Comic Book Action Flicks And The Father-Son Relationship

So my wife and I decided to go check out one of those action films that normally populate the summer blockbuster scene. While sitting in the darkened hall eating my priced-for-a-king popcorn, I couldn’t help but feel like we were just supposed to be amazed by the wild car chases and blood-drenching fight sequences and ignore the absurd, slap in your face character moments. Granted, I normally enjoy watching these kinds of films since sometimes I just “like watching things go boom” (my tried-and-true explanation to my wife whenever I pick up one of these films from the film rental shop). However, I’d still like to see characters whose motivations are paid more attention than one would give to a commercial selling toilet paper.

The film in question started off by introducing us to the typical white collar, office cubicle loser – a guy who hates his paper-pushing job, suffers under the petty whims of his insecure and vindictive boss, and puts up with a girlfriend he knows is cheating on him with his supposed best friend and only offers him a daily dose of belittlement. Of course, instead of trying to do something to improve his lot in life, he just sits there and whines about it. Yep, an original character set-up, but that’s okay. I’ll bite since we all know he’ll somehow transform into the hero archetype. But here’s where the writers decided to go for a bite to eat instead of hammering out the character details in the script.

The motivation they created for why this character would suddenly take charge of his life is that he uses his new-found power to seek revenge against the man who murdered his father. Sounds reasonable enough except for one glaring problem – this guy never even knew his father because the deadbeat left his mom and him when he was just a baby. Oh yeah, I’d definitely want to change my life around just so I can honour the memory of such a jerk. At least if his father had left him when he was a young boy – perhaps to protect his family from the film’s antagonist – I would have found that pill much easier to swallow. But there our hero was, narrating to the audience about how he finally knew who he was simply because he was told some cursory information about Deadbeat Daddy and now he was going to avenge that man’s death.

It wasn’t until the end of the film when I saw that this movie was based on a comic book series that these giant plot holes began to make sense. After all, that is the nature of these comic book based-films, isn’t it? When you think of most of the popular comic book series, the origins of the hero types often revolve around the character having to avenge the death of a father figure – Peter Parker turned around and became Spiderman after he loses his Uncle Ben to a robber (or carjacker as is the case in the film series); Bruce Wayne uses his wealth to become Batman after he witnesses the death of his father and mother; Clark Kent decides to leave his home on the farm and goes off to become Superman after he loses his Uncle John; Wolverine’s powers are brought to life after he witnesses his father being murdered in their home. Granted, this is hardly an accurate scientific review as I’m not a comic book fan and there are some obvious exceptions – David Banner of “The Incredible Hulk” fame certainly throws a monkey wrench into the works. However, given the predilection of this theme among the more well-known and popular comic book franchises, I guess it’s not too surprising to see it turn up in this lesser known franchise, that is, less known among those of the non-comic book crowd.

It certainly makes for an interesting subject for a study of how much of this is a reflection of the comic writer, the reader or perhaps some combination of both that explains this emphasis on character origins being about a man either trying to live up to or perhaps even eclipse the expectations or status of the father. The question does arise as to whether the writing and/or reading of comic books using this theme is in part a cathartic device to address some personal issues in regards to their relationship with their own fathers or father-figure types, in addition to it being a source of pure entertainment. I’m sure someone out there has done a study on this. Perhaps when I have more time, I’ll look it up. Regardless, it was apparent that the writers of this film knew the audience was familiar with this plot motif and instead of at least trying to make this sort of believable, you got the sense the writers just looked at each other at this point and said ‘Eh, the audience knows the drill. So let’s get to the fight scene!’

In the end, judging by the demographic in the crowd set that cheered the most at the movie’s ending line of dialogue, this really was more a movie meant for the young adolescent crowd. I suppose that means I’m expected to shuffle off to watch those independent, period piece films that everyone invariably utters the words “Oscar contender” when describing the performances therein. However, the fact is despite the risk of encountering another absurd character motivation pothole, I expect to be drawn to more action blockbuster films if not just for the simple fact that I still “like watching things go boom”.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

1. Father’s Day – Best Day of The Year
2. AFI’s Top 10 Sci-Fi List – Are they kidding me?
3. BSG “Sometimes A Great Notion” – Honey, I’m Home
4. JJ Abrams’ Trek XI Flick – It’s Not Your Daddy’s “Wagon Train to The Stars”
5. Of Fathers and Daughters
6. Saying Goodbye To The Ones We Love

posted on July 6th, 2008 | 2 Comments » | Tags: action films, character plots, comic book films, comic books, father-son relationships |