Brightburn

[Greywind]

 

[Pattern Ghost]

Hmm . . . seems like I've seen this plot somewhere before.

[Trencher]

Looks really bad. 

Sure another deconstruction of the superhero genre might attract the usual suspects but you will have to actually sit there for an hour+ watching it. 

And from the way the trailer was paced I am guessing that they put all the action parts in it. The rest of the movie is probably just filler. 

[Lord Liaden]

Why does everyone these days want Superman to be evil?

[Starlord]

Looks like it was produced by James Gunn and written by the Gunn brothers.

[Duke Bushido]

It's not just Superman, LL. 

 

Modern society has an active interest in destroying and devaluing any icon of Valor, morality, or idealism. 

 

I spent years going a little nutty: I couldn't understand why people worked so hard to find and expose any tiny failing in a public figure.  Remember that this is the same media (no; it's not, but it would like you to believe it is) that once concealed FDRs polio for as long as possible. 

 

At any rate:

 

With hate, snark, depression, and cynicism at all-time highs, society _wants_ the paragon of virtue destroyed.  It makes it far easier to continue not trying to be one. 

[Starlord]

18 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Why does everyone these days want Superman to be evil?

 

A person is smart.  People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.  - Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, Men In Black

[RPMiller]

This has been a consistent trend ever since the early 2000s, possibly earlier. Ever since the comics started going "darker" with every character and group, society as a whole continues to relish in the "fallen hero" or anti-hero. Look at how incredible Deadpool did at the box office. Look at the difference between the Dark Knight films' successes versus the other DC movies... oh wait, that's an entirely different problem. Anyway you get the drift. Society has become so incredibly jaded by the constant stream of "bad news" that they've lost their hopes and dreams that the early comics gave us and promoted. Sure Marvel characters were always flawed in some way, but that made them humans with powers, rather than powers parodying humans. But I think that "flawed essence" grew out of control. That's what I liked so much about Cap America: First Avenger, it actually showed what a real hero is: the willingness to personally lose everything to save others. Now we just have jokes quipping from the lips of characters and that makes them "fun" and "good" because they make us laugh. Laughter dies, hope can last for an eternity if we don't let it go.

[Certified]

This seems like the Superman movie Zack Synder wanted to make. It fits right in with the DC movies. I'm not sure if this movie will offer us anything new, but it may be fun to watch. 

[megaplayboy]

I think it wasn't a turn towards "realism" that turned many fans away from the Iron/Dark Age of Comics, it was the turn towards cynicism.  The government is always portrayed as alternatively corrupt or indifferent or oppressive.  The heroes are self-serving, have terrible personal flaws and morals barely better than the villains they fight. 

That said, it's pretty easy to turn Superman's origin story into a horror story.  Aliens sent one of their own here to infiltrate and destroy us.  Of course, Species already did this story.  

[Bazza]

So basically this is a story replacing Kal-El with Zod. 

[Scott Ruggels]

18 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Why does everyone these days want Superman to be evil?

 

Because the Philosophical deconstruction of mainstream icons and values is necessary for the remaking of the culture to produce the new Soviet man.

[Bazza]

Or capitalist man. 

[Starlord]

Rewatched the trailer and...does anyone think this comes dangerously close to a copyright issue?

[Bazza]

Watched the trailer. DC could sue if they wanted too. 

[megaplayboy]

Well, the Satire/Parody defense can be pretty broadly interpreted by the courts.  This could be considered a dark satire.  Alternatively, some of the elements of the Superman story--alien origin, superpower panoply, foster parents--might now be considered "stock" nowadays.  Certainly when JMS rewrote Hyperion's origin, he liberally "borrowed" the basic elements of the Superman story, with a dark twist(the parents were government agents hired to act as his parents, and terrified of the boy after he kills a puppy in front of them).  

[Jagged]

There are so many parodies and outright copies now that it would need to be very close to have any hope in court imo.

 

But still,  Lawyers

 

[Starlord]

There are several elements shown in the trailer that are VERY specific to Superman - baby wrapped in red blanket used later as cape, ship buried under barn, parents who are farmers and desperately wanting child of their own, etc.

[Dr.Device]

Lawrence Watt-Evans had a much better take on this sort of story, titled "One of the Boys."

 

The Superman analog in that story wasn't evil, but he was alien. He was even a superhero. But he was one because it was the only way he could find to fit in. He just couldn't understand humans well enough to function in normal society.

[slikmar]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 12:43 PM, megaplayboy said:

I think it wasn't a turn towards "realism" that turned many fans away from the Iron/Dark Age of Comics, it was the turn towards cynicism.  The government is always portrayed as alternatively corrupt or indifferent or oppressive.  The heroes are self-serving, have terrible personal flaws and morals barely better than the villains they fight. 

That said, it's pretty easy to turn Superman's origin story into a horror story.  Aliens sent one of their own here to infiltrate and destroy us.  Of course, Species already did this story.  

I would point out Dragon Ball Z used this also. Goku was basically a weapon sent to destroy resistance on earth.

[assault]

This is a horror film, not a superhero one, so most of the previous points are moot.

 

Then again, there are plenty of superhero comedies out there. There also superhero spy films, superhero heist movies, etc.

 

I wouldn't over-interpret this. Superheroes sell and are big in the public consciousness.

 

Of course, my personal superhero movie would be influenced by the last couple of series of Doctor Who. (Which were, admittedly, of patchy quality.)

 

I'd probably go with "suits and mutants" - dealing with power and privilege. Naturally, there would be hope - no power lasts for ever, and ultimately Nazis can be punched, if only symbolically.

 

Hope is far more subversive than cynicism.

[Iuz the Evil]

8 hours ago, Dr.Device said:

Lawrence Watt-Evans had a much better take on this sort of story, titled "One of the Boys."

 

The Superman analog in that story wasn't evil, but he was alien. He was even a superhero. But he was one because it was the only way he could find to fit in. He just couldn't understand humans well enough to function in normal society.

Love that story. It's a really interesting and fresh take on the convention.

[Pariah]

*yawn* Looks like the kind of movie I'd wait for until it came to Redbox, and then not rent it.

[Pattern Ghost]

8 hours ago, assault said:

I wouldn't over-interpret this. Superheroes sell and are big in the public consciousness. 

 

I don't think anyone's over-interpreting this. It's pretty obviously a Superman deconstruction. It might be good, might not. But it won't be new. Alan Moore did it in like '84 or so. [Insert that quote from Wheel of Time here.]

[Trencher]

8 hours ago, assault said:

This is a horror film, not a superhero one, so most of the previous points are moot.

 

Then again, there are plenty of superhero comedies out there. There also superhero spy films, superhero heist movies, etc.

 

I wouldn't over-interpret this. Superheroes sell and are big in the public consciousness.

 

Of course, my personal superhero movie would be influenced by the last couple of series of Doctor Who. (Which were, admittedly, of patchy quality.)

 

I'd probably go with "suits and mutants" - dealing with power and privilege. Naturally, there would be hope - no power lasts for ever, and ultimately Nazis can be punched, if only symbolically.

 

Hope is far more subversive than cynicism.

What are you arguing against here?

 

Why should a Superman movie where he is not evil be a comedy? Hope is subversive only in social situations where the powers that be want you to be without hope. Hope in itself is positive and uplifting. Not subversive.

 

Why should superheroes selling big or being big in public consciousness somehow make interpreting this sadness irrelevant?

 

Your right about Dr Who being of patchy quality but that is how that series has always been. It all depends on the writer. 

 

That said what we are complaining about is the sad state of affairs when it comes to depicting Superman. Always trying to make him evil. 

                                                                                                                               IT SUCKS!

 

The suits and mutants idea for a superhero movie dealing with power and responsibility is all well and good. Infact that is what the Marvel universe is based on. 

But Superman is greater than that. He is the first Superhero and as such have one foot in the sci fi genre. The question is what happens if a good alien with world threatening power comes to earth?

If the answer is that he would become a monster or that humans and aliens could never get along then its hack writing. Black and white 50's monster movies had more insightful writing.