1 Consider the Development of Imagery in the Superhero Film. Are

Consider the development of imagery in the superhero film. Are its expressive techniques more relevant to traditions of comics or cinema? Illustrate your answer with examples. From a level of camp that was attributed to early1 television and made-for-television film adaptations of superhero comics, to the realism and gritty German expressionist lens that coloured the likes of Superman (Richard Donner, 1978) and Batman (Tim Burton, 1989) respectively (Morton, 2016), the development of imagery in the superhero film has often teetered between the expressive techniques of cinema, and those of comics. According to Bukatman (2011: 118), today “the superhero film has displaced the superhero comic in the world of mass culture.” With this in mind, it is expedient to assess which medium’s expressive techniques the twenty-first century is more relevant to. Through the analysis of three films, this essay attempts to do exactly that. Before taking on this endeavour, however, it is important to establish what the yardstick of each medium’s expressive techniques is for this essay. Cinematic expressive techniques will be taken as the mise-en-scène2, soundtrack/score, the use of the star/celebrity, and visual effects. While the expressive techniques of comics will be taken as the use of panels, the elements within panels3, gutters, page-turns, and colour. The following three films will be analysed: Watchmen (Zack Snyder, 2009), a film that is said to be “very faithful” (Crocker, 2009) to the original comic book, but still appears “something less than the sum of its parts” (Bukatman, 2011:118); Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi, 2017), the third instalment of the ‘Thor’ series which is most lauded for its evident “Jack Kirby influence” (Waititi, quoted in Blair, 2017); and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Ramsey, Rothman & Persichetti, 2018), which of the three chosen films is arguably the most relevant to the expressive techniques of comics, given its closeness to the medium as an animated film. Each will be analysed by taking an expressive technique of 1 Roughly from 1951-1968 2 “The contents of the frame and the way they are organised” (Gibbs, 2002: 5). This includes elements such as position of camera, setting, costume, props, lighting, and performance. 3 Caption boxes, speech & thought balloons, special effects. 1 cinema or comics that the respective film uses well, followed by a comparison of how the other two films make use, or do not make use of the chosen technique. This will lead to a conclusion that answers the question “are the expressive techniques of the modern superhero film more relevant to traditions of cinema, or traditions of comics?” In his review of Watchmen, Crocker (2009) notes that “no comic book has a soundtrack as incredible as this,” and while the adjective “incredible” may be subjective depending on your music taste, what is true is that the soundtrack is an expressive technique unavailable to comics as it is a “strictly visual medium” (McCloud, 1993: 134). An important “scene” in Watchmen that displays the apt use of soundtrack is the opening credits. The montage of images, action, and muted speech are scored with Bob Dylan’s “The Times Are A-Changin’,” (1964). This song characterises and emphasises the passage of time displayed on screen as presidents are appointed and assassinated, as the Cold War transitions to the Vietnam War and back again, as old superheroes are replaced by new ones, and finally superheroes are outlawed altogether (see appendix A). The construction of various shots from disparate moments in time sequenced together to make one cohesive scene – that is montage – and ease the spectator into the Watchmen’s universe would not be the same without the music. Dix (2008: 88) notes that “music provides continuity across a series of disparate shots and thereby serves to distract from the artifice of the editing process.” Therefore, without the music the scene may appear too obviously broken into separate shots, rather than a smooth transition through time, and the appearance of continuous movement. Interestingly enough, even though there’s no music present in comics, they can escape this effect because the mind of the reader is accustomed to working “as a sort of in-betweener – filling in the gaps between panels,” (McCloud, 1993: 88).Whereas, in films the music works so that the spectator does not even notice the gap. As a result, in this respect, the articulation of the imagery in Watchmen becomes more relevant to that of the cinematic. 2 The same can be said for Thor: Ragnarok, whose soundtrack was remarked as “a much needed breath of fresh air” (Heidkamp, 2017). One scene in particular that is popular for the choice of music track, is the final battle (see appendix B) accompanied by Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” (1970). The rock music lends to the violent action and intensifies the idea of the film’s heroes as ass-kickers (for lack of a better word), something that is fair to assume if only from the sassy slow motion walk Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) takes before she wields her sword to slice off the head of an evil walking-dead soldier. Be that as it may, in discussion of scenes such as this one within the superhero movie, Bukatman (2011: 120) comments that: “the net effect is of some vaguely rubberoid action figures harmlessly bouncing each other around the space...and the only emotion in the viewer is pleasure...provided by the vertiginous kineticism of the sequence.” While this may be the case in Thor: Ragnarok 4, this essay argues that it does not apply to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (ISV). Similar to the other two films, soundtrack is an important expressive technique used to help drive the narrative in ISV. Whether it is Miles (Shameik Moore) singing along to “Sunflower” (Post Malone & Swae Lee, 2018) displaying the endearing innocence of a thirteen year old, or “Scared of the Dark” (Lil Wayne, Ty Dolla $ign & XXXTENTACION, 2018) playing after the death of Peter Parker (Chris Pine) to convey Miles’ fear and a city in mourning. But, a rather poignant use of music within the film is the personal soundtrack attached to the Prowler (Mahershala Ali) every time he is on screen. And it is the fight/chase scenes between him and Miles (see appendix C) that allows for a rebuttal to Bukatman’s above statement. The audio cue to signal the Prowler’s presence is the result of “the sound of elephants trumpeting” (Pulliam-Moore, 2018) composed by Daniel Pemberton. And yes, in these scenes both characters are “bouncing each other around the space”, but with the aid of 4 At one point in this scene Thor (Chris Hemsworth) becomes a human tornado and literally spins through a huddle of skeleton soldiers. 3 the signature Prowler “siren” pleasure is not the only emotion, in fact, it may not even be on the spectrum of emotions that are experienced as one watches. What is experienced and heightened is a sense of danger, a “haunting” (Persichetti, quoted in Pulliam-Moore, 2018), betrayal (especially when the Prowler’s identity is revealed) and even “sadness, given how the character’s story plays out within the grander scheme of the film” (ibid.). Consequently, what is evident through the argument so far is the contribution soundtrack plays to the imagery of superhero films, and that its use in all three films makes their expressive techniques more relevant to the traditions of cinema. It was mentioned in the introduction that out of the three chosen films, ISV is the most relevant to comics traditions in terms of its expressive techniques, and one of the ways this statement rings true is through the usage of panels in the movie. For example, when Miles is chased by the police with an unconscious Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) attached to him via spider-web, the kinetic energy of the scene is interrupted by a three-panel spread (see appendix D). With the use of these particular subject-to-subject panels, all movement becomes static and the audience is given time to look at each shot separately, and simultaneously figure out how each shot works together, all in the matter of a few seconds. McCloud (1993: 71) mentions that subject-to-subject panels require a “degree of reader involvement necessary to render these transitions meaningful”, and this is what the addition of panels to ISV asks of the audience. Consequently, Dunn (2019) praises the film for “trusting in the audience to read the action, and bring their own reaction to it.” ISV momentarily takes the audience out of the movie experience, where sometimes reactions may be given to them, and into the medium of the source material – the comic book – where they are required to do the work. This is just one of many examples where panels are implemented in ISV, and it should be noted that, the intention of the creators was for “someone to be able to freeze any frame of the movie and have it look so good, they'd want to frame it and hang it 4 on the wall,'' (Miller quoted in Solomon, 2018). The success of such an intention means that even when there are no actual panels on screen, “every single shot in the movie seem[s] like a comic book panel” (Kaye, 2018). Thor: Ragnarok and Watchmen do not use this expressive technique of comics in the same way or to the extent that ISV does. Nevertheless, there is at least one scene in each film of which the imagery could be interpreted as panel-like. In Watchmen, when Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) kills Big Figure (Danny Woodburn) in a prison toilet, every time the door swings back the position of the actors in the shot changes (see appendix E).

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