Screw the previous, mild mannered, coherant post. I am FURIOUS and it is the fury of a scorned lover. I feel very, very betrayed.
The title quote comes from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns", one of the Batman books. It was among the first I read, and I thought it was brilliant. But at that time, I'd read few comics so tended to think them all great. If you showed a savage his first movie, any movie, he'd be amazed - it's only after viewing 20 he would understand there were good films and bad films. After 100, he could start making judgements. And I regard most of the world as savages in that regard. I remember the moment I realised I was not a savage. I was 11 or 12, and I'd just finished watching The Sixth Sense. I understood that that was a good movie, and by extention, that there must be bad movies. It's Lacan's mirror stage for movie buffs. The existance of lazy rom coms, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans and all manner of cine-shit prove my theory to an extent. People who don't go to the cinema often, tend to enjoy everything they watch there. What have they to compare it to? If there is a certain proportion of great films to bad, how many greats can they find at a rate of one a year?
This isn't pure snobbery, as I believe the same goes for all artforms. I am a literary and musical savage, for example. I enjoy most of what I hear and read. Maybe I'm very generous, or perhaps I've just never read a bad book or heard a bad song. But I believe it is because, as a savage, I have no standards on which to judge them. I can call up a film for editing, direction, production design, sound design, costumes, three-act structures, style, tributes and pastiches, music both diegetic and non-diegetic, characters, storylines, montages, flashbacks, auterism, genre, to name but a few, and judge how far I feel their use was suitable. I literally don't have the words to discuss books and music much of the time. Nor do I feel I have the expertise. I'd go to blows with anyone to defend my favourite films, actors or directors, because (frankly) I am the most qualified person I know on the subject of film. And that is, in a nutshell, my savage theory.
Turns out with comics, I genuinely have been reading the classics. But now I feel myself semi-civilised - I regard Watchmen as my mirror moment - I am re-reading all my old favourites to judge them against my new standards. Numbers below refer to IGN's 25 greatest Batman list, one I'm actively working on.
The Dark Knight Returns (#2) is one of these, and it's damn great. Set at the end of Batman's life, in a very Watchmenly world where Superman is working for the government and masks have been outlawed, it is nasty and dark. There's some great dialogue, particularly as a critically wounded Batman is chasing Joker. A kid cries "Go Batman! You can kick his -", and you get a small panel of him bending down and saying "son...mind...your language..." A terribly cute moment. Plus, Green Arrow turns up.
It's also the one when I fell in love with Commissioner Gordon. I feel he is the true heart of the Batman series. Him and Alfred. Particularly in the films, he represents a sort of normal heroism. "I think of Sarah. The rest is easy" is his catchphrase, more or less, in the book. Thats what I mean by normal. Psychoanalyse Bruce Wayne's vigilante revenge all you like - and this book makes Batman into a virtual alternate personality - but Gordon just wants to make things better then go home to his wife. I wonder if he's been killed in mainstream continuity yet? I hope not. I'd cry. "Lucky old man"
It's certainly the reason I didn't appreciate Batman Classic The Killing Joke, #3 on that list. Nasty piece of work. It reinvented the Joker as a sadistic bastard, an act we can be thankful for, but it was just too grim. Maybe because I can't handle people being mean to Gordon, and he goes to some horrible places in this.
At the time, I enjoyed Dark Victory (#8) so much because it's effectively the sequel to The Dark Knight movie. That's because it is the sequel to The Long Halloween (#5), on which Dark Knight was partially based. I've yet to read that, but am looking forward to it. Long Halloween/Dark Victory, like most of the aforementioned comics, are items I would love to own but will never buy.
If you asked me now what my favourite Batman story ever was, I would choose (from my admittedly limited experience) Hush. It's so GOREGOUS. It's not very dark or challenging, but it just contains these huge comic book panels illustrated with luminous light. Ignoring the genre's many revisions, and the concept of the graphic novel, this is the ideal of what sheer "comic book" joy can be. Best of all, I've only read vol. 1 - vol. 2 is waiting for me, in my own sweet time.
I'm looking forward to revisiting Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest, as I found it very moving at the time.
Finally, while we're talking comic books, I discovered IGN's Rorschach vs. Batman arena. Check it out: http://uk.stars.ign.com/articles/960/960169p1.html. Cute, and I think it'd be a tough one to call: there's no clear winner. They're currently doing Wolverine vs. Batman, and I await the response with some anticipation. But Wolverine is currently their reigning champion after surviving 5 in a row. Plus, a fellow Geek pointed out that unlike Wolverine doesn't actually have any exploitable weaknesses. At all. The quest continues.
The title quote comes from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns", one of the Batman books. It was among the first I read, and I thought it was brilliant. But at that time, I'd read few comics so tended to think them all great. If you showed a savage his first movie, any movie, he'd be amazed - it's only after viewing 20 he would understand there were good films and bad films. After 100, he could start making judgements. And I regard most of the world as savages in that regard. I remember the moment I realised I was not a savage. I was 11 or 12, and I'd just finished watching The Sixth Sense. I understood that that was a good movie, and by extention, that there must be bad movies. It's Lacan's mirror stage for movie buffs. The existance of lazy rom coms, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans and all manner of cine-shit prove my theory to an extent. People who don't go to the cinema often, tend to enjoy everything they watch there. What have they to compare it to? If there is a certain proportion of great films to bad, how many greats can they find at a rate of one a year?
This isn't pure snobbery, as I believe the same goes for all artforms. I am a literary and musical savage, for example. I enjoy most of what I hear and read. Maybe I'm very generous, or perhaps I've just never read a bad book or heard a bad song. But I believe it is because, as a savage, I have no standards on which to judge them. I can call up a film for editing, direction, production design, sound design, costumes, three-act structures, style, tributes and pastiches, music both diegetic and non-diegetic, characters, storylines, montages, flashbacks, auterism, genre, to name but a few, and judge how far I feel their use was suitable. I literally don't have the words to discuss books and music much of the time. Nor do I feel I have the expertise. I'd go to blows with anyone to defend my favourite films, actors or directors, because (frankly) I am the most qualified person I know on the subject of film. And that is, in a nutshell, my savage theory.
Turns out with comics, I genuinely have been reading the classics. But now I feel myself semi-civilised - I regard Watchmen as my mirror moment - I am re-reading all my old favourites to judge them against my new standards. Numbers below refer to IGN's 25 greatest Batman list, one I'm actively working on.
The Dark Knight Returns (#2) is one of these, and it's damn great. Set at the end of Batman's life, in a very Watchmenly world where Superman is working for the government and masks have been outlawed, it is nasty and dark. There's some great dialogue, particularly as a critically wounded Batman is chasing Joker. A kid cries "Go Batman! You can kick his -", and you get a small panel of him bending down and saying "son...mind...your language..." A terribly cute moment. Plus, Green Arrow turns up.
It's also the one when I fell in love with Commissioner Gordon. I feel he is the true heart of the Batman series. Him and Alfred. Particularly in the films, he represents a sort of normal heroism. "I think of Sarah. The rest is easy" is his catchphrase, more or less, in the book. Thats what I mean by normal. Psychoanalyse Bruce Wayne's vigilante revenge all you like - and this book makes Batman into a virtual alternate personality - but Gordon just wants to make things better then go home to his wife. I wonder if he's been killed in mainstream continuity yet? I hope not. I'd cry. "Lucky old man"
It's certainly the reason I didn't appreciate Batman Classic The Killing Joke, #3 on that list. Nasty piece of work. It reinvented the Joker as a sadistic bastard, an act we can be thankful for, but it was just too grim. Maybe because I can't handle people being mean to Gordon, and he goes to some horrible places in this.
At the time, I enjoyed Dark Victory (#8) so much because it's effectively the sequel to The Dark Knight movie. That's because it is the sequel to The Long Halloween (#5), on which Dark Knight was partially based. I've yet to read that, but am looking forward to it. Long Halloween/Dark Victory, like most of the aforementioned comics, are items I would love to own but will never buy.
If you asked me now what my favourite Batman story ever was, I would choose (from my admittedly limited experience) Hush. It's so GOREGOUS. It's not very dark or challenging, but it just contains these huge comic book panels illustrated with luminous light. Ignoring the genre's many revisions, and the concept of the graphic novel, this is the ideal of what sheer "comic book" joy can be. Best of all, I've only read vol. 1 - vol. 2 is waiting for me, in my own sweet time.
I'm looking forward to revisiting Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest, as I found it very moving at the time.
Finally, while we're talking comic books, I discovered IGN's Rorschach vs. Batman arena. Check it out: http://uk.stars.ign.com/articles/960/960169p1.html. Cute, and I think it'd be a tough one to call: there's no clear winner. They're currently doing Wolverine vs. Batman, and I await the response with some anticipation. But Wolverine is currently their reigning champion after surviving 5 in a row. Plus, a fellow Geek pointed out that unlike Wolverine doesn't actually have any exploitable weaknesses. At all. The quest continues.
07:41 |
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Comments (2)
Read this twice and still struggling to work out what you're actually angry at... lol
This isn't the angry post. The angry post was the previous one.