FF
This July (the 4th to be exact) Marvel will catapult one of their oldest and most loved comics to the silver screen. Though an x-men fan at heart, I await the Fantastic Four’s début with great anticipation. But on to the point…
The Fantastic Four represent one of the three essential relationships in Marvel history: The FF relationship of family, Magneto and Prof. Xavier’s “friendship,” and Spiderman’s relationship with himself.
The FF legend is first and foremost a story about a family, and secondly a story about superheroes. The FF family has a brilliant, but slightly clueless, father in Reed Richards. One sometimes wonders how Sue puts up with him (to me it seems as though Mr. Fantastic is so intelligent he would have trouble interacting with people of less then genius fortitude). Richards is confronted with the same problems that face any father, from overworking to not understanding his wife and children. His superhuman abilities are of no help in this very human environment. His wife faces the same problem. Been able to bend light waves doesn’t help her son get over his personal problems, or encourage the playboy Johnny to finally grow up. But why would we want Johnny to grow up? Reed and Sue haven’t been married long enough to have an outgoing careless teenager, so the writer’s solution? Give them a ready-made one. Johnny Storm often displays the greatest visual stunts and powers in the comic (though we all remember that Dr. Doom himself comments repeatedly that Sue is the most powerful of the four), but in addition to great power seems to come a lack of anything resembling common sense. Thrown into the mix is the uncle/best-friend/grandfather/whatever-else-is-needed role of the blue-eyed, ever-lovin’, Thing. The Thing represents what I have heard called “the saddest hero ever.” Trapped in the body of a monster, Benjamin J. Grimm, is in my mind, the kind, most gentle, and least self-focused of the team. Though obviously self-conscious about his physical appearance, the Thing cares more about those around him then his monstrous looks.
The main point of this brief introduction to the relationship of the FF family is to comment on what will make the movie good, and what will wreck it. The FF will ride or fall not so much on whether Dr. Doom is an awesome bad guy (how could he be otherwise?) but how well the core theme of family is brought over to the film. Take Marvel’s release of Spiderman as an example. It wasn’t acting, cinematics, visuals, or fighting sequences that made the movie such a masterpiece. It was the perfect capture of Peter Parker’s struggled against his real foe: himself.
Fantastic Four has the potential to be a great film, perhaps the best Marvel has ever produced, but it equally has the potential to horribly underachieve, like the dreaded Blade flicks. Only July 4th will reveal which it will be…
Czar P.
The Fantastic Four represent one of the three essential relationships in Marvel history: The FF relationship of family, Magneto and Prof. Xavier’s “friendship,” and Spiderman’s relationship with himself.
The FF legend is first and foremost a story about a family, and secondly a story about superheroes. The FF family has a brilliant, but slightly clueless, father in Reed Richards. One sometimes wonders how Sue puts up with him (to me it seems as though Mr. Fantastic is so intelligent he would have trouble interacting with people of less then genius fortitude). Richards is confronted with the same problems that face any father, from overworking to not understanding his wife and children. His superhuman abilities are of no help in this very human environment. His wife faces the same problem. Been able to bend light waves doesn’t help her son get over his personal problems, or encourage the playboy Johnny to finally grow up. But why would we want Johnny to grow up? Reed and Sue haven’t been married long enough to have an outgoing careless teenager, so the writer’s solution? Give them a ready-made one. Johnny Storm often displays the greatest visual stunts and powers in the comic (though we all remember that Dr. Doom himself comments repeatedly that Sue is the most powerful of the four), but in addition to great power seems to come a lack of anything resembling common sense. Thrown into the mix is the uncle/best-friend/grandfather/whatever-else-is-needed role of the blue-eyed, ever-lovin’, Thing. The Thing represents what I have heard called “the saddest hero ever.” Trapped in the body of a monster, Benjamin J. Grimm, is in my mind, the kind, most gentle, and least self-focused of the team. Though obviously self-conscious about his physical appearance, the Thing cares more about those around him then his monstrous looks.
The main point of this brief introduction to the relationship of the FF family is to comment on what will make the movie good, and what will wreck it. The FF will ride or fall not so much on whether Dr. Doom is an awesome bad guy (how could he be otherwise?) but how well the core theme of family is brought over to the film. Take Marvel’s release of Spiderman as an example. It wasn’t acting, cinematics, visuals, or fighting sequences that made the movie such a masterpiece. It was the perfect capture of Peter Parker’s struggled against his real foe: himself.
Fantastic Four has the potential to be a great film, perhaps the best Marvel has ever produced, but it equally has the potential to horribly underachieve, like the dreaded Blade flicks. Only July 4th will reveal which it will be…
Czar P.
posted by Czar at 12:47 PM
1 Comments:
You propose that FF’s success rests on the portrayal of the family. There really is no reason to argue against this conclusion, since I can understand why that is the case. What surprises me is that the representation of the family actually is such an important aspect of a movie to the viewing public. One wonders why if people value the family relationship they do not work harder at maintaining the family relationships they have. More and more people are dissatisfied with their marriages and want to get out without much of an attempt to rectify the problems. Is it because they have the “ideal” family picture that can be portrayed in a movie, but they have no idea how to accomplish this “ideal family”, so when they don’t have it they try to move on and get out? The American people are not consistent in their views – they want the best, and have no desire to work at getting the best. So they complain and say the world is horrible, all the while justifying doing anything that will make them happy even if it goes against what they truly say they want. I wonder why they even have the ideal – other then the fact that it gives them a basis from which to complain.
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