Comic books have inspired movies for at least the last forty years, to my knowledge. It wasn’t until ten years ago, however, that every third movie released was bitten directly from a comic book. I use the word “bitten” as opposed to “inspired” only because of the deluge that has resulted. These days, it seems an inspiration of unoriginality to make movies from comic books. It seems to be more the effect of Hollywood writer’s block instead of a genuine desire to take this great saga and amazing artwork and transfer it to live action. Live, hmm… interesting choice of words given the percentage of these films that owe all credit to the minds behind computer graphics.
Ok, ok, I’ll admit it, I like a lot of these films. They are jolly good fun, but I still cannot justify coughing up ten bucks to see them. I will wait for Netflix.
Anyways, I would love to have a discussion with students about the effectiveness of transfer from comic books/graphic novels to live action films (X-Men, Punisher, Hulk, V for Vendetta, Sin City), the transfer of television programs to comic books (The Simpsons, The X-Files), and comics transferred to television programs (Dilbert, The Boondocks, Garfield).
I am currently reading the Watchmen and plan to see the movie soon. I have had discussions with people about how to watch film adaptations of books. The consensus is that they are different pieces of art and should not comment on each other, too much. This is the consensus among my friends and colleagues; what will students think? And what will students think about the other adaptations? Are they able to read a Simpsons comic book without hearing Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria’s voices? Do they even have the desire to read the comics if they can just watch the show? Is any of The Simpsons’ magic lost in the comic book?
What about The Boondocks? In one week of daily comics, The Boondocks tries to cover a social issue. The dialogue is snappy, because the frames only allow for so much of it. Is the dialogue in the show as snappy now that they have a half hour to fill? Or does Huey’s cynicism just get played out? Was this an effective adaptation?
And Spiderman? Tobey Maguire is a cutey. Kirsten Dunst is lovely. Great, more good looking people on the big screen. How is the story? Is there too much focus on the relationship and not enough on the ethics of vigilante justice? Are students able to separate their opinions of the comic book when watching the film? Can they view them as two separate pieces of art? Can they separate what they know about Tobey Maguire from the Peter Parker that he is playing? This last question brings up a debate that our class had last week: what importance should viewers put on the actors and actresses playing the characters? They aren’t the character. The film is about the characters, not the actors and actresses. Does a live action adaptation of a comic book screw this up?
Big questions for classroom discussions.
Nice post. I'm a fan of comic book movies too. I didn't grow up reading comics or graphic novels, but a friend turned me on to them after college, and I realized all I'd been missing out on. Watchmen is one of my favorites. The movie isn't that great, in my opinion, but I think my opinion was tainted by that horribly awkward sex scene; perhaps I should watch it again.
ReplyDeleteAs for Spider-Man, I liked the movies so far but am REALLY looking forward to seeing Andrew Garfield take over the role in the next one. (Garfield played Eduardo in The Social Network; after seeing that movie I became interested in his career and rented another movie of his called Boy A, which was very good). Andrew Garfield isn't a household name (yet), but that actually might help him succeed in this role. According to the Spider-Man producers, Garfield has the right mixture of intelligence and sensitivity for the role. I think he'll be brilliant!