Holy Writ. Imagine how "guy in red satin tights who beats people up" works.
First off, I've never heard about a trilogy being filmed back-to-back. Lately, there've been trilogy sequels filmed this way, but only when the first movie is a monumental success (The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean). Or not (Chronicles of Riddick, Jumper). Lord of the Rings was famously filmed all at once, but then it really doesn't work as one film and then maybe sequels, or two films and then maybe a sequel, or (God forbid) one film. That was quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime event (just look at what it's taking to get The Hobbit off the ground, if you don't believe me). And that was Tolkien. Most comics aren't Tolkien. Debate amongst yourself whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I saw one guy who wanted to see a Flash trilogy with a new Flash each movie. First Jay Garrick, then Barry Allen, then Wally West. But the very point of the sequel is that the audience already likes the character. Think about what happened when Halloween 3 didn't have Michael Myers. Imagine how you'd feel if you went to see Indiana Jones 4 and it was about John Lee Hancock, played by Chris Rock, a wacky waiter who finds himself embroiled in a crazy hunt for archaelogical artifacts! If the audience sees the first film and likes it, they want more of the same. More Jack Sparrow, more Black Pearl, more adventure... with a careful rationing of new elements to make sure it's fresh. That's why the latter Friday the 13th films still revolve around Jason, but they all add shit like "he's fighting a psychic," or "he's going to New York," or "he's dead!" Well, he was dead to begin with, that's the problem.
Besides, Wally West could wipe the floor with all those other goobers. Why do you think DC killed Bart to get him back?
Truth in Television alert: The production team on Iron Man has made no secret about how they've planned for sequels, including Tony Stark's alcoholism and Rhodey becoming War Machine. How did us fans get so lucky? Well, it has to do with the fate of my firstborn son. Sorry, Junior, but IRON MAN BLOWS UP A TANK. My choice was clear.
3. Actual movie! The ever-popular pastime of getting excited about, nay-saying, and trying to find out about a movie that's actually in production (SQUEE!/THEY'RE GOING TO MESS IT UP!). This is rather self-explanatory.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-08 03:15 pm (UTC)ROFLMAO!!!
And, thank you for doing it...
no subject
Date: 2008-04-08 05:32 pm (UTC)I think when it comes to comics, though, everything is better off being left animated. The moment you have a grown man in the batsuit, no matter how cool-looking or realistic it is or how good-looking the man underneath is, it's still gonna look fucking awkward. I'd love it if they would make a serious/dramatic Batman or general DCU show that was an hour long, but animated.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-08 05:39 pm (UTC)Because Daredevil being able to beat the Kingpin in one movie is just... no. NO.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-08 05:53 pm (UTC)