Capitalism, Continuity, and Art
“Everything Changes.” Suzuki Roshi
It’s my birthday, so I’m allowed to post this late.
I took my touring (or "adventure," as the kids call it these days) bicycle to the shop for some major surgery last Saturday. The shop is near the supermarket I worked at in High School, and the long way home takes me through the neighborhood I grew up in.
Well, like the man says....
The second half of Glen Avenue is the "narrow downhill" I mentioned a couple weeks ago. I grew up on a side street near the top of the first half, which wasn't as scary and had, perched on a flat spot halfway down, the Corner Store.
City folk would have called The Corner Store a bodega. It had a newsstand (no comics), a butcher, deli sandwiches, coffee, groceries, and most important to me; candy and toys.
The Corner Store was a regular stop on bike trips, especially to and from the town pool. It was at there that I learned that you'd explode if you drank pop rocks and soda and that Bubble Yum had spider eggs in it.
At some point, The Corner Store became the Park Wood Deli. I rarely visit the area, but I believe the named changed before the turn of the century.
I stopped last Saturday and bought myself a sandwich and took a photo.
Even though the sandwich was great, I found myself yearning for The Corner Store of the past. Why did it have to go away? Why did it have to be replaced with a slick sandwich shop that boasted a brick pizza oven and a TikTok account?
This was, of course, an irrational desire. There are many reasons things change. Some are good, some are bad, most are neutral. But people hate change.
Especially with their stories. Fans hate it when their favorite characters change.
Of course, they don't own these stories. They're not their characters and gasp someone may even use them to tell a story that's not targeted at them.
Consider the comic book fan. (Although this applies to books and reboots of TV shows and movies.)
Hell hath no fury like a fan forced to deal with a change in "continuity." You don't have to look far to find moaning and gnashing of teeth in response to a character's backstory changing or, heaven help us, being changed to a woman, person of color, or LGBTQ+ individual.
Comics continuity is a problem Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and the rest of the early "Bullpen" created when they introduced "The Marvel Age" of comics. Prior to that, comics were simple. Heroes had interchangeable personalities and modular stories. They put on their masks, beat the crap out of the bad guys, and went home.
Their origins were equally simple. Got a corn field? Superman's space ship can crash land there. Got a Crime Alley? Bruce Wayne's family be right way there to get mugged. Got a shelf with some dangerous chemicals? The Flash is standing by, waiting to get struck by lightning near it. (No, really. That's his origin. I'm not kidding.)
But Marvel had to go and add what Eliot Borenstein calls "interiority" to characters. The Fantastic Four is a dysfunctional found family. Bruce Banner's rage monster just wants "to be left alone" (but he really doesn't.) Heartless arms dealer Tony Stark needs a literal iron heart to stay alive. High school loser Peter Parker gets great power and a hard lesson about responsibility.
This gave us characters that had the potential for internal growth. The creators could tell the kinds of stories that draw us to novels and movies. Stories were characters grow and (oops!) change.
Will Ben Grimm learn to deal with being a monster? Will the Hulk ever find peace? Will Peter ever get past his guilt?
But there's a problem. Answer those questions... and your series has to end or change.
And fans hate change.
So capitalism says...don't change. Stan Lee famously told the Bullpen to give the fans the "illusion of change." Ben quits the FF for the umpteenth time. The Hulk gets some peace for about five pages. Peter Parker finally gets paid for a photo while Aunt May is having her nineteenth myocardial infarction.
Now, with the stories crossing to different media, this "continuity" issue grows—at least it does for people that refuse to understand that change is necessary.
Different media means different storytelling problems. It's no coincidence that Watchman, the movie most faithful to its source material, was helmed by a guy that didn't understand the comics. What works in comics doesn't work in film. For example, comics have thought balloons. Movies have voice overs. Voice repel viewers.
Also, the authors anchored these tales in the past. Nick Fury was a WWII veteran turned Cold War Warrior. The Fantastic Four got their abilities while attempting to win a space race that ended a few years after Marvel launched their comic. Bruce Banner was Hulkified during nuclear tests in New Mexico. These stories either have to change or filmed as period pieces.
Finally, there's the issue that generates more discord than any other. These comics have source material that's, at best, less than enlightened and, at worst, downright offensive. Their women are designated victims. People of color are nonexistent or portrayed as appalling stereotypes. Even when you're looking at stories written and illustrated by artists with the best of intentions in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s, they often make you squirm.
This is where the "not for you" issue arises. If you have a problem with woman that have agency or people that don't look like you...they didn't make it for you.
Sometimes it's hard to cope with change.
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Eric Goebelbecker
Trick of the Tale LLC
25 Veterans Plaza #5276
Bergenfield, NJ 07621-9998