Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Superhero Genre Flexibility

One of the things talked about a lot with Superhero movies is how they can be combined with many different genres.  Now this is something that some including I have been saying since before the MCU started.  But over the course of MCU Phrase Three it's become a greater emphasis in how people praise the genre then ever before.

It's primarily the Films where this aspect becomes a big part of their very promotion, and perhaps sometimes other Comic Book adaptations.  And that's Ironic because in a way the adaptations have been less flexible.

You see this ability to experiment with genre has always been in the Comics.  One of many things Frank Miller is endlessly mocked for his Film Noir obsession.  But the films especially have been fixated on designating specific genres to specific heroes, if a Genre has two Superheros it's because Marvel and DC each threw one at it.

It is apparent right from the comics how some genres suit certain Superheros more then others.  But it's not as rigid.  Wonder Woman and Thor aren't the only Superheros who've encountered ancient mythologies.  Spiderman (and Superman in Prequels) isn't the only one to deal with High School Drama.  And obviously Frank Miller isn't the only writer to draw from the Film Noir well.

Now the serialized nature of Comics gives it more room to let the same Superhero have different kinds of stories, which is why TV sometimes does more of this, or used to.  Smallville did a lot of experimentation.

But even understanding that reason for it.  It bothers me to hear things like the WB being concerned Wonder Woman and Aquaman can't both be about mythology and so they decided to down play the Greek Mythology aspect of Wonder Woman, and that's probably why the gods were killed off in the back story.

This is another reason why I'm glad I've gotten into Anime.  Anime truly surpasses even Superhero comics with it's ability to flat out defy Genre.

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