Spit on Superman’s Cape
God finally. I am so sick of superhero movies (not to mention adults who read comic books but that’s a whole other rant), and finally someone else out there puts their boot into this dreary, noisy, crass, and pointless genre. In a hilariously bitter rant against the latest remake of a remake of a bad fifties tv series, Jason says:
Hollywood spends a lot of its time and seemingly all its money these days making superhero movies about guys with ’special powers.’ Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, Fantastic Four, etc., ad nauseum. And here’s the rub: I don’t remember guys like Humphrey Bogart or Gary Cooper or James Cagney or John Wayne or even Harrison Ford having ’special powers.’ The only ’special powers’ those guys had were their fists, their wits, and their character - their substance as human beings. Most of us in life don’t have ’special powers’ to brood over. We’re just regular Joes trying to get by, and we have a hard time relating to wonderboys like Brandon Routh or Tobey Maguire because their problems seem extremely trivial, and because while they probably look great in Zegna suits on the cover of GQ they don’t look like they can take a punch. Nor do they seem to stand for much. I know what Gary Cooper stood for in his films. I have no frigging clue what your cute little superheros stand for, other than their own narcissism.
Superpowers and the characters that have them are boring. It’s much more interesting to read a story or see a movie whose characters have to get themselves out of dangerous situations with no more than the same human strengths and weaknesses that people have in real life. I’ve read that superheroes and their superpowers are actually representations of the weaknesses and desires of their creators, but if I wanted to worry about the psychosexual problems of other people I’d have become a psychiatrist. Most writers, it is true, are crazy as cats in paper bags, but the really good ones don’t write exclusively about the inside of the bag.
D’oh! update two days later: I just realized I should have titled this post “Tug on Superman’s Cape.” Oh well.
That last sentence is great!
Comment by Jim C. - June 17, 2006 5:20 pm
I just love the fact people are upset that Superman is being portrayed as a poof. I mean Superman has always been so very very gay.
Comment by Andrew Ian Dodge - June 17, 2006 5:22 pm
Batman doesn’t have suerpowers
Comment by ccs178 - June 17, 2006 8:34 pm
Have had too much perfectly proper painkiller today but I think it all has something to do with Nietszche and transhumanism and New Age crap, this fascination with… what Andrea is writing about, whatever that was. Or Jason or someone.
Comment by marc - June 17, 2006 8:44 pm
Batman might not have superpowers, but he has a ridiculous costume that no real criminal would be able to look at without collapsing with laughter. That being said, I find the Batman films the most enjoyable of the genre, probably because of all the goth elements. The tv show, however, was idiotic, except for Frank Gorshin’s Riddler character. There’s something wrong when a kid is cheering for the villain to win.
Comment by andrea - June 17, 2006 10:32 pm
Yes TV’s Batman was amazingly camp. It was horrible and hard to watch even as a child.
Comment by Andrew Ian Dodge - June 18, 2006 7:04 am
Super powers are a little boy’s idea. He feels the call to be able to do good things, but lacks the ability to pull it off. That and being able to see through clothing.
I always identified with super powers because I have them myself.
Comment by rhhardin - June 18, 2006 10:45 am