Some reasons why I love Movie-Cap

As I’ve mentioned, I always found the comic book Steve Rogers to be completely boring. I understand that they wanted his true power to be his unerring moral compass, but he’s perfect in every other way too—he is always sure of himself, he has no fears, no psychological damage… no personality, really. Some like Bernie will debate this to the death with me, but that’s how I see it. But now that he's been depicted on the big screen... I am in love. I find the move version of the character fascinating, and I wanted to ramble a little bit about why. And I swear, it's not just because I want to jump his perfectly formed bones.

Traditionally in comic books, male characters are depicted as masculine self-insertion fantasies. They are extremely strong, emotionally invulnerable, and of course they are very attractive to the women in the universe. This is not because they are depicted as what women actually find attractive, but because the female characters are acting in the service of the masculine fantasy. They look like what male readers supposedly want to look like, and the women are attracted in the way the readers would like them to be.

But this tendency is what contributes to that huge big problem that comics book have in how often they give off a powerful vibe to women of “THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.” Superhero comic books often indulge hypermasculine fantasy concepts— such as high violence, low emotion, powerful men and sexualized women —and most of the people who are conditioned to find those fantasies appealing are men. And if you don’t have that conditioning, you don’t often find shaved bear men built like refrigerators to be all that relatable. I mean, in one particularly egregrious example, take a look at how notoriously terrible artist Rob Leifeld depicts Cap:

Um... yuck? This is exaggeration, not idealization. And yeah, this is worse even than usual, but it's the extreme of a ubiquitous problem. And I find it stomach-turningly offputting.

Given this theory of what masculinity "should be," there is a long history of when a lot of women find a certain man particularly alluring, other men start deriding that man on the grounds that said alluring qualities make him unmanly or even gay. Often it's for excessive prettiness, or just for not being as traditionally masculine as a desirable man should be under their schema. I read that Rudolph Valentino got a lot of that back in the day, and modern day examples include Orlando Bloom and even Justin Bieber. It stems from a combination of envy for their desirability with ideas about how caring about one's looks is supposed to be a feminine responsibility, how men can't be hot because only men care about hotness, so if a man is hot it's gay.

But to play Captain America in the film, they didn’t find a shaved bear of a man with a shape like a refrigerator. Quite the contrary, they found an exceptionally beautiful man. And the difference that makes is unbelievable. It’s not just the fact that I’m a shallow person who really enjoys looking at beautiful men. (Though I am.) It's that in presenting me with a person who is pleasing to my eye, as opposed to an earlier conception of the same person who is less so, they are acknowledging that my eye and others like mine are in the audience. And more than just acknowledging me, they are are courting my viewership. This beautiful man makes me want to come look, to join that audience. For rising out of a medium that has so much history of scaring the female audience off, that is a remarkable turnabout.

But that's not the only subversive, even progressive aspect of how the film portrayed Steve. For how sexy and gorgeous he is, and how we are allowed to regard him in that capacity, he is not excessively or inappropriately sexualized. He's actually a virgin, pretty explicitly so. This is in the face of the enormous cultural stigma against men with no sexual experience. But the film does not portray this as a negative, unmanly thing; far from it, it is one more thing that shapes the admirable man Steve is. Yeah, he was the kind of dork that some associate with being a virgin, but more than that, it's about his personal value system. He has his own strict code of conduct, something that's very important to him. He's the sort of person who wants to wait for the one, for real love, and anything less isn't enough for him. It's so earnest and decent that we respect him for sticking to this belief system even though it doesn't conform to our own. I find that massively progressive. I mentioned this in my initial review of the film, but it bears repeating: how cool is it that they made a tough, masculine action hero that dudes want to be like with VIRGIN stamped on his forehead? And frankly, I find incredibly attractive.

And you know what, I just plain like beautiful men. Not even necessarily in a stroke material sort of way. I DESPISE how often it is a asserted that by "objective aesthetic sensibilities" the female form is inherently more beautiful than the male one. That's such male-gaze-influenced garbage. I love the masculine figure, and even beyond sexual attraction, I just enjoy basking in the beauty of it. Especially a man like Chris Evans. Dreamy blue eyes, perfectly styled good boy hair, full lips, lovely cheekbones, strong jaw. And that body-- well, suffice it to say, like a work of art, I could just look at him all day.

There are other small adjustments that make the character more human and appealing. This Steve Rogers is young. In the comics he’s a more mature presence, but in the movie they made him more of a boy. This I think was an excellent decision. (Especially in contrast with Tony, who is more of a man, but that's another discussion entirely.) Young people are less formed, have had less time to grow past their issues and figure themselves out. This allows for Steve to not be totally sure of himself, to not have a complete handle on the things that he's insecure about. And he's insecure here, in a beautiful, human, sympathetic way. Leading up to the procedure, he was a complete dork. Even when people are no longer the person that they used to be, the self-image created by their previous state doesn’t just disappear. Having spent more than twenty years as a skinny, awkward nerd that got picked on and ignored, a modest guy like him is not going to shake feeling like that nerd right away. Even after a magical transformation into his current Adonis-like state. That insecurity adds a dimension of humanity, that he may look perfect on the outside, but on the inside, he sometimes feels awkward, unsure, and not very special, just like real people do. And you know what else? Sometimes even perfect Captain America is awkward! Steve Rogers is not a smooth operator. I find it unbelievably cute that he's not worldly, doesn't know how to talk to girls, and sometimes trips over the right thing to do or say. I get the feeling that we sometimes think really desirable guys often have a really arrogant attitude in regards to other people, like "I can have any woman I want, what makes you good enough for me?" But there's no superior attitude there at all-- in fact, he sometimes isn't comfortable with himself. So he would never make anyone feel like they're not good enough.

Finally, I was reading a well-written article on The Good Men Project that was about how female dominants more often exist in the form of desiring the position of control and comparative emotional strength, rather than the classic image of the smacky woman in black leather. I was not so interested in the BDSM aspect of it, but I did connect with how it posits, quote, that “The key component of the female gaze… is vulnerability.” Emotional nakedness rather than emotional armor. I had never thought about it that way, but upon reflection it feels true to me. The fact that they included that youth and insecurity in this conception of the character confers a real vulnerability on him. I love that he's such a good man, the fact that that goodness is his real power. He's endlessly courageous, self-sacrificing, and decent. But he's not always sure of himself, not full of himself despite his own goodness. And yes, yes, that vulnerability is SEXY.

This has gone on way too long, so best to stop there. But those are some of the reasons I can't stop thinking about Movie-Cap. <3

Beginning work on my graphic novel project

Right now I'm doing my first bit of actually productive work on figuring out the plot for my graphic novel assignment. I always have trouble when I try to start a project without already have an idea for it, as opposed to starting the project because I was struck by an idea. But I think I've got at least the seedling of a plotline. Ages ago, I wrote a ten minute play set in the same universe as To Think of Nothing, about the first actress to play the role of Selene in Cassander's play being afraid that she's not good enough for the role, and not good enough for her acclaimed director, who she regards with a kind of reverence that might hint at something more. I like the bones of that play, but it should really be rewritten now that I've grown as a writer. I want to adapt the idea of this piece for the comic, because I click with the concept at least enough to begin, though I am still deciding how much I want to stick to it or deviate from it.

I go often to using theater as my subject matter, because I know and love it well. I can get engaged and write intelligently about the process of making theater. As of this writing, my two one acts that have been performed use theater as subject matter, To Think of Nothing and Merely Players. From there, To Think of Nothing spawned Fountain Thoughts, and that little piece I wrote to practice iambic pentameter. Eventually I'd like to write other things in that universe. Then there's Merely Players, from which I am in the practice of adapting the larp Break a Leg. There's also Just So, which lovingly mocks the kind of people that are sometimes drawn to theater. I hope to not overuse it, but when I'm having trouble figuring out what to work on it's a good shortcut to getting myself invested in the material.

The question now is whether to follow the thread as it appears in Fountain Thoughts or to just use it as a jumping-off point. I know I want a major concept in the piece to be a rivalry between two female artists, played by niobien* and blendedchaitea*. But a scene I worked on today that I am really feeling makes the most sense if Rachel's character, at least, is a dancer. Now, I could make it so they are both dancers and actresses-- certainly a thing that happens --but perhaps just to move myself away from my typical milieu I should make this a story about dance rather than theater. I'm even lucky in that my two first choice models are talented dancers. But if I did that, I'd be concerned that my lesser familiarity and understanding of that process would make me less able to depict an interested story within it. I guess I'll have to work on the plot a little more to figure out which setting would support it better. I just know I really like the one scene I did today, and that at least requires dance.



Adviser meetings went well, projects set

Met with both my advisers this morning to nail down my projects for the semester, and I feel good about them. My playwrighting adviser is going to be Jami Brandli, who I've admired because of both how cool she seems and how young she is to have become a successful writer; she's got to be less than forty, and yet she's one of my teachers. And I've read some of her work, she's really good. I decided to be very frank about the stuff residency makes me struggle with, and she was very understanding, which I appreciated. I will in fact be working on Mrs. Hawking, which excites me. Jami is interested in plays that focus on women's narratives, so I think she will appreciate what I'm trying to do. I also have to write an eight to ten page essay on an aspect of the playwrighting craft that I struggle with. Not sure what that subject will be, but I think the focus on a weakness will teach and improve me a lot.

The other project I am going to do is some kind of comic. My adviser here is a really nice graphic novelist named John Rozum who is giving me a ton of freedom to experiment with the form, which is cool. I don't know what my plot is going to be yet, but I have decided I want niobien* to model for my main character, and I want blendedchaitea* to feature prominently as well. First of all, I think they are lovely girls who I would enjoy taking pictures of. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, I have seen that they are remarkably good at conveying information with just their expression and body language. I knew that about Carolyn from her awesome performance as the pantomime character in Merely Players, as well as when she modeled as Daphne the tree ballerina/wood nymph. But Rachel first struck me when she was a dancer in Charlotte's Nennivia movement piece. Though she never spoke, I was impressed by how she always got across just what she was thinking from her physical expression alone. So I think they will make excellent physical actors to represent characters in a medium where the visual is so important. I'm sure I'll need more people to play other characters, but I know I want to prominently feature those two.

A gorgeous contradiction

Whenever new people discover my blog, I get anxious about my content. Should I hold off on the silly nonsense for a while and only post, say, polished writings or serious intellectual musing, so as to convince the new readers that I have worthwhile things to say?

But fuck it, this is who I am. My brain gets eaten by larps, I rant about silly pop culture phenomenons, and I drool over pretty boys. Especially the pretty Avengers boys. Which I want to do right now.

I read a Penny and Aggie comic from a few years ago doing a who's who strip of the large cast of characters. They made a point of explaining how, of the two main sought-after male characters in the strip, one is even hotter because he realizes how masculine he is, and the other is even hotter because he doesn't realize how feminine he is. The strip acknowledges how bizarre this contradiction is. And yet, still true. It makes me think of one of my favorite things about some of my favorite Avengers. Tony and Steve are both fabulous, but in a way they make each other more delicious in their contrast, like the salty and sweet in a chocolate-covered pretzel.

You see, Tony is arrogant, splashy, slutty, a smoking hottie and he knows it. Which makes him even more attractive.



Steve is modest, quiet, a little-self conscious, a smoking hottie and he doesn't even know it. Which ALSO makes him even more attractive.



Yeah, I don't know how that works either. But, oh, how it does. How ever how it does. And I'm not ashamed to think that.

...This entry was friends-only for a while. Thought it best not to overwhelm the newcomers right away. ;-)

Study in graphic novels next semester

Just got an email from one of the administrators at my school about my interdisciplinary study. Today she is going to be talking to a professor about being my adviser in my secondary study for the semester, which is going to be about the writing and creating of graphic novels! Last semester I attended a seminar on them during the residency, which alerted me to the fact that they would be an option for my IS. I thought that sounded great, so now I'm going for it. I'm a huge fan of the comic book form, so this is going to be really interesting.

The thing is, I will likely be expected to also provide images to go along with my script, given what a huge part of the medium they are. I can't draw well enough to support a whole comic, but it occurred to me that I might be able to use photographs. I could cast people I knew as the characters and have them model for the shots I would need. I really really like this idea, and I think it would be a lot of fun to do. I don't have an idea for what my piece would be about yet, but it would probably have to be realistic, set in the modern day, to faciliate the kinds of pictures I would be able to take. I have some ideas about the people I'd like to use as models, but of course I'd have to come up with a story first and see who fits the characters that emerge. The idea really excites me, so hopefully I'll come up with something good.

Best Dad ever

This is a father and daughter dressed in matching Wonder Woman outfits at WonderCon. I hope that little girl knows how big a man her daddy is. <3

"I've knocked out Adolph Hitler over two hundred times."

I had the privilege of going to see Captain America: The First Avenger with a lovely group of friends this past Monday, and I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it immensely, way more than I expected to. 

I confess, I’ve never really been interested in Captain America as a character. Yes, I know I tend to penalize superheroes too much for the crime of not being Batman, but while I’m not saying they all have to be dark, gritty angst-fests bordering on psychosis, I tend to prefer my heroes with a little more inner struggle. I always found Cap slightly boring because his unerring moral compass always directs him exactly to the one true right thing to do, with the only conflicts he ever encounters being external ones brought by the bad guy. And what is to me the most interesting part of his character, the “a man out of his time” thing, never gets explored much because of course the comics would rather spend more time depicting him fighting evil or saving the world from crisis.

And yet in this film, far from finding it boring, I was oddly charmed by Steve being simply and purely a Good Guy. Like, not even in the “hero” sense, but in the sense women talk about the men they date— “He’s a Good Guy.” It actually really was, as some of the critics have said, a refreshing change from reluctant Spider-Man, dickish Iron Man, or even my beloved dark Batman. My biggest fear about this movie was that Chris Evans was going to blow it. He would not have been my choice at all, both because he already played one Marvel character (the Human Torch) and because he was pretty lousy at it. But he nailed it. He was so unaffected, so forthright, and God damn it, I really liked this genuine, honest, brave, moral, modest, uncomplicated little virgin who didn’t want to kill anybody; he just doesn’t like bullies.

I mean, seriously. When was the last time you saw a movie portray a tough, masculine hero who basically had the word “VIRGIN” stamped on his forehead? I found that extremely endearing.

Yeah, Captain America is intrinsically at least a little bit corny, something I usually have very little tolerance for. But context is everything. The movie actually addressed that by putting it in context. Captain America, both as a comic book character and as a superhero identity in-universe, was conceived in the forties, a time when people’s sensibilities were not so jaded and, perhaps more to the point, advertising was still a young medium without all the baggage and tiredness it has today. The fact that the government in this movie originally comes up with the idea of Captain America as a living propaganda piece, a cheesy stage show character Steve would play to encourage people to buy war bonds, is so fucking period that it’s perfect. That is totally something the WWII-era government would do. Steve has to desire to be something more than that in order to transcend that cheesiness become something that we can take seriously.

World War II-era America is a fascinating setting. I love the aesthetic and the attitudes. It was a war people believed in, that young men showed up in droves to enlist for, so it’s the perfect milieu for a story about a brave, goodhearted young man whose desire to serve the country and cause he finds righteous leads him to becoming the ultimate valiant soldier. The moment I saw Bucky show up in that uniform, I flashed to the framed photo we have in my parents’ house of a young man, handsome as a movie star, wearing that same uniform in a picture taken the day he enlisted at no more than nineteen years old. That was my grandfather Arthur Roberts, who served as an infantryman in Britain and Germany. He still has shrapnel in him from combat. My other grandfather Joe Leone was a little older, and was an airplane mechanic stationed in the Pacific. Both of them volunteers who went because it was the right thing to do. That resonates with me, and probably most people, which explains why World War II is such fertile ground for heroic storytelling.

Abraham Erskine was played by Stanley Tucci, who I’ve loved since I saw him in an embarrassing disaster movie that I like to this day just because of him. His Erskine was ponderous and warm, the articulator of the heart of the movie in how he saw the real goodness in Steve and gave him a chance to have it make a difference in the world. For flavor-of-the-times reasons, I wanted him to get a bit more trouble for being German in America, but as Hyde pointed out, he is supposed to be Albert Einstein. Though I knew it was coming, I was sorry when he died, as I tend to like the character who has his eye on the bigger picture when everyone else is caught up in the smaller things of the here-and-now.

I really, really liked how they portrayed the romance between Steve and Peggy. It feels both genuine to the way things worked in that period and to Steve’s character. In the forties, respectable boys and good girls dated around if they pleased, they treated each other like gentlemen and ladies, and they didn’t sleep with each other until they were quite serious, or possibly not even until they were engaged or even married. Peggy may be worldly, but Steve has always been invisible to girls and too shy to seek them out— a Nice Boy with “VIRGIN” stamped on his forward. It takes time for them to be charmed by each other, and their progress toward romance is slow and careful. A few vaguely meaningful conversations, an exchange about dancing, the newspaper-cutout picture of Peggy Steve puts in his pocket watch. It takes them the whole movie to even arrange a date. I also liked how they started building it even while Steve was still a scrawny wuss boy— it wouldn’t have reflected well on Peggy if she weren’t starting to develop esteem for him until he got the sexy sexy abs and pecs.

Which brings us to the obligatory beefcake portion of my review. What can I say, I have a weakness for cut abs. Chris Evans is pretty hot, as he is good-looking, the uniform suits him, and he really works the neat, clean-cut forties hair, but he’s too delicately pretty for my tastes, so I confine my dirty, dirty objectification of him to below the neck. When he first comes out of the chamber after treatment with the super-soldier serum, I had to put my eyes back in my head. But to be honest, I thought the handsomest guy in the movie was his sidekick Bucky. First let me say that they made the choice to make Bucky Steve’s old friend and age contemporary, who enlisted before Steve was able to. It surprised me but I found the choice really worked and made their friendship more genuine. And more to the beefcake point, Bucky was played by a pretty, pretty man with the more overtly masculine aspect I prefer who ROCKED the uniform like whoa. Though I find myself slightly weirded out by the notion of being attracted to Bucky, particularly finding him significantly more attractive than Cap. Shouldn’t be surprised, I guess, I almost never go for the blond if there’s a hot brunet.

I enjoyed Peggy Carter quite a bit, though she brought a lot of little nitpicky issues for me. For one, I think she should have been an American. It’s slightly weird to pair the All-American Hero with an Englishwoman. I liked how capable and non-squishy she was without having to be a ball-buster, and how she was practically an officer like any other, but it seemed a little whitewashed that a woman in the army in the forties should get so little flak. And I loved her styling, with her fabulous victory roles and her awesome on-period clothes with their square shoulders and nipped-in waists, but it irked me that all the skirts were knee-length when they should have been tea-length— more flattering, sure, but less accurate. Still, I think she narrowly beats out Pepper as my favorite Marvel movie love-interest, because the Iron Man movies couldn’t balance her being put-upon with her being impotent, because Betsy Ross barely registered on me, and because I thought Jane Foster was a totally unbelievable character in every conceivable way.

Now let’s just hope if fucking Sharon Carter shows up she is not Peggy’s daughter, or granddaughter, or niece, or grandniece, or any other kind of close descendent or relation, or if she is, she does not get together with Cap. I AM SORRY, but even in Cap’s weird situation, being attracted to somebody because SHE REMINDS YOU OF HER MOM OR GRANDMA is CREEPY AS SHIT. Hate, hate, hate that.

I was pleasantly surprised by how involved Howard Stark was in the plot. I thought he was basically just going to be a neat little cameo to connect Steve and Tony, but it turned out he was around a lot and served as the American army’s primary mechanical engineer. I liked the actor who played him, even with his slightly exaggerated forties speech style, and he even looked a bit like Robert Downey, Jr., but I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t get the silver fox back from the Disney-esque filmstrip in the second Iron Man. His name is actually John Slattery and he’s most recently been known for being on Mad Men, but I can never remember and always just call him the silver fox. Anyway, I look forward to seeing Steve knowing Tony’s father factors into the Avengers movie.

As a total side note, I liked the little moment where Steve was drawing. It was a nice nod to the fact that in the comics he was an art student and illustrator before he enlisted. By the way, the similarity that bears to Hitler’s pre-political career always jumped out at me. Was that intentional? If so, what in the world would they mean by drawing that parallel?

The Howling Commandoes were fun. Dum Dum Duggan was a fabulous representation of the character. I had to roll my eyes a little at their politically correct racial diversity that nobody ever commented on, which is not exactly the norm for the period. I can’t exactly remember the makeup of the team in the comics, but I was a bit sorry the black guy wasn’t Jack Fury, granddad of Nick, and I know that in some continuities Wolverine was a member, which would have been a pretty hilarious cameo (if not quite as hilarious as the one in X-Men: First Class.)

I thought Bucky’s death was well done and mostly stuck to the canon, though it came earlier in the movie than I thought it would. I believe it traditionally basically happens at the same time as Cap’s “death,” but I guess they moved it up to give Cap an emotional blow for the end of the second act of the movie. (See, I have paid attention in my screenwriting classes.) I liked the bit where Steve realized he can’t get drunk anymore because of how his super-body now works, and I loved how when Steve was blaming himself for not protecting Bucky, Peggy told him that he can only shoulder that blame if he didn’t trust and respect Bucky enough to allow him to accept the risks for himself. It’s a remarkably pointed contrast with an issue of Batman’s—Batman never allows any of his teammates to become true partners because he’s incapable of trusting them enough to let them shoulder the same burdens that he carries. It leads to them feeling disrespected and pushed away, so they all eventually leave him. Captain America does, and respected Bucky enough to share his burdens. Which is why Cap makes true friends, and Batman is forever alone.

Hugo Weaving was of course awesome as Johann Schmitt the Red Skull, THE MAN HITLER KICKED OUT OF THE NAZIS FOR BEING TOO EVIL. I’ve always particularly liked him as an actor, and I love the sound of his voice. I’ve read he based his German accent on Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer. I was surprised to see that he spent the first half of the movie looking human, as opposed to like the Red Skull, but that way it makes for a better reveal. How about the neat little detail of the portrait artist looking extremely distasteful as he was painting Schmitt’s portrait sans human mask? The depiction of the Skull was really cool, all the way down to his awesome floor-length leather duster. As witticaster* said, his tailor must have had the most job security of any member of the organization.

Speaking of that organization, my feelings are very ambivalent in regards to HYDRA. I guess it makes sense as a “deep science,” as Peggy says, division of the regime that went off the deep end with it. The idea of obscure “Nazi occultism” is a common story trope. But I just can’t decide whether I think its inclusion is appropriate or not in regards to respectfully portraying a story in the WWII setting. Part of it feels like an excuse to just not have to talk about Nazis, which surprises me, since them and large corporations are one of the few totally acceptable real-world generic movie villains. I certainly don’t like the way the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon uses it as a wholesale replacement for the Nazis. But still, torn about it even as a Nazi-offshoot. On the one hand, I don’t know if it’s totally respectful to the REAL soldiers who did this huge thing of defeating them to include an EVEN SCARIER VERSION RAWR that we need a superdude to take down. But on the other hand, maybe it allows Cap to not take credit away from those real soldiers if he’s busy with a personal, separate but still related nemesis while everyone else tackles the main threat.

I was fine with the ending, though I can see why some people might have felt it was a bit off. I liked how you could be easily tempted into thinking the Red Skull was destroyed, but the way he disappeared looked so much like the expression of Asgardian magic that you can guess something else entirely happened. I loved the last conversation between Steve and Peggy; I was very touched, and found myself both simultaneously wishing that he’d told her he loved her and glad that even then he didn’t—because he knew something that important couldn’t be forced, that they weren’t at that point yet, and he still wasn’t without hope that they still had the chance to get to that point together. That’s why he made the date with her, because he never ever loses hope. I think many found the need to run the ship into the ground a bit abrupt. I am steeped in the comic continuity, so I got that Cap had to end up buried in that ice one way or another, but several of the others I saw it with thought that if you didn’t realize that, you might have found the fact that Cap couldn’t do anything but crash the ship out of the way kind of... weird. 

And then Cap wakes up in the present day. Unfortunately he did not body slam Nick Fury, yelling about how he knew all seven Negro agents of SHIELD and Nick sure wasn’t one of them. Heh. I love how easily it is to update the Captain America timeline—just add to the amount of time he’s been frozen since WWII! I really hope they’ll include him having to deal with some “man out of his time” stuff when they bring him back in the Avengers movie.

Ah, yes, the Avengers movie can happen now. That means Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., and Chris Hemsworth. If that is the case, I have but one request, and anything else can be forgiven.

No shirts, please.

Being the Batman

 

So obsessed with Batman Beyond right now, and I have a ton of things to say about it, but for now, I find myself struck with one thought in particular. I am experiencing quite the little-kid rush of envy for the main character Terry getting to be Batman's protege. I know, I know, there's violence and danger and sacrifice, but rightly now I'm really caught up in the coolness of it. I would want a suit just like Terry's, the very simple, sleek, streamlined design with the ever-so-slightly creepy profile. The suit increases your strength and reflexes to make you a more effective crimefighter, and to negate the need to be an Olympic-level everything the way Bruce was. But I wouldn't want it to look like me. I would want a suit that hid my real shape and made me bigger and taller and was built out around me so that my profile made me look like a man. I like how that would further obfuscate my secret identity, and I think it would make me scarier than if I looked like the little girl I actually am. And perhaps more than anything else, I don't really want to be Batgirl or Batwoman-- I would want to be Batman. I would want the power of that name and that persona. I would love the notion of going around my daily life, pretty little girl, looks so harmless, but actually being the Batman.

I know, I'm a little kid with hero fantasies right now. But damn it, they're fun!

Why I want to watch Batman Beyond

I really want to watch Batman Beyond right now. I wonder if there's a way to get it off the Internet. It has been lurking in my brain for several months now, but since watching other comic book shows that don't quite satisfy what I'd like to get out of them, the desire for Batman Beyond has sharpened. Sadly I was not super-into this show when it was actually airing, but after it ended I realized its genius.

The idea of a "next generation of a popular property" is not a new one, and they often play like attempts to squeeze more money out of a concept based around the theory that kids only are interested in watching kids, so let's make a version of this thing they already like but because it's about a kid they will like even more! Bah. I was always more interested in the adults on the shows I watched as a child as opposed to the kids (wanted stories about Baloo as opposed to Kit on TaleSpin, for example). So Batman Beyond could have been nothing more than one more of those. But in fact, it addressed and explored something that is, at least to me, an incredibly fascinating aspect of the Batman arc.

As time goes on, Bruce Wayne identifies himself more and more deeply with Batman and less and less with the public persona he's built up around his real name. One of my favorite things about him is that while for most superheroes, the temptation is to lay down the burden of having to be the hero, but for Batman, the temptation is to shed having to pretend that Bruce Wayne is who he is, and to instead lose himself in being Batman. He was so wounded by being helpless to protect his parents when they were murdered, that more and more all he can see is the ways people hurt each other and render each other helpless, and his compulsion to be Batman is so that he will never have to feel that helpless again. That is so much more important, that Batman is so much more real to him, that being Bruce Wayne increasingly means nothing to him.

But Batman is so broken that he is not good at forming relationships. He has so firmly placed himself in the protector, the burden-bearer, role that he can't trust anyone enough to let them help him. If he's not protecting them, then they're in danger, and he can't allow anyone to be in danger on his behalf. Anyone who wants too much to be there for him (Dick Grayson, for example) he eventually pushes away. So the natural consequence is that he is going to end up an embittered old man who is utterly alone because he has driven everyone else off-- exactly as he is depicted in Batman Beyond. The only thing he really has at that point is Batman.

But everyone gets older. Everyone's body eventually weakens and fails. In time, even Bruce's meticulously trained and honed perfect crime fighting body is going to fail him, and he can't be Batman without it. The first episode of Batman Beyond shows this-- he has aged and his health has deteriorated to the point where he can't physically do it anymore.

But Bruce needs Batman. He can't BE without Batman, because Batman is who he is. So he can't just let Batman go. But if he can't physically do the things that Batman must do... what is he going to do?

He's going to have to find someone else to be the body of Batman. Somebody young and strong who can perform the feats required who will still need guidance in how to be the Dark Knight. Someone who can do what he can't, but still NEEDS him to continue being the only thing that's real to him. It is so fascinating to me, and in my opinion makes for a powerful continuation of the Batman arc.

So that's why I love it. That it extends the Batman arc to its next logical consequence and explores it so well. And that's why I want so, so badly to watch through it again.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Jared and I have been watching the new Avengers animated series, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I enjoy it more than I expected I would, not being a huge fan of the Marvel characters. The representations of all the characters feel reasonably authentic, and they are doing a good job of balancing how things worked and went in the comics with the restrictions inherent in translating it all to a half-hour kids' television show. The art is in general very good, especially on the men. They have managed to accurately represent the characters and keep their physical dimensions imposing and powerful without verging into Liefeld territory. Tony's design is excellent, and I really like how they've depicted Steve, Hank, and Nick Fury as well. (I think the rarely-seen Bruce Banner looks like a cancer patient with a mullet, but I'm okay with that.) The women look good too, I guess, but I'm slightly irked by how they all look alike to me, lots of tall thin modelesque creatures with different hair and color palettes. At least Wasp, the most prominent female character in the series, is a little distinctive. The animation quality is high, and even the most complicated fight scenes are well-choreographed and visually well-expressed. The voice acting is solid if not necessarily fantastic; I don't like the guy they have playing Iron Man though not for really any good reason, and I'm not sure if they mean Thor's guy to be as hilarious as I find him, but Cap's guy sounds exactly like I always imagined Cap sounding in my head. So all in all, a well-put-together piece of television that I am enjoying watching.

The only real problem I have with the show is that while they've got all this high-quality production stuff going on, the show is about ninety percent fight scene and only ten percent character anything. I guess that's to be expected in a modern kids' action show about superheroes (read: aimed at little boys), and don't me wrong, I enjoy battle scenes too, particularly ones as well done as they have... but frankly I find that stuff less interesting than character development and there's precious little of it happening there. I wanted to see Tony's cavalier, self-centered confidence get him into trouble with the people who care about him, and watch Steve struggle to adapt to a society with completely different social mores than the 40's had. I know, I know, I'm such a woman. ;-) But I feel other superhero shows, like our favorites from the nineties, were better at striking the balance between cool action and real character. I guess modern sensibilities don't expect kids to want that stuff, which makes me sad. My favorite shows from when I was a kid (like Gargoyles, TaleSpin, and Batman: The Animated Series) still hold up for me to enjoy as a twenty-four-year-old, with genuine investment and not just nostalgia, because they nail that stuff. So it makes me a little sad that a show that seems capable of delivering good storytelling can't quite hit the most important part for me.

Girl friends

This comic is one of the few things that can make me wistful about the fact that I have so few close female friends:

Sometimes, Hazel speaks for me. ;-)

I love Girls with Slingshots; it's funny, the storylines tend to be pretty good, and the characters grow and change in interesting, believable ways. I recently got Bernie into reading it as well, and I told him I liked it because in a weird way I relate to it. Bernie said to me, "Oh, I know why you relate to it. Hazel is you if you were an alcoholic charicature of yourself." That is so true. Hazel is grouchy, Hazel is judgmental, Hazel doesn't understand why the world can just do things the way she thinks it should. Not to mention a number of other side traits we have in common. ;-) I relate to her because she lets herself be the way I want to when I'm feeling especially like a big bitchy baby and the world has become utterly un-dealable. ;-)

Thoughts on Iron Man II

Last night Jared and I saw Iron Man II. It was fun, and there was a lot of entertaining stuff, but about every ten minutes I saw something about which I had to declare, "I call bullshit." I enjoyed the movie, but it was not the second Iron Man that I wanted to see.

I really like the character of Tony Stark, especially as played by Robert Downey, Jr. And I hate to say it, but I love how he's an enormous dick that still manages to be hot. And see, my favorite Tony Stark antagonist is Tony Stark. I find him most interesting when he's his own worst enemy. Basically the film I was hoping to see had that same Tony be successfully protecting the world but totally destroying his personal life, descending into alcoholism and acting progressively more reckless due to his growing arrogance and his fear for his life. I wanted him to be alienating Pepper with all his difficult behavior, the breaking point of which is being seduced by Black Widow, who was actually trying to infiltrate Stark Industries and help Whiplash, and that drives her to finally leave him and go to Happy, who I expected to be in the film for this purpose. I wanted him to be screwing up his life, and I wanted there to be consequences for it. There weren't really consequences for anything he did, even using the Iron Man suit while drunk, a moment which offended me probably more than it should. But nobody on the Earth should get away with playing with a weapon while intoxicated, and that kind of pissed me off. I call bullshit.

Then there was the very Walt Disney-style presentation of Howard Stark's city of tomorrow. I didn't mind that, but I did mind the very Da Vinci Code-like hiding of the new-element theory in the park model. Now, I totally buy that a scientist could theorize the existence of a new element before he has the technology to try and synthesize it, which later generations do. I believe that's even happened in real life science. But people leave these things in notebooks, they do not hide them cryptically in models for vanity theme parks. I call bullshit.

Did not enjoy Black Widow. Or maybe I shouldn't even call her that, because she didn't have anything in common with Black Widow except her real name. Maybe I would have enjoyed her more if I liked Scarlett Johansson (as either an actress or as eye candy) but I really don't. I found her character to be totally gratuitous. Basically, "Sexy girl. Sexy girl beats people up. Sexy girl looks sexy. Sexy girl changes in backseat of car in a scene so pornographically choreographed as to be absurd." And Tony is a complete dumbass for being a man in his position and not thinking, "Huh, this woman can do CRAZY MARTIAL ARTS even though she's supposed to be from THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT. SHE CLEARLY ISN'T A SPY, NOPE, NUH HUH." God, I wanted Pepper to be like, "If all the blood hadn't abandoned your brain right now, it might occur to you that that's a little suspicious!"

I can't believe they didn't have her be villainous in any way. I kept waiting for her to betray them and help Vanko, but nope, never happened. Natasha Romanov was a Soviet double-agent in the comics. If they just wanted a sexy secret SHIELD agent, why did they use the Romanov character? Wasn't there some other character they could have had play that role? Maybe Sharon Carter, like Jared suggested? I call bullshit about pretty much every aspect of this character.

I wanted this movie to show Tony destroying everything that was really important to him. And then have the next movie be him putting it all back together. They could have even still had the last scene kept as it was, because I like the idea that Tony manages to publically save everyone while still having ruined his life. But I felt they could have made a much deeper, more believable movie if they hadn't just let the comic-book-logic run wild and let Tony get away with whatever he wanted. He's a douchebag by nature and we enjoy him that way, but douchebags usually get some sort of repercussions for their behavior. 

No Iron Man this weekend

My parents have come and gone, taking my brother back to our hometown with them. It was a nice visit, culminating in a lovely dinner at Bricco's, one of the best restaurants in the North End. I am not as a rule a pasta eater, but the pasta at this place was authentic, homemade, and delicious, so even I couldn't resist. It's so good that Jared and I would like to buy some of the homemade pasta from the specialty store owned by the restauranteur and make it at home.

The new Iron Man movie is out now. We were going to go see it with a group yesterday, but I didn't feel well (big surprise there) and Jared wasn't done with the takehome final he had to finish for today, so we didn't make it. I still want to see it; I heard it was pretty good. Other than Dark Knight, I thought the first Iron Man was one of the best comic book movies to come out in forever, so I have high hopes for the sequel.

As a side note, I dislike when an actor plays more than one major superhero in the movie versions. I just heard that Chris Evans, the guy who played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies, is up for the role of Captain America. That irritates me, especially when they're from the same comic universe. It's like they're not distinct entities. It was bad enough hearing that Ryan Reynolds was Deadpool and might be (will be?) the Green Lantern, but at least one is Marvel and one is DC. Captain America and the Fantastic Four are both Marvel. Not that it's particularly necessary, but now they can never appear together, and now they're too much the same person. I don't like that. I'm not a huge fan of either title, but still, it gets on my nerves.

Randomness of this focus-elusive week

Have been very busy and yet annoyingly unable to focus very well for the past several days. I've still got a lot of work to do in preparation for Festival. Printing and packing hasn't gone nearly as quickly as I'd hoped it would, so I'm a bit behind on my self-imposed scheduel. I've read most of the materials for LXHS, but not everything, so I'll have to get on that.

After polling and gathering opinions, I've decided to go with Larpercalia for next year's Festival nickname. It amuses me and we can always put an explanation on the website. After all, "Festival" is the most important name and the one that people mostly use when talking about it and advertising it; the nickname's just for fun anyway.

This past weekend I held the cast party for To Think of Nothing. I ended up cooking basically a full dinner for it, which turned out to be a good choice as everyone in attendance was pleased and impressed by it. With my three lovely helpers (so nice to have helpers!) nennivian*, katiescarlett29*, and crearespero*, we put together guacamole, chicken braised with cider and apples, garlic bread bruscetta, and the complicated wild rice dish. The extra hands made it easy, and the company was very much appreciated.

I have started reading Penny Arcade. I don't always find it funny, but they do a lot of really sharp commentary and certain strips are hilarious. I decided to check it out on a whim the other day because so many people I know read it. Right now the only web comics I follow are Something Positive (have since high school), Penny and Aggie, Girls With Slingshots, and of course Order of the Stick. I'm not sure if I enjoy PA enough to put in my regular rotation, but I'm glad to have finally absorbed it.

Tonight I am performing in Kindness's post-bac art show. I will have to get in contact with him to find out when he wants me to come over and make sure we're set with our plan. If you're available from 5-7PM, come to the Dreitzer Gallery in Spingold to see the work.

Art imitates life

My cousin totally did this to my aunt.

Quite possibly my all-time favorite OOTS quote:

"Hey, look, I just regenerated a finger. Guess which one."

I don't know what made me think of this just now, but it always makes me smile. :-)

Broke my streak

Kinda wasted today, the first time I've done that since I got home. I'm a bit disappointed with myself, but I just couldn't get myself to focus on anything today. I had an early riding lesson that went very well but left me very tired and sore, so when I got home I didn't have the drive to do much but nurse my aches and read through the archive of Order of the Stick. That really is pretty much my favorite web comic of all time, so I certainly enjoyed rereading it, but it was certainly not conducive to productivity today. I had my internship conference call tonight, mercifully lasting only one hour, and my boss was pleased with the script I wrote. That was pretty much my only accomplishment today, though. I practiced my lines a little, which is something, and I'm trying to write a bit of Paranoia before I crash. Maybe I can redeem the lost time at least a little bit.