Critical Investigation

"The modern superhero is a far cry from Adam West's caped crusader" Account for the evolution of the superhero in modern day cinema.

Within the last fifteen years we have seen a dramatic shift starting with the Xmen[1] films in Superhero movies and their characters, which have transformed into what we see of them today in modern day cinema as violent, realistic and action filled. Adam West was the iconic Batman actor of the past with the TV series and movie Batman[2], which featured in the mise en scene camp costumes, unrealistic gadgets, tongue in cheek humour, ridiculous villains e.g. the Penguin, and catch phrases for example "Some days, you just cant get rid of a bomb" illustrating the light heartedness of the Sixties Batman. This juxtaposes with nowadays Dark Knight[3] which features dark, thoughtful action scenes, armoured outfits and explosive modern gadgets with references to social contexts such as a post 9/11 paranoia and believable antagonists, such as terrorists and psychotic anarchists (The Joker). There are a variety of factors that have contributed to the evolution and growing realism of the superhero such as, technological advances, box office success, cultural changes, genre and current affairs.

            In an age where the media creates real threatening super villains, such as Osama Bin Laden, and the banking industry, a character such as Cesar Romero’s joker would seem dated and out of place, thus current affairs are frequently present in Superhero movies, whether being the main focus of the film or the background theme. They are also responsible for the target audience, genre, and therefore the evolution of Superhero movies. Statistics and demographics show superhero movies raise in popularity during times of widespread fear, Adam West's Batman of 1966 features a light-hearted, unrealistic threat juxtaposing the current fears of the time with the Atom Bomb in the Cold War. However Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight has frequent patriotic iconography and connotations of the state pulling together to defeat the evil present, which in this case is terrorism and anarchists, feeding off of post 9/11 trauma. This suggests movie productions use of Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory is gradually changing “What Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan successfully did was to choose the right Bat for their era; where Joel Schumacher arguably went wrong was in not reading the wind quite so well.”[4] Therefore the alteration is taking place from escapism to surveillance.

The focus in superhero films seems to be converting from the fantasy aspect and expanding to not just focus on binary oppositions of good v. bad, but to also include a focus on the everyday man. The aspect of verisimilitude in films, such as college settings and teenager angst in The Amazing Spider-man movie in 2012, and Iron Man’s frequent links to a multimillion dollar business funding weapons and technology, allows the audience to use the media product for escapism, however as support by Robin wood ‘Hollywood is now at a point where the distinctions between escapist fantasy and engaged practice can no longer be made. What an increasingly sophisticated audience demands from what previously would have been regarded as escapist is changing, and even the most fantastical brands of cinema appear to directly comment on contemporary events.’ Therefore institutions and news media are impacting films by changing the focus from a diversion from everyday life to a twisted reflection of our society therefore impacting the audience and reinforcing the dominant ideologies of these companies.

In addition to current affairs having an impact on films and the mise en scene, cultural context is also playing a factor in the transformation of Superhero films. Comic books have common traits in featuring white, middle/upper class heterosexual men, which is still dominant now in films in 2012. However there are increasing minority actions in order to promote equality and diversity. The Xmen films are a huge base featuring diversity in race; with characters such as characters Storm, and disability with Charles Xavier. Although there are minor differences in others e.g. Thor 2012 featuring a black Norse guardian. Whilst other films, such as the Dark Knight features women ;’cat girl’, more frequently as a main character than previously. This has been in order to stay in touch with social changes and audience demand where the target audience has expanded from the niche market of teenagers and young boys to a wider scope of all genders from 14-30.

The rapid progression of technology in the last twenty years has greatly affected and inspired the shift in Superhero movies. Adam West’s caped crusader frequently referred to childish gadgets such as the shark repellent, or the batarang[5] however these gadgets have transformed into realistic weapons used by Christiane Bale in the Dark Knight trilogy e.g. rockets and explosives. In the first movie of the Dark Knight trilogy Batman Begins Lucius Fox even explains how they are ex-military, and throughout the three films we see constant use of tanks and rockets. Another example of this is from The Amazing Spider-Man[6] (2012), which introduces mechanical web shooters rather than the organic ones depicted in the Spider-Man[7] films acted by Toby Maguire. The change from unrealistic gadgets to current modern weaponry is also appearing in other action films, such as the new James Bond Skyfall which features ‘Q’ mocking the exploding pen which was previously supplied in 1995’s Goldeneye[8]. The transformation of technology has also greatly affected society’s views on what is far-fetched and unrealistic, “Most superhero films (including the ones I've worked on) require an enormous suspension of disbelief. Even with the best of intentions, it is hard to make the science really work for Spider-Man, Superman, etc. But I find that if you can inject a veneer of authenticity in these stories, make them as grounded as possible then the audience is more willing to go along for the ride.”[9] David Goyer (writer of Nolans Dark Knight trilogy) explains, therefore referring to Halls preferred reading to boost ratings for superhero films.

            Another key factor that helps to determine the key change in Superhero movies is by how popular they were on release. With CGI (computer generated images), bigger budgets and well-known actors popularity is known to increase, “As the techniques and resources of filmmakers and distributors become ever more vast and sophisticated, many readings of mainstream cinema consider it as thinly disguised propaganda, where a dominant ideology is reinforced through seductive images and narrative.”[10] therefore box office success may be determined heavily on these factors. Box office success statistics help to compare films to see what the audience preferred reading was. Batman & Robin was released on June 20, 1997 in North America, earning $42,872,605 in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest opening weekend of 1997. However, the film rapidly declined with a 63%[11] second week plunge. Batman & Robin received extremely negative reviews from film critics. Rotten tomatoes reports that 27% of the audience enjoyed it, in addition to bad critics certifying it "Rotten", with an average rating of 3.4/10, with the description "Joel Schumacher's tongue-in-cheek attitude hits an unbearable limit in Batman & Robin, resulting in a frantic and mindless movie that's too jokey to care much for.”[11] Where as The Dark Knight earned a worldwide total of $1,004,558,444. It became the fourth film in history to gross more than $1 billion worldwide, and Rotten Tomatoes reviewed it as “The Dark Knight Rises is an ambitious, thoughtful, and potent action film that concludes Christopher Nolan's franchise in spectacular fashion.” Stating 92% of the audience liked it. In order to analyse this further the movie Green Lantern 2011 Warner Bros (an unrealistic movie), which was released a year before The Dark Knight Rises also flopped, although it did gross $21.6 million its opening day, in its second weekend Green Lantern experienced a 66.1%[12] decline similar to that to the Batman and Robin movie. Rotten Tomatoes also indicated only 47% of the audience liked the film. Therefore these statistics indicate the transformation of Superhero films is taking place is largely due to the audiences demand and preferred reading as well as institutions expressing their dominant ideology.

      The focus in superhero films seems to be converting from the fantasy aspect and expanding to not just focus on binary oppositions of good v. bad, but to also include a focus on the everyday man. The aspect of verisimilitude in films, such as college settings and teenager angst in The Amazing Spider-man movie in 2012, and Iron Man’s frequent links to a multimillion dollar business funding weapons and technology, allows the audience to use the media product for escapism, however as support by Robin wood ‘Hollywood is now at a point where the distinctions between escapist fantasy and engaged practice can no longer be made. What an increasingly sophisticated audience demands from what previously would have been regarded as escapist is changing, and even the most fantastical brands of cinema appear to directly comment on contemporary events.’

            Overall there is clear evidence identifying the gradual transformation of superhero films and the characters described by Propp’s theory. There is a shift in the use of the Uses and Gratifications Theory in order to promote the news media and institutions dominant ideologies whilst supplying surveillance/ information, as well as escapism, in order to make the audience aware of global issues and conflicts, such as 9/11 and the 1%’s of the banking industry. Conversely technology, social changes and cultural contexts have also altered the movies gradually overtime in order to achieve a realistic feature to gain Hall’s preferred reading of the audience. Therefore on-going evolution is taking place in superhero films in order to achieve success.

[1] Xmen, 2000, 20^th Century Fox

[2] Batman, 1966, 20^th Century Fox

[3] The Dark Knight trilogy, 2005-2012, dir. Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers

[4] Empire

[5] Batman, 1966, 20^th Century Fox

[6] The Amazing Spider-Man, 2012, dir. Marc Webb, Columbia Pictures

[7] Spider-Man trilogy, 2002-07, Columbia Studios

[8] Skyfall, 2012, Goldeneye, 1995, Eon Productions

[9] David Goyer, http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/blog/superhero-movies-are-getting-real

[10] http://www.richardwhitby.net/James%20Bond%20and%20Batman.html

[11] www.Rottentomatoes.com

[12] Box office mojo

Empire Magazine (Superheroes)

MAN OF STEEL

- David S. Goyer:

"We're approaching Superman as if it werent a comic-book movie, as if it were real,"

"Thats sort of what we did with Batman, which now seems revolutionary. Before a lot of superhero films had been approached as superhero films, you know: Adam West's Batman or Dick Tracy"

"I adore the Donner films. Absolutely adore them. It just struck me that there was an idealist quality to them that may or may not work with todays audience."

- Deborah Snyder:

"He is a little lost when we find him, trying to figure it out. That makes him very real. You can relate to the humanity in him."

- Henry Cavill:

"Its not a dark movie by any means. This is a more realistic view on the character."

THOR - THE DARK WORLD

- Craig Kyle:

"We have to constantly redefine what a superhero film is or it'd just exhaust the audience, so Iron Man is the James Bond-y classic, suave action hero; Captain America's the period piece; Hulk is the monster movie; Avengers the disaster movie; and Thor is the science-fiction epic."

KICK ASS

low budget of $28 million, pulled in almost $100 million worldwide.

Chris@empire -

"Kick ass was a breath of fresh air, taking the Michael out of the comic-book genre while simultaneously giving it a warm embrace, perked up with a violent and coarse edge that set it apart."

- Millar

"But why has nobody dressed up as a superhero and gone out to do all the stuff we'd love to do? Its the flipside to these altruistic guys who go out to fight crime (...) Its the supervillain Clockwork Orange."

WOLVERINE

- James Mangold

"This is really the anti-superhero-movie superhero movie. The stakes of the story are entirely character based. There's fear and revenge, love, hate. It's not a story built on. 'will this city be destroyed?! Will the world be conquered by Doctor Cyclops or whatever radioactive monstrosity?' All that evaporates here into something much more deeply personal."

Critical Investigation

Thursday 28 March 2013

CRUSADERS

Monday 18 March 2013

Pictures for essay

Tuesday 12 March 2013

rough draft (incomplete)

Thursday 7 March 2013

Reviews

Rotten Tomatoes

statistics

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Empire Magazine (Superheroes)

- David S. Goyer:

"We're approaching Superman as if it werent a comic-book movie, as if it were real,"

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Theories

Theories

Todorov's narravtive theory:

Propp

Halls

Levi- Strauss