Then, even after congressional hearings cleared the comic book industry of any responsibility for juvenile delinquency, publishers built their own Comic Code Authority of self-censorship. Rules were established to ban comic titles including the word "crime," to ban depiction of werewolves and zombies and dating teenagers getting killed by ax-murderers -- basically rules made up by superhero publishers to put the best-selling EC Horror line out of business.
Publisher Stan Lee will tell you Marvel enjoyed an audience of college-aged readers, but the establishment of the Comic Code Authority kicked off a general decline in comic book readership where now only the best-selling American comic book titles exceed a circulation of 100,000 -- a single-digit percentage of their former glory.
With the industry locked for the most part into one genre, American comic books were forced to revise the boundaries of superhero stories every once in a while. The WWII-era DC heroes were updated for a more science fiction feel after the fall of EC and the launch of the space race. The Marvel Comics of the 1960s introduced moral ambiguities into their characters, with Spider-Man periodically questioning whether he should even be fighting crime. In the 1970s comic book creators like Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Jim Starlin depicted superheroes in anguish over the consequences of the violence they participate in.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, a British invasion of English writers introduced the influence of a wider range of fantasy into superhero storylines. The most well-regarded comic book storyline, the corruption of Phoenix in Claremont and Byrne's "X-Men," borrowed heavily from J.R.R. Tolkien's themes of the seduction of power. Alan Moore's acclaimed "Watchmen" makes heavy use of Vonnegut's theme of destiny and non-linear time in Sirens of Titan, raising similar questions about good and evil outcome. By the time Neil Gaiman concluded "Sandman," his departure-from-superheroes- in-a-superhero- universe, it was the highest-selling title published by DC Comics for its time.
The English "MarvelMan" of the 1950s was a cheesy blonde-and-blue- costumed version of Captain Marvel, who said the magic word "kimota" ("atomic" backwards) to turn back into little orphan Mike Moran.
In the 1980s, Alan Moore revived MarvelMan (released as "MiracleMan" in the US -- yes, Moore takes opportunities to refer to Elvis Costello song titles) as a closed government experiment on WWII orphans to clone them with stolen alien technology and control their behavior in a virtual reality of superhero comic book continuity.
The storyline reopened when under duress Mike Moran remembered his magic word and triggered the rebirth of his alter ego, MiracleMan. One of MiracleMan's first challenges upon reawakening was Kid MiracleMan, his former kid sidekick and fellow test subject who -- behind the public front of wealthy president of one of the world's largest technological corporations -- had been running loose unchecked for 25 years with the powers of a superman and appetites large enough to shake the foundations of Hell.
Of the 500,000 or so American comic book readers out there, I'm guessing about 20,000 or so followed part of Alan Moore's 16 issues of "MiracleMan" in the 1980s. This means that in the month of November 2003, less than a fifth of 1% of the audience for "Matrix Revolutions" was sitting in the theater, watching the confrontation between Neo and Agent Smith, thinking to themselves, "Holy shit, this is 'MiracleMan!' They've made a film version of 'MiracleMan!' NEO IS FIGHTING KID MIRACLEMAN! AAAOOOAAAW -- THAT IS BADASS!"
Considering what I heard of the attempted movie adaptation of Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" -- not bad. I'm guessing all the pretense surrounding the first movie -- which still had some nice grail themes, with Morpheus as the grail king starving his crew and the gratification of Trinity's kiss being crucial in the movie's final confrontation -- was just a fluke of audience interpretation which the Wachowskis have followed up on as they always intended.Horror movies often present a metaphor to give movie-goers a stake in suspending their disbelief, which in 28 Days Later seems to be masculine aggression. Selena defaults to sacrificing Mark when he emerges with open wounds from a fight with a rage carrier. Then, even as Jim and Selena enjoy a brief sanctuary with an easy-going middle-aged father Frank and his teen daughter Hannah, she declares that she and Jim lose more in their encounter with them than they gain -- which Frank concedes unreservedly. They later encounter a group of soldiers who reserve their severest hazing for their frilly-aproned cook, and attempt to trade the protection of their compound for the sexual compliance of Selena and Hannah.
A movie addressing masculinity as anything other an wholesome may appear inscrutable to an American audience. But it's excellent and well-paced, devoting attention appropriately to its important story elements.Often in action movies, sexuality is introduced mostly to cover shortcomings in the action. The Austin Powers movies are primarily comedies, so emphasizing the action would only distract from the entertainment value.
The Charlie's Angels movies are different in that both sexuality and archetypal aggression are pushed, by making the chicks the action heroes, going so far as to emphasize the isolation they go through in their search for non-fucked up men. The sequel is better than the original and is a good reply to Kevin Smith's criticism of feminism in his last Jay and Silent Bob movie which also by made a point of the isolation of feminists.
Fighting chicks is also a trend in video games, which are often blamed for violent incidents covered in the American media. In his anti-gun documentary, Michael Moore does point out that the Canadians are able to consume video games and violent movies without going apeshit.Subject: X-Men Review Much Too Harsh
From: Mike Leung
To: letters@sfchronicle.comEditor -- After having watched the new X-Men movie, X2, I've decided the critical review of the movie printed in the Chronicle was much too harsh. Mr. LaSalle's main criticism of the movie, that it blindly ignores the inevitable domination of humans by mutants, makes sense if one only sees people as pegs that can be fit into a limited number slots.
Instead of presenting "mutation" as a metaphor for ethnic and political groupings, the movie presented it as a metaphor for individuality, and perhaps the distinct appetites involved and managed (i.e. Magneto's dependence on metal, and Pyro's inability to create the flames he manipulates).
A more legitimate criticism of the movie would have been the time it spent on the flood at the end. The X-Men lose a crewmember to a flood when they have two elementals sitting aboard their aircraft -- that's just plain silly.
Mike Leung
http://www.hownottofly.com
In spite of the exception I mentioned, the movie was still good. Just a few weeks ago, I commented to my brother that if they extend the movie franchise far enough they're going to have to make one where Professor Xavier tries to kill the X-Men, as he does in the comic book about once a year for various reasons. Well, lo and behold, in this sequel a rogue government agent employs a powerful illusionist to manipulate Xavier into trying to do just that, as well as kill every mutant on the planet.
The opening fight scene with Nightcrawler is handled slightly better than the fight scenes in "Spider-Man," and Magneto's escape scene was very, very satisfying. Jack Kirby established the house style at Marvel in the 1960s, but I was never particularly a fan of his work. It's still a shame he didn't live long enough to see this movie, just to see McKellan in that scene.As the story of a fugitive, the movie adopts deprivation and gratification as its theme. The Nazis begin harvesting gratification from the Polish Jews, first by restricting them from open public places, then requiring them to wear arm bands, allowing Nazi soldiers to arbitrarily issue new rules to Jewish pedestrians to clear the sidewalk when out about their business, then ordering them to move into crowded ghettos, arbitrarily pulling them out of crowds and insisting they dance as they wait for the gates controlling otherwise conventional foot traffic to open. Bank accounts are seized, and, with no money for bribery, Brody's family relies on his musicianship, playing at a club still enjoyed by Jews who are able to navigate their quickly disintegrating status quo. The baffled Jews go along tentatively, as they are fed lies about the limits to which the Nazis will oppress them. Brody is saved from certain doom by a Jewish ghetto enforcer he had once flattered.
As the movie puts Brody through extreme deprivation, of food as well as musical expression, if you must leave during the piano credits, do yourself a favor and play off that you missed the point of the 2½ hour movie by going immediately to the concession counter and ordering a hot dog or something to stuff in your mouth and chew on as you walk out of the theater.Mike's friend Scott: So, Mike, what movie would you like to see?
Mike: Hey, doesn't "Anger Management" open today?
Scott: Eric, you go get three tickets to "The Core" while I park the car with Mike.
Mike's friend Eric: Right. "The Core."
Mike: ...orrr "The Core." "Anger Management" or "The Core" will be just fine.
The dialogue didn't suck and they showed San Francisco microwaved into disaster.
Scott: So Mike, what did you think of "The Core?"
Mike: It was ok. I think I liked it.
Scott: Really? I thought it sucked. Eric?
Eric: Sucked.
Mike: Uh, yeah, you space cadets be sure to let me know when you get back from Planet Vulcan.
Adolf Hitler has also returned from war, but he has no home, no friends, and no present. He eschews the Modern art coming into Germany, taking refuge after the fall of the Russian Czar, because instead of building on the past, it discards it. Like Max, Hitler can't see his own future.
Then Hitler has his artistic breakthrough. He sees he is destined for greatness and Max is no longer afraid of the future. Unfortunately, Germany has just signed the Treaty of Versailles, owes more money than it has capital, and Hitler discovers his vision of the future gratifies a German nationalism intent on sacrificing Jews (the line Hitler had yet to cross, making his anti-Semitism barely tolerable to Max). Like the Iliad, you know how this story ends, but plays with taking you as far from the history you know as it can.