A testament to my complete disorganization, I have had this piece for about a week now and have notes everywhere and still forgot to bring it to you! Hey, I was sick! Anyway, Marvel signed Samuel L. Jackson to an unheard-of NINE picture deal! Jackson is set to portray Nick Fury - a white guy - in Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and maybe a movie on S.H.I.E.L.D. (the organization which Nick Fury heads - or did, for like 50 years).
I went over this before and I stand by what I said: I'm tired of the racial switch in comic book movies. It was a novel and daring (ha!) approach for Kingpin in Daredevil, but by this point, it's simply lazy and gimmicky. I don't know that Mickey Rourke would have made a better Nick Fury, but he damn sure looks the part!
When it comes to classic books - such as I, Robot or even I Am Legend (which they will never successfully make a movie of because producers can't help but try to "improve" on the ending) - the color of the lead character is regardless. In the better ones, you are rarely made aware of such things anyway, unless they bear some significance. Comic books are a totally different ballgame because - they are comic books! The art is at least as important as the story and we have come to love these characters as we've come to know them. It's as if 50+ years of history doesn't matter in the least.
© C Harris Lynn, 2009
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
4 comments:
There is actually some (small) good reason for Sam Jackson to be in the role. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Ultimate Marvel Universe, but over there Nick Fury is black. Furthermore, I recall reading somewhere that the artist who first drew Ultimate Nick Fury based him on Samuel Jackson. However, since Iron Man was based on the original Marvel Universe comic (as, presumably, will be The Avengers), it doesn't really make a lot of sense in the movie.
Ah. No, I'm not familiar with the Ultimates line, but that makes more sense.
The movies take a lot of liberties and, like I said above, I usually don't mind it too much, but when it goes completely against the spirit of the character...
Daredevil was, far and away, the closest a movie has come to capturing the actual book, but it bombed. It was a really faithful adaptation which people like Alan Moore could use to bolster his claims that you just can't make a good movie from a comic book, because part of DD's (the movie) problem was exactly that: it was too faithful.
While nerds, like myself, thrilled at the the many cameos (Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Karen Page [she was his secretary, but she's only seen briefly, toward the first of the movie], Kevin Smith, more), the regular movie audience didn't know who these people were, nor why they were significant. And, honestly, those cameos were half the movie.
Speaking of Karen Page, that's the story they should have told. I love Elektra (she's possibly my favorite MU character) and Jennifer Garner is an absolute KO, but so long as you've got Kingpin, that's the story they should have told.
Daredevil was too faithful and it proves you cannot compress 50+ years of history into a two-hour flick, so don't even try.
The Fantastic Four movies, while little more than eye-candy, are actually quite faithful to the spirit of the series, and make better film fodder. I mean, the whole comic is about them surfing about the galaxy, getting into intergalactic shenanigans, and that's what the movies bring us. They don't bother to cameo Skrulls or hint at larger themes within the canon (excepting the bit where Torch steals Thing's girly-friend - but they just dropped that hint - which was a cool, subtle nod to us nerds that they knew the source from which they were working), they just tell a story that could happen to the FF.
Samuel L. Jackson is basically Samuel L. Jackson in every movie, and he is a bit like Nick Fury, so it will all work out in the end, but Will Smith as Cap? You know?
...
I'm wondering if this could work the other way. Like, if they ever get around to making "Black Panther", Nicolas Cage could star in the title role. Or for Luke Cage they could cast Ralf Moeller, which might result in Will Smith playing Daniel Rand.
My point exactly!
I realize I run the risk of sounding "racist" by even discussing this, but let's just dispense with that from jumpstreet: this is not, in any way, meant to sound racist because it simply isn't.
That being said, I know that there are few black comic book characters - well, superheroes, at any rate. I know this is why those that do exist are so iconic. But does that make their white counterparts any less so?
I guess a black Nick Fury isn't that much different from a white one, but only because I allow that he isn't! You literally could not have a white actor portraying a black superhero, because most black superheroes' identity is integrally tied to their skin color and heritage.
It's a one-way street, here: if we say, "Black actors should not portray white characters," we run the risk of being accused of being racist; if we say, "Then why can't it work the other way?" we run the same risk - as well as being told we just don't get it.
Well? What's to get?
As I've said for years, were there more black comics fans, it follows there would be more black superheroes. Suburban white kids can't really relate to a "Black Panther," so they're not going to buy his title, and if the title doesn't sell, the company isn't going to keep publishing it. But instead of facing that - or, better, stating that and giving us fans a break - publishers shy away from the whole thing, and for years, the black superheroes who do exist have been accused of being black "only in ink" (meaning they had black skin, but no real black heritage or ties to the community). Storm was at the top of that list, with her blue eyes.
I realize they want to appeal to as broad a spectrum as possible, but having a Will Smith portray Cap seems more racist to me than remaining true to the character as he was originally meant to be. Not to mention a thumb in the eye of those of us who love the character and have supported him throughout the years. (But, again, there has been a black Cap over the years - should they tell that story, I'd be all for the idea!)
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