Space To Move
by Carol Borden
The same week that I walked over to the rep theater to see
Persepolis. I watched the straight-to-DVD
Justice League:
The New Frontier. And, yes, it's probably wrong to write about
The New Frontier within pixels of
Persepolis, even if they're both comics that became animated movies with very different results.
I admit it. I like Persepolis better as a movie than as a book. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud fuse Satrapi's two volume comic memoir about her life in post-revolutionary Tehran and European exile into one movie. The story seems smoother. But the real difference for me is the art. The film gives it some space.
While she doesn't paint with a single kitten hair, Satrapi's work gestures
toward Persian miniatures, even sharing their geometric focus. But
Pantheon's 9" x 6" book seems less like a collection of
miniatures than cramped Victorian curating, with panels squished
closely together without much border. Even a miniature needs space.
On screen, her art has more depth and texture, from rough pastel
shading and gray washes to tumbling flowers and twining branches. The
blacks are much more expansive.
And
Satrapi uses the movie to explore different styles for each
narrative, from a blackened out Social Realist woodcut look for the
Iran-Iraq War to the overarching frame of Marjane at the
airport, the only segment in color. Her Uncle Anoush's story begins
as an animated miniature before sliding seamlessly into a puppet play
of his flight to the Soviet Union. My favorite segment depicts the
tempting of Reza Khan to become shah. I love its mockery of the
British diplomat (Edmond Ironside?) and Reza Khan's self-importance
and vanity. Their flapping arms are perfect.
But her story also escapes the reverence in which we might hold it. The respectable ratios. The dominance of text over art. The binding
that makes it harder for the art to open up like the jasmine spilling
down the screen. Pantheon has nice graphic novels, but there's an ambivalence in the materials themselves, an unwillingness to risk not being taken seriously as books, even when some of the conventions of comics publishing—the ratios, the binding, the borders, the paper—might serve Satrapi's art better.
Still what can compare with the luminosity and absolute blackness of the
film? The monochromatic silence so much deeper than the book? How
do I go back to static Satrapi when
she's created something perfect with Vincent Paronnaud?
More brightly-colored than Persepolis but darker-toned than Warner Bros.' Justice League
tv series, The New Frontier is set before the Justice League became the Justice League.
The story addresses the Cold War, McCarthyism and the threat within
using heroes in capes, tights and star-spangled shorts. In their 90
minutes, Darwyn Cooke and Bruce Timm make a nice allegory for
contemporary America, focusing on the heroes' relationships, the
capture of the martian J'onn J'onzz, and rampant paranoia. But the
end's rushed. There's a monster kinda out of nowhere. Superman
suddenly stands up for what's right and calls everyone to look past a
feared alien threat—whether pinko or green—and work together.
It's a nice little trick, an homage to 1950s alien menace movies that
are anti-Communist or anti-McCarthyite depending on how you squint.
Better fans than I can write about the truncated story and the references to
DC comics history. Really, I'm not the one you want to go to for
that. I can say that Cooke's art had more space and flexibility
before it was animated straight to DVD. I didn't expect the movie to
compete with the books' expressive art or multiple artistic styles;
and it doesn't. But while the film's slicker, it's not as painful as
Disney Hellboy. J'onn J'onzz remains tragically expressive. Blocky
Korean War Wonder Woman is an Amazon's Amazon and who doesn't like to
see pointy-eared Batman wearing purple gloves? But while superhero
cartoons—and maybe cartoons in general—benefit from The New
Frontier's new medium, I can't say that The New Frontier
does. Its sacrifice is certainly appreciated, but Cooke's art
flattens out on the screen.
It's funny that the more literary text would benefit so much more from its
transposition. The New Frontier becomes more stereotypical on screen, while Persepolis
escapes the pieties of literature with all the force of a francophone
woman singing “Eye of the Tiger.” Literature is supposed
to be more expansive than genre. Superheros are supposed to be
tough.
But there are little overlaps. Both movies are about profoundly
distrustful societies turning against themselves to battle their own
fear. Satrapi humanizes what is too easily understood as dehumanized
political history, seeking solidarity in our common humanity. The
New Frontier presents the parable of a Martian squatting in a
black site cell. One is a helluva lot more respectable than the
other, but learning to love the alien is always worthwhile.
~~~
Between repertory cinemas and straight to DVD movies, Carol Borden lives a glitzy life.
Tags: animation , Batman , bio , capes , Darwyn Cooke , JLA , Marjane Satrapi , movies , Superman , Wonder Woman
I never had much taste for Loving the Alien (as compared to other songs by Bowie :)
I do find it interesting what translates well to film and what doesn't. I was disappointed by The New Frontier even though I wasn't expecting it to be very similar to the comic. In fact, what was also most disappointing to me was that the art just didn't translate very well, except where it was used more like a set-piece.
In comparison, I found the movie Superman: Doomsday much more interesting than the "Death of Superman" graphic novel (which basically just follows Doomsday as he smashes his way to Metropolis, then had a big slugfest with Superman.) I did, however, find it disconcerting that Adam Baldwin was the new voice of Superman. But I often find celebrity voice actors distracting, as I try to remember where I heard that voice before or (if I know the voice) as I try not to picture the celebrity playing the animated character.
I did recently see an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" that was very enjoyable because it really just used the art as set-pieces with very minimal amounts of animation (moving one or two characters within the set) and a narrator basically read the book while the film panned across the pictures or followed Max or the monsters. I think this was more what I was hoping for with The New Frontier though obviously modern animation standards would require a little more action from the characters (if not the sets.)
—Mr.Dave
strangely enough, with the new frontier, i ended up feeling like the story didn't have enough space in the movie. not that i'm fetishizing all the subplots and details. for example, i think superman: doomsday is tighter than the comic. but somehow, superman's stand in the new frontier feels sudden. too much material to get through.
as for picky voice critiques, i was bothered by david boreanaz' voicing of hal jordan/green lantern. and the batman's voice, well, it's better than the batman in songs and stories of the justice league
and, yeah, sometimes the reading rainbow school of storybook animation is the best.
—Carol Borden
i actually felt more reluctant than i wanted to about seeing Persepolis as a movie because i had found myself put off by the flatness and dull black space of the graphic novel. the way it was printed made it hard for me to have much of an emotional reaction to it, and while i do think it would have worked better in a larger, glossier format, i agree that the static version just can't compare to the flowing dynamic art of the film.
it seems a little odd to connect the two, but the style - in particular the historical segments - reminded me of how disappointed i was when i saw the animated credits at the end of the lemony snickett movie and imagined how good it could have been if the entire film had been done that way. it would have translated really well.
—alex macfadyen
yeah, i remember thinking that myself. the lemony snickett movie would've been fantastic animated like that.
—Carol Borden
Hi Carol,
On the subject of voice acting, I agree with you and Mr. Dave that it can be distracting. I know that DC purposely recasts voices for each feature film, probably both to spread the love and to get as many big names involved with the franchise as possible. It's hard to readjust, though, when I've gotten used to voices from another film or the Justice League cartoon. And, God yeah, David Boreanaz required out and out ignoring("La la la, can't hear nuthin'!"). It's wierd to be so bothered by the casting of a character I'm not really invested in.
But, overall, Cartoons!
—weed
A few months ago, I decided to take the plunge: I would burn through the Harry Potter series, now complete, all in one go. It's been... interesting. I've discovered all kinds of things I had not realized before, including the fact that Harry is - to put it diplomatically - not a particularly effective hero.
1. Overture Island