This Article Available on Pie Magazine Here
Earlier this month, Pie’s Sam Bradley wrote an article that got me thinking. The article, titled A Lost Franchise: Are Comic Book Films Threatening Innovation?, looked at the success of comic book films in contemporary Hollywood and discussed whether or not the undeniable uprising of the superhero genre posed a threat to creativity an ingenuity in movie making. Do check it out, it’s a great article, and Sam makes a tonne of good points, but I’m here to say I disagree, and I don’t comic book films are not threatening movie innovation.
For starters, to suggest that movie innovation is on the decline seems unfair in the same year that we got a feature-length film ‘built’ around a toy franchise with The LEGO Movie, a high-octane blockbuster reinterpretation of Mary Shelley with I, Frankenstein, a Bible-themed epic from the guy who made Requiem for a Dream and a directorial debut from Wally Pfister – the incredible cinematographer behind The Dark Knight with Transendence.
The industry is as diverse as ever, if not more than ever in an age of seemingly limitless technology. The advancements in cinematic technology are admittedly highly compatible with the comic book genre, however Baz Luhrmann managed to make a dazzling SFX-heavy adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby that did pretty well…
Plus, I, Frankenstein had a source text from the early 1800’s. Comic books are far from the only source texts in film today. I’m not worried about old mythologies either, Maleficent, out right now, can trace it’s origins back to ‘Little Briar Rose’ by the Brothers Grimm.
I personally have never heard anybody say the comic book movie success is down to studios listening to the people, and I think realistically we all know that comic movies are successful because the 1989 Batman was revolutionary, because Batman Begins undid the damage of Batman and Robin, and then thanks to The Dark Knight and Marvel’s 80-phase plan for cinematic domination they’ve been a staple part of the year’s releases ever since.
So, while it may be the golden age for comic book films, Hollywood is far from suffering from a lack of innovation.
A.Salzedo - Film 