June 29th, 2008
I believe it may have been Quentin Tarantino (probably in Kill Bill if I’m remembering it right) who commented about the interesting thing about Clark Kent and Superman is that Kent is the alias, at his core Superman is exactly that, Superman and it is Clark Kent who is the mask.
It is something that always interests me about the character and despite my commitment to all things comic bookish there is actually very little that does interest me around the character. Batman has always been the more interesting of the DC comics titans (no I’m not talking Teen Titans I mean titan in its classical term).
I also think people often forget that he is actually an alien despite looking like the ‘perfect’ human.
I wonder if this is not similar to the way the Greek gods were portrayed. Although on second thoughts the gods were always portrayed with the human traits of envy, jealousy, anger and greed. These are not the traits that are often associated with the Man of Steel.
Except of course in Superman III which we don’t tend to give very much credit to.
A testament to the acting ability that Christopher Reeve had inside him are the extraordinarily impressive display of duality found amongst the mess of the Superman III plot.
The thing from a writing point of view is that Superman is very hard to write for. He can’t lose control because if he does he can wipe out an entire city.
Everything in his life is about control, from the smallest thing such as holding a coffee mug without crushing it to dust to not leaping too far over the tallest building and launching himself into space.
The problem then becomes that the character is flawed in his flawlessness, something that is often brought out by writers like Frank Miller and characters such as Batman.
He’s an icon though, can’t deny that.
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Categories: Comics |
Tags: christopher reeve, clark kent, dc comics, frank miller, greek gods, man of steel, quentin tarantino, superman iii | 1 Comment
March 12th, 2008
The other week Superman III was on TV as the late night movie, I of course sleep two minutes a day so this was a joyful occasion. Seeing Superman III this way is pretty much the only time I’m ever going to see the film as there is no way I’m ever going to buy it or for that matter it’s follow up film Superman IV. It says a lot too because lets face it, I even bought Terminator 3 in the pursuit of completeness.
No, Superman III and especially IV are too awful to have them in my house (maybe if they get reduced to $5 each or are donated).
Yet it also must be admitted that I was glued to the television watching it the other night, granted it was in the same way you are drawn to an accident or someone’s misfortune (when they aren’t in any great danger of course).
It was during this viewing that it dawned upon me the importance of this film and how it serves as a vital reminder to the makers of comic book related movies.
It also saved Star Trek IV The Voyage Home whom everyone knows as the whale one, I’ll explain all of this in a second.
You see Richard Pryor made a comment one day about how much he enjoyed the Superman films, he may have been referring simply to Superman II but this is neither here nor there.
Someone involved with the studio and the film series saw this and had the bright idea to fuse the success that Pryor had in several very funny films and the blockbusters that were the Superman franchise.
On paper this may have made the world of sense. In reality it made Superman 3.
Please do not get the impression that I’m not a fan of either Superman or Richard Pryor. I like each just fine, I like avocado and strawberries too but never together. On their own they are awesome, together I don’t even want to think about the drink I would need to wash the flavour out of my mouth. (to be fair I’ve never tried the two combined - there are just some things in this world that I don’t need to try)
So the lesson here is do not try and breed two giant popular franchises together to try and produce one mega scary awesome franchise because more often than not it will not work.
Back to Star Trek IV or in normal people talk the whale one, the studio discovered that Eddie Murphy is a huge Star Trek fan and would have loved to have been in a trek film. Scripts were written and tweaked to accommodate him and his style but in the end the studio thought it best to keep their properties separate.
I don’t know if Superman III actually influenced the decision but I would be surprised if it didn’t.
The second lesson to learn from Superman III is that one should not try and shoehorn a style that is inappropriate to the material. The importance of the cultural icon that you are working with should never be watered down because you think it’s silly or not dramatic enough.
There is more drama and exploration of the human condition packed into comics than will ever be captured by your average ‘important’ film.
Yes the initial premise is hard to take as seriously but if you don’t take it seriously you will lose the audience. If you are unable to see past the colourful costumes then you have no business making a comic book movie or perhaps you should focus on an Archie movie.
Has this lesson been learnt?
No, not always and it is these films that have not been successful because of it. I’m looking at you Judge Dredd and Batman and Robin.
We study mythology at university because of its importance in our cultural identity and it is only of late that some academic circles are recognising that comic books and films are our generation or era’s contribution to myth.
So thank you Superman 3 you big ‘inaccurately depicting weather satellites’ film.
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Categories: Comics, Movies |
Tags: blockbusters, comic book, film series, iv the voyage home, richard pryor, superman films, superman ii, superman iii, superman iv, terminator 3 | 12 Comments
