The Call to something or other

[seriousfic]

So having watched both Tron: Uprising and some episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man on an in-demand service (I think it's called "Fuck you, getting up early on a Saturday"), I noticed something. In Tron, hero Beck dresses up as Tron after his best friend is killed by the Empire. He does a little family-friendly terrorist bombing, gets picked up by the original Tron who actually works as opposed to this new and untested version (for convenience's sake, we can distinguish them as Tron XP and Tron Vista), and told to continue doing what he's doing. Instead, he basically goes "eff off, my personal hero, I only wanted to avenge my best friend's gruesome death that one time." Then he finds out that his homestead has been attacked and he's the only one who can fight the Empire and Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars.

Then in Ultimate Spider-Man, the premise is that Nick Fury recruits Spider-Man into a sort of Young Avengers Initiative, just with less yaoi than those other Young Avengers. Only every five minutes, Peter Refuses The Call.

Nick Fury: Join SHIELD!

Spider-Man: No! (annoying comedy cutaway) Okay!

Nick Fury: Be part of this team of young superheroes!

Spider-Man: No! (annoying comedy cutaway) Okay!

Nick Fury: They'll also be going to school with you!

Spider-Man: No! (annoying comedy cutaway) Okay!

Also, I hate their version of Aunt May. She's just obnoxious. "My aunt isn't just some old lady, she does skateboarding and 4chan!" Yes, that's great random focus group, why hasn't she shown up outside of annoying comedy cutaways?

I think it all goes back to Joseph Campbell. You see, it's traditional for heroic journeys to feature something called a Call To Adventure (in case you're unfamiliar with this egghead terminology, it's a call to adventure). However, it's coupled with a Refusal of the Call. In theory, it makes the protagonist more sympathetic. They didn't ask for this bullshit, they tried to get out of it, but now they have to do this stuff and on their day off too.

And that does work in certain situations, but nowadays writers seem to think it's obligatory. Like they'll be picking up their Oscar for Best 30-Minute Toy Commercial when the King of Movies jumps up and goes "Wait! His character arc didn't include a Refusal of the Call! HANG HIM!" So you get situations like those series, and even the Green Lantern movie, where the hero goes "ALRIGHT, I AM 100% COMMITTED TO THIS! Wait, no I'm not, five minutes of lazy drama and a pep talk, OKAY, LET'S DO THIS!" It's especially egregious in Spider-Man's case, since he already has a Refusal of the Call in letting Uncle Ben's killer get by him. Also, they give him a motorcycle. Next up: Superman patrols Metropolis from his Super-Hang-Glider!

The odd thing is, a lot of the really big, profitable stories of our time have skipped this step. Not, like, Nicholas Winding Refn pictures. Harry Potter! Batman! They never go "whoa, maybe I *shouldn't* go on an amazing, life-changing adventure." They just go.

In conclusion, the Refusal of the Call is for jive-ass turkeys.

Comments

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

In conclusion, the Refusal of the Call is for jive-ass turkeys.

Fuckin' word. Too bad that less and less people understand this when it comes to Superman, which is how we now get stuff like Smallville, Earth One, and the upcoming Zack Snyder movie.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Just to be That Guy Who Talks Up His Mary Sueish OCs In A Discussion Of Canon Characters, I actually went so metafictional on my Parodyverse stories about my hero that I specifically had him MENTION the Refusal of the Call as a trope that he REFUSED to adopt, even BEFORE he had any superpowers or an invite to take part in the superheroing.

Then again, I also had him respond to the Gyrich-esque asshole authority figure's demands that he reveal his secret identity by actually DOING IT, live on national television, and then telling the Gyrich stand-in, "So, this means that every last one of my friends and family is now under government protection for the rest of their lives, right? Because you just threatened to use the full force of the law to hound me if I didn't make them vulnerable by outing myself, so if you DIDN'T plan on protecting the innocent civilians affected by that compulsory course of action, then that would kind of make you an evil hypocrite who needs to be fired by your bosses for making them look bad in front of all these cameras, now doesn't it?"

[yvonmukluk]

Pfff...they gave Spidey a motorcycle?

Fury should have got him a Spider-Mobile, that'd get him on board in a flash.

Gotta admit, the refusal of the call is why i like Cap so much-the call put him on hold, so he damn well went round to adventure's house and politely asked it to provide him superpowers (and even then, fairly modest ones), a shield and costume for the express purpose of punching Hitler in the face.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ, all of this.

[rdfox.livejournal.com]

You know, it's not Refusal of the Call that I have a problem with--it's that EVERY SINGLE WRITER thinks that you can't have someone be believable without them IMMEDIATELY trying to Refuse the Call. Sure, some people would--I mean, if I got superpowers, I'd probably not start making superheroing my career, though I'd try to help people in trouble when convenient, on the old "good Samaritan" basis--but there's plenty of people who would choose to Answer the Call, or would even actively Seek Out the Call and Force It To Accept Them.

And then there's the vast majority, who'd probably Answer the Call on a lark initially, because it's something cool and new and exciting, and then it would get unpleasant and THEN they'd Refuse the Call. At the very least, Hollywood, give us a few of those situations!