InCap(lan)able Reporter - Part Four
The trouble is that psychological realism only makes the simple creed of superheroism – one man against manifold evil – look silly.
The concept of one man as the irresistible force against the immoveable object is as old as time itself. It is how many people imagine themselves and their place in the world to a greater or lesser extent.
If anything psychological realism makes the superhero, certainly Batman, seem less “silly”. You can only assume that people going to see this have bought into the concept of a man dressed as a Bat, and his reasons seem perfectly acceptable.
The only reason why you may find the concept of one man standing up for what he believes in, and succeeding in both his internal and external battles, silly is if you lack imagination and have little faith in yourself and the strength of humanity.
Ironically, Caplan both addresses her point and misses it entirely. The operative words in the above paragraph are “psychological realism”, which is different from “realism”. The Batman concept does not intend to be realistic; comic readers do not expect Batman comics to be realistic and film-going norms have the ability to suspend belief for two hours to watch a man use hypersonics as a weapon to distract criminals and the police. What people want, in an age where even Daleks need to self-analyse their worth (Doctor Who Episode 6), is to understand how characters can be driven to do what they do and they want the methods they use to be internally consistent with little use of Deus Ex Machina techniques. Batman Begins achieved all of these, and more.
If anything psychological realism makes the superhero, certainly Batman, seem less “silly”. You can only assume that people going to see this have bought into the concept of a man dressed as a Bat, and his reasons seem perfectly acceptable.
The only reason why you may find the concept of one man standing up for what he believes in, and succeeding in both his internal and external battles, silly is if you lack imagination and have little faith in yourself and the strength of humanity.
Ironically, Caplan both addresses her point and misses it entirely. The operative words in the above paragraph are “psychological realism”, which is different from “realism”. The Batman concept does not intend to be realistic; comic readers do not expect Batman comics to be realistic and film-going norms have the ability to suspend belief for two hours to watch a man use hypersonics as a weapon to distract criminals and the police. What people want, in an age where even Daleks need to self-analyse their worth (Doctor Who Episode 6), is to understand how characters can be driven to do what they do and they want the methods they use to be internally consistent with little use of Deus Ex Machina techniques. Batman Begins achieved all of these, and more.
The second half of Batman Begins asks to be judged on thrills, but Nolan is no action director – even an OJ-style chase in a Bat-tank feels slow.
The chase scene was anything but slow, although the property damage was gratuitous and there were not enough repercussions from the cost of the destruction caused.
“It’s not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you” says sweetheart Rachel (Katie Holmes) primly – which is fine for supermen in masks (and for that matter, actors) but shatters this film’s sophisticated pose.
There is a small prize going for anyone who can explain what this sentence means – that includes Caplan, who I suspect is unsure itself.
“It’s not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you” says sweetheart Rachel (Katie Holmes) primly – which is fine for supermen in masks (and for that matter, actors) but shatters this film’s sophisticated pose.
There is a small prize going for anyone who can explain what this sentence means – that includes Caplan, who I suspect is unsure itself.
posted by Bat-Mac at 5:58:00 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home