Dear Readers,
I have a confession to make. Well, actually, I have two. My first confession is that I am one of those nerds who loves superhero movies and T.V. This might not be surprising for many of you; if you have followed my posts in the past, you will have seen that several are superhero related in theme and content. My second confession if to other superhero nerds out there: I never read the comics. I know I am damaging my nerd cred by saying this, but there was not a comic book store in my small town, I do not have a collection of comics filling a suitcase under my bed, and the majority of my knowledge in regard to superheroes comes from films, television, and the internet.
As a consumer of superhero related media, I have thoroughly enjoyed the spring and early summer of this year. It is a good time to be a superhero nerd. It seems that masked crusaders have taken over the T.V. with shows like Agents of Shield, Arrow, and The Flash, spilling over onto the web with shows like Daredevil and the soon to be released A.K.A. Jessica Jones. On the big screen, we saw the return of the Avengers in Age of Ultron, and over the summer we can look forward to Ant Man, Fantastic Four, and Batman Vs. Superman. Due to time constraints and my limited ability to watch all the shows, I wanted to focus of two of these this month, then cover a couple more in June. I decided to start with the two CW shows, Arrow and The Flash. What I want to do is focus on the development of the concept of the superhero in each of these shows, examining what I think is done well, and what potentially undercuts the quality of the shows.
Arrow
Of the four superhero franchises I have listed, Arrow is probably my least favorite. There are a couple of reasons for this. We are three seasons into this show, so we already know most of the secrets about Oliver Queen's history, the motivations for his companions, and we have seen them overcome the barriers that prevent them from being an effective team. The problem becomes "how do you break a team that you (and the audience) have previously invested a great deal of time into getting just right?" At this point, the friction that builds between the characters seems forced and unnatural, and many of the story lines seem to regress rather than push the narrative forward. SPOILERS! The entirety of Oliver's campaign against Raz al Ghoul this season is simply a bigger, more expansive version of his conflict against Malcolm Merlin in the first season; from the multiple failed attempts to defeat him in battle, to the high stakes threat against Starling City, to the conflict with various members of the team in regard to the morality of his potential actions, down to the final resolution in which Oliver is finally able to defeat his nemesis by coming to grips with his identity. The tension between Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle seems forced, and I as am getting a bit tired of hearing the same conversation over and over again, ("How do we know we can trust Malcolm Merlin?" "You can't, but you have to do it anyway." or "I want to be with you, but I can't because you put yourself in danger all the time!" Seriously guys, come up with some new material!
On a more positive note. One of the things that Arrow has done very well, and one of the reasons I keep coming back to it, is in the addition of interesting side characters with fascinating story arcs. The best examples of this are Nyssa al Ghoul and Thea Queen. The interaction between Nyssa and Black Canary Laurel Lance are some of the most interesting and genuinely moving parts of the show. The similarities between the two women, despite their obvious cultural background differences make them very interesting counterparts for each other, and provides Nyssa with a short character arc that makes her very interesting. Similarly, with Thea, we get to see her develop into a capable warrior character, but one who is also very conflicted about her role in the story. One of the most interesting moments of the season came when Thea is forced to confront the way in which she allows the men in her life to define her as a person. Granted, she is still very much an angst ridden character who spends more time moping and feeling guilty than actually doing anything... but hey, its a superhero show.
Another interesting and highly entertaining addition to the show this season has been Ray Palmer, the Atom. DC's version of Iron Man, Palmer has been a source of levity in an otherwise dark and depressing season. The relationship between him and Felicity Smoke is very sweet, and he plays very well on a scale of character competence, being innovative, but slightly less brilliant than Felicity, and being heroic, but less capable than Oliver. Of all the characters of the show, I most look forward to seeing what will happen in the future with Atom, and how he will interact with the universe that The CW is building through their TV shows.
The Flash
Speaking of the CW/DC universe, The Flash has been a rather pleasant surprise. It is still a bit campy, and the angst factor which I mentioned in regard to Arrow is also a problem, but overall the show was an enjoyable romp. Grant Gustin brings an entertaining performance as Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who was struck by lightning and given the superpower of being able to run at incredible speed. Each week sees the scarlet speedster taking on new superpowered enemies, culminating in a confrontation with the Reverse Flash, the man who killed Barry's mother when he was young.
One of the cool parts of the show is the way in that the weekly format allows for episodic interactions with various interesting supervillains. The explosions that gave Barry his powers affected many other people as well, and the effects are still being felt over the whole course of the season. On occasion the episodic nature becomes problematic when the stories begin to feel a bit formulaic (around midseason), but this was a relatively small problem. The other major downside of the show, was again, the angst. The last five episodes of the season have dealt almost exclusively with Barry's confrontation with the Reverse Flash, a confrontation that inevitable leaves him doubting himself, hesitant in his relationships with the people around him, angrily acting stupidly, or just generally being lame. I know, I know, the superhero has to go through some form of emotional breakdown so that he can pull himself up by the bootstraps and do the right thing anyway, but, when you are watching the equivalent of a five hour movie, in which a good three hours are simply moping, it gets a bit exhausting. This is the downside of the superhero tv show... things that make total sense in a movie, like twenty minutes of self pity before the final confrontation, begin to get annoying when they happen every week, week after week. Again, I know you have to have the hero fail at the beginning of the hour so that it more impressive when he succeeds at the end of the hour, but more of the middle time should be spent problem solving than moping when you have this sort of structure.
One of the best things about The Flash, which has also become a great part of Arrow as well is the fact that these stories take place in the same universe, so there is crossover between the two shows. Those superhero versus and team up episodes are the best. They get to take what are two very different teams and two very different styles of superhero-ing and crimefighting, and put them together. It spices up the dynamic in the old Arrow team and provides great learning time for the new Flash team. I really wish there were more of these episodes in the season. Similar to the complaints that came out during the solo Marvel movies after the first Avengers, "Why don't they call ____ in this situation, he/she could probably really help out." Both Oliver and Barry's problems would be a lot less intimidating if they were working together instead of simply running in once in a while to help out. Fortunately, it looks like there might be a fair bit of superhero team-up going on in the new show Legends of Tomorrow, which looks to include both the Flash and Arrow, as well as some other superhero characters. Something to look forward to.
Next time, on Ramblings of Literary Whimsy
So, hopefully next month, I will have a bit more time to examine more of these awesome superhero products. I really look forward to talking about both Avengers: Age of Ultron and Daredevil. I was planning on covering them this month, but with college and everything else going on, I ran out of time, and I wanted to at least get something posted for May, even if it wasn't everything I wanted to write. Hope you guys enjoyed my thoughts on Arrow and The Flash, and hopefully come back next month for more superhero fun.
Well, back to reality!
