![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hancock: Maybe I’m reading the wrong reviews, but am I the only one who thinks that much of the force of the film’s alleged revision of superhero tropes is that Will Smith is black? I’m fascinated by how casting a black man in itself changes how various other story elements work--Supreme Power did something much darker with the Batman character, and now even more I want to see the Supreme Power-style take on Superman, because the film pulled a lot of punches.
Nonetheless, there was enough there to intrigue me. The idea that superpowered Hancock doesn’t fit in among normal humans and this makes him lonely is standard, but he doesn’t ever try to pass as a normal human. That’s pretty unusual for a superhero narrative. And in superhero movies, the public usually loves the superheroes unless and until they’re manipulated to judge them unfairly. How much of the fact that most people apparently refused to give Hancock the benefit of the doubt until he secured himself a PR rep has to do with racial discomfort? Yes, he’s a jerk—but why is he a jerk? His origin story, tied to the jerkishness, is a hate crime. I can’t remember seeing that before for a male superhero (again, except for Supreme Power).
The mythology didn’t make any sense, and the gender politics were terrible. And yet I’ve rarely if ever wanted conduit-fic more. Ray has to keep meeting John for business purposes, and Mary (as good a name as any) knows what she’s seeing, which is unresolved sexual tension. After a while she tells Ray to go for it, just to come back to her. Eventually Ray figures out that she means come back right after, which is possible because of superspeed drop-offs and pick-ups, and so Ray has a lot of double-headers.
Um, right. I’ll be over there, hiding my shame.
Nonetheless, there was enough there to intrigue me. The idea that superpowered Hancock doesn’t fit in among normal humans and this makes him lonely is standard, but he doesn’t ever try to pass as a normal human. That’s pretty unusual for a superhero narrative. And in superhero movies, the public usually loves the superheroes unless and until they’re manipulated to judge them unfairly. How much of the fact that most people apparently refused to give Hancock the benefit of the doubt until he secured himself a PR rep has to do with racial discomfort? Yes, he’s a jerk—but why is he a jerk? His origin story, tied to the jerkishness, is a hate crime. I can’t remember seeing that before for a male superhero (again, except for Supreme Power).
The mythology didn’t make any sense, and the gender politics were terrible. And yet I’ve rarely if ever wanted conduit-fic more. Ray has to keep meeting John for business purposes, and Mary (as good a name as any) knows what she’s seeing, which is unresolved sexual tension. After a while she tells Ray to go for it, just to come back to her. Eventually Ray figures out that she means come back right after, which is possible because of superspeed drop-offs and pick-ups, and so Ray has a lot of double-headers.
Um, right. I’ll be over there, hiding my shame.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject