Today, the Wolverine movie is released. I would love to see it, as for some reason I seem to be capable of suspending my disbelief and enjoying the Marvel movies in ways that no longer seem to apply to standard action movies (I think I may have a crush on Hugh Jackman, but in a manly way). I probably won't for a while, but I would like to.
What has surprised me most about the new movie is that, while I'm familiar with the topic of nerd rage, this movie has really brought out the beast in some people over a character that, quite frankly, I had never heard of before. See, the movie brings in one of my favorites, Ryan Reynolds as an early incarnation of a character called Deadpool. Not being a big comic book guy, I hit the WikiPedia entry (which, as a testament to the combined power of the internet and geeks is nearly as long as the one for Abraham Lincoln) to read his origin story, which is apparently altered in the new film, much to the chagrin of Deadpool fans. I like the idea of a character that's a little crazy, and exhibits his insanity by occasionally being aware of the fact that he's in a comic. It's a risible construct, and I'm sure if I was a regular comic reader, this is the sort of thing that would hook me.
Anyway, I read his origin story as part of the entry, and I realized something that can be difficult for those who become fans of such things (myself included). See, we get into a story, involve ourselves with a character, and then just flow through the rest. Sometimes, I think this leaves us a little blind to certain things. His story (which you can go read if your really interested) is very involved and detailed, would take a ton of time to cover in any other format, and...well, I'm not sure how to say this.
It's a little silly.
Now I realize that I've opened myself up for fanboy attack, and if I could get a set of trade paperbacks and actually read the story in its original form I probably would feel differently. The thing people have to realize is that when these big, sweeping comic arcs are condensed down into a couple of paragraphs on the internet (or a couple of hours on screen), they lose a lot of what made them great in the first place. It's like me trying to explain Buffy the Vampire Slayer to someone - without the wit, characters, or dialog, it just kind of sounds silly. So when someone comes along and desecrates your memories in the name of a film, it's not necessarily disrespect to the character. It's just that when moving to a new medium, some of the details have to change to make it accessible to those who would not otherwise get into it. On the bright side, maybe some of those people, like myself, will take enough interest to start looking up who these characters are, and eventually share the pleasure that you yourself took in the original work.
If it makes any of you feel better, given the way my time works I'm way more likely to read said paperbacks than I am to get to a movie any time soon. As such, I will actually be in your shoes, viewing the movie through the eyes of someone who has read the source material. If, at that time, I find myself in your place, disgusted at the treatment of the character, I will embrace my inner nerd, and together we will rage. I promise to write up a post chastising everything that anyone involved with the movie has done before or since.
Well, all except for Jackman, who simultaneously seems really nice while being able to kick my ass all over the place. I think we'll leave him out of it.
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