Andorion writes "How many comics will make it to the big screen, how many will be as good as Spiderman or X-Men, and how many will be as bad as Daredevil? Who knows, but the new trailer for The Hulk was just released, and it looks pretty sweet!"
Re:Another misuse of CGI
by
Iamthefallen
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Ah, the new age of CGI. Remember Jurassic Park? Terminator 2?
Back when CGI was used to create things that didn't exist, or create spectacular scenes and special effects that'd be near impossible to make with conventional films. For a while now however, CGI is simply the cheaper alternative. It's easier, faster and cheaper to blow up something in a computer than to actually rig explosives, if it looks real is irrelevant. It is a step back to the corny special effects of previous decades where the audience is asked to not look to closely at the screen. When CGI is used to create scenes that are hard to do in reality it is a Good Thing, when it's used to keep the budget down it usually tends to suck badly.
-- Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
The Fatal Flaw makes the Hero
by
PMuse
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
The Marvel pantheon is full of deep, fascinating characters (as well as some real stinkers). The best of the Marvel heroes revolve around some fundamental question of humanity or some basic emotion. For instance:
Spiderman = Responsibility. Stan Lee's quip, "With great power comes great responsibility" may not be as catchy as "Up, Up and Away" or "To the Batmobile, Robin", but it's a lot more inspiring when you think about it. Pete Parker received a talent by random chance, an accident, something that he had no say about. That talent has been both blessing and curse to him. That talent is what makes the stories fun to read. What Pete does with that talent is what makes them meaningful.
Hulk = Rage. Bruce David Banner is a civilized, intelligent man. The raging child inside him is anything but. The writers of this book have spent years dousing for the sources of the ever-flowing font of rage that wells up within Banner's fractured soul. His father, his mother, his wife, his father-in-law, his employers. About the only thing they haven't thrown at poor Bruce, as far as I can recall, is children. It doesn't hurt the story any that it was the work of Bruce's own intellect (the gamma experiment) that set the monster within him loose. Now, every day that Bruce wakes up amid the wreckage of some unfamiliar place, he must ask "My God, what have I done?" of his actions taken both while monster and as a man.
Iron Man = Weakness. Bright and shiny on the outside, a lifestyle of flash and sparkle. But, within, there are flaws. Billionaire playboy inventor Tony Stark has a weak heart, is an alcoholic, and has no lasting relationships. Is his entire life a hollow shell? In addition, Iron Man must also deal with the constant possibilities that the handiwork of his mind, which is also the foundation of his fortune, can be so easily turned to evil by others. Iron Man, and to some extent the Hulk as well, must address the problem presented over and over in Tolkien's works: the creations of our intellects can turn against us to work great evil because all machines, once created, have no governing wisdom of their own. Bruce Banner's science opened Pandora's Box and found the Hulk inside. Tony Stark tried to create a better world through technology and learned that technology is equally powerful as a tool of evil.
Captain America = Idealism. Steve Rogers is a man of high ideals faced with a world filled with awful circumstances. Sure, he can try to fight the bad guy, but he's only human and he often fails. What's harder to fight are the situations where the country he loves hasn't lived those ideals.
X-Men = Alienation. While individual X-men have very individual stories, the series overall explores the question of conflict between diverse groups. The homo sapiens v. homo superior conflict serves as a metaphor not only for race relations, but for relationships between parents and children as well. Each mutant must deal with the feelings of isolation and loneliness they experience while acting out their personal mythology: "nothing like this has ever happened to anyone buy me."
Green Lantern (and Dare Devil) = Fear. Courage is an act that only those who feel fear can perform. I'm not sure that either of these characters lives up to their billing as being "without fear", but they both show that it's possible to act in situations that would scare the living @&%! out of any rational person.
To sum it up, every great hero needs a fatal flaw. The flaw is how the reader relates. The flaw is how the tale teaches. Stories in comics are just as full of flash and bang as any other mythic tale, but they can also be as full of substance.
'Nuff said.
-- "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, the new age of CGI. Remember Jurassic Park? Terminator 2?
Back when CGI was used to create things that didn't exist, or create spectacular scenes and special effects that'd be near impossible to make with conventional films. For a while now however, CGI is simply the cheaper alternative. It's easier, faster and cheaper to blow up something in a computer than to actually rig explosives, if it looks real is irrelevant. It is a step back to the corny special effects of previous decades where the audience is asked to not look to closely at the screen. When CGI is used to create scenes that are hard to do in reality it is a Good Thing, when it's used to keep the budget down it usually tends to suck badly.
Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
The Marvel pantheon is full of deep, fascinating characters (as well as some real stinkers). The best of the Marvel heroes revolve around some fundamental question of humanity or some basic emotion. For instance:
Spiderman = Responsibility. Stan Lee's quip, "With great power comes great responsibility" may not be as catchy as "Up, Up and Away" or "To the Batmobile, Robin", but it's a lot more inspiring when you think about it. Pete Parker received a talent by random chance, an accident, something that he had no say about. That talent has been both blessing and curse to him. That talent is what makes the stories fun to read. What Pete does with that talent is what makes them meaningful.
Hulk = Rage. Bruce David Banner is a civilized, intelligent man. The raging child inside him is anything but. The writers of this book have spent years dousing for the sources of the ever-flowing font of rage that wells up within Banner's fractured soul. His father, his mother, his wife, his father-in-law, his employers. About the only thing they haven't thrown at poor Bruce, as far as I can recall, is children. It doesn't hurt the story any that it was the work of Bruce's own intellect (the gamma experiment) that set the monster within him loose. Now, every day that Bruce wakes up amid the wreckage of some unfamiliar place, he must ask "My God, what have I done?" of his actions taken both while monster and as a man.
Iron Man = Weakness. Bright and shiny on the outside, a lifestyle of flash and sparkle. But, within, there are flaws. Billionaire playboy inventor Tony Stark has a weak heart, is an alcoholic, and has no lasting relationships. Is his entire life a hollow shell? In addition, Iron Man must also deal with the constant possibilities that the handiwork of his mind, which is also the foundation of his fortune, can be so easily turned to evil by others. Iron Man, and to some extent the Hulk as well, must address the problem presented over and over in Tolkien's works: the creations of our intellects can turn against us to work great evil because all machines, once created, have no governing wisdom of their own. Bruce Banner's science opened Pandora's Box and found the Hulk inside. Tony Stark tried to create a better world through technology and learned that technology is equally powerful as a tool of evil.
Captain America = Idealism. Steve Rogers is a man of high ideals faced with a world filled with awful circumstances. Sure, he can try to fight the bad guy, but he's only human and he often fails. What's harder to fight are the situations where the country he loves hasn't lived those ideals.
X-Men = Alienation. While individual X-men have very individual stories, the series overall explores the question of conflict between diverse groups. The homo sapiens v. homo superior conflict serves as a metaphor not only for race relations, but for relationships between parents and children as well. Each mutant must deal with the feelings of isolation and loneliness they experience while acting out their personal mythology: "nothing like this has ever happened to anyone buy me."
Green Lantern (and Dare Devil) = Fear. Courage is an act that only those who feel fear can perform. I'm not sure that either of these characters lives up to their billing as being "without fear", but they both show that it's possible to act in situations that would scare the living @&%! out of any rational person.
To sum it up, every great hero needs a fatal flaw. The flaw is how the reader relates. The flaw is how the tale teaches. Stories in comics are just as full of flash and bang as any other mythic tale, but they can also be as full of substance.
'Nuff said.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)