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Reality Check by Sarah Gentili

In late July thousands descended on San Diego, California for four days to experience Comic Con. Avid fans, industrial experts and Hollywood experts mix in the massive Convention Center, showing the latest wares and unveil new projects. Once the venue of nerds and obsessed fans, Comic Con has become one of the largest marketing and public relation tools in the entertainment industry. The Hollywood executives and publishing houses have come to one conclusion. Comic books and more importantly the loyal fan base they invoke equals big money.

As testament to the selling power of comic books, just look at some of the box office hits that have been produced in the past few years. Spider-man, X-men, Iron Man and most recently Batman were all huge successes that broke box office records. What has happened to cause this change in what we consider entertainment? Today we don’t have great screen legends like Cary Grant or Katharine Hepburn. Today we have animation giants like Pixar, and special effects wizards like Industrial Light and Magic.

Part of this change I believe is generational. Even now we’re seeing a shift to include video game and graphic novel adaptations. Another reason I think this works is because comic books, video games and graphic novels have all matured. People do not stop reading or playing as youths and the content has become darker and grittier. The majority of the fans who made the pilgrimage to Comic Con were grown men and women who took time off from there jobs to live out their fantasies, dressing as characters and meeting iconic industry heroes.

Turning these fantasies into reality on the screen is a financial gold mine if you do two things in the fans’ eyes. Remain true to the original story or game, and have good writers.

While I’m not impressed with grown men who wear tights in public, I do think this trend in Hollywood speaks to bigger issues that we’re facing as a society. Why do we crave such fantastical escapism, where the largest part of the film’s budget goes to special effects? Perhaps because we go through daily life and as a whole are sheltered, pampered, and bored. It takes the big explosions to make us sit up and say wow.

The most revealing thing of all though is in the words. The movies that have morality themes all seem to do much better then the ones who just go for the “cool visual” factor. Case in point is Batman. The Dark Knight has been praised by critics across the country as it shredded box office records, not for its special effects, but because of the story it tells about right and wrong and when a person should stand up and fight. Another example is Iron Man, a story more about penance and inner strength then shooting the bad guys. As a country I think we are starving for people to stand up and delivery these moral messages. Sadly, we have to veil them in the world of fantasy.

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