Benito-
We are getting close to something. People throughout time have needed heroes. The world now, in its dangerous and cynical shape, needs heroes. America has had the wind taken out of it's sails. It too needs heroes. What better hero for America than Captain America? The need for heroes is so strong that if none are handy, we invent them. Where was Cap when the space shuttle exploded? Out on a smoke break? Cap represents American virtues. He is the kind of person we all want to be, compassionate, full of conviction, forthright, honest and moral. Where was Cap during Vietnam? Cap is also a leader who inspires hope. Does Wolverine or any of the 60,000 other X-Men inspire hope? Cap is the role model we need to help us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and continue on...
Cap! A Modern Adapting
A discussion about film, storytelling and the American spirit
Ben Alpi - Director/Producer for Runic Films
Rick Arthur - Writer/Cartoonist
BEN: Cap! Modernizing Modern Myth
A discussion about film, storytelling and the American spirit.
Ben Alpi - Director/Producer, Runic Films
Rick Arthur - Writer/Cartoonist
You like?
Mr. Rick, what do you think we might call the blog? I usually do a little brainstorming, a bit of word play. Let me see... Cap and Trade (hmm, that might be kind of horrible)
Cap: Declaration of Adaptation
Cap: Culture War
Cap: Media Conflict
Captaining Across Media
Cap: Bridging Media
Cap: Adapting a Legend
Survival
Myth and Legends
Adapting Cap
"from a production based perspective" I'm not sure that's quite it.
"A discussion into the inner workings of creativity in film, comic books, writing and popular culture"
"A discussion about adapting comic books to film that transformed into a..."
Benito- Try these on for size:Cap: Myth, Legend, Media Adaptation
A discussion into adapting an icon across media platforms
Cap! Adapting the Myth and Legend
The creative discussions to rethink an American icon for film and narrative media
I like this last one.We should have a big Cap star and a swastika on the front page as a graphic motif to symbolize the conflict...
BEN: A collaboration sounds great, Mr. Rick. Question for you: Can and should we do a joint blog post which tells a bit of our story and includes parts of our letters and writings? You can see other posts I've done at http://benalpi.blogspot.com.
RICK: Do you mean a Cap blog? Since the original material was not designed for a blog, it will have to be edited.
If you mean a blog for a new project, I will have to think about it.
I was thinking of a single article (post), not a continuing blog. One thing we could do is work up a brief telling of our story and our findings. Another possibility is sort of interview each other conversationally and add in any other details we think relevant. I wouldn't want it to be very long as we're so busy, but I think the core of what we found is something worth telling the world about. Even if we don't talk about Cap at all, we could still talk about the state of the movie biz and our opinions on what we'd like to see in future films (of ours and others.) As an example of what I was thinking lemme try...
Sept 28, 2010
Dear Rick,
I'd like to respond to your letter now from back in August, although it will be brief since you've stated so eloquently feelings that so closely mirror my own. It has been a wonderful experience to work with you on this, Rick. We may come at things from very different angles and opinions, but creative nuance boils down to semantics. What really counts is our heart-ache at the current state of things we love. Graphic novels have become quite popular (and have always been exceedingly popular in the UK, I'm told) but comic books have languished. I don't think they're dead, but I think the mass media money, money, money aspect may finally do its damage and reduce the industry back to a manageable size. But I have to note that the art I see coming out is horrible. X-Men looks like a fringe indie comic by some kid just starting out or some hack who thinks he can draw. Re-hashed ideas just piling up and flooding the market with garbage. I look longingly back at writers like Chris Claremont who I kind of hated for being so dang deep and heart-wrenching. And so the fertile concepts grown over 80 years are now being farmed slash-and-burn style. The film industry has lost its way in the same manner. It bites at its own back for fleas they can remake. Meanwhile the indie market has been bought and packaged by the studios as tiny versions of themselves and no one is taking risks anymore. Forgotten are the out-of-no-where/never-going-to-work films that grew their companies into massive corporations. STUDIO: 'We have to make another Spider-man film right now or our profits will shrink by billions. Just make these 1000 script changes to expand the audience appeal, add this pop star and this other villain (our metrics show kids like this one) and get shooting.' RAIMI: 'Eff you.' Bravo Sam.
Note from the editors: Don't worry folks, there is more blog goodness to come! There are 15 posts (oh my!) to follow. Stay tuned!
CAPTAIN AMERICA: DECLARATION OF WAR
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
RICK: I STILL LIKE MY TITLE BEST!
The Avengers will get made. People, even those with blocks of ice for heads will understand that Cap is part of the Avengers team. The title is clunky and not very catchy. Maybe I will be just blown away by the Cap movie. Maybe my socks will actually come off. I kinda doubt it though. The technology exists to create just about anything for the movies, fully rendered and realistic if need be. This technology has developed rapidly in the last thirty years and the crunching power of computers to do the hard work of making special effects, backgrounds and composites and now actual characters has leap-frogged. The sophisticated matte shots thought up by George Lucas for the original Star Wars are kid's stuff compared to what the camera and computer can do now. I mention this obvious point to bring up the fact that it is good old fashioned storytelling that makes a movie great, not effects. The writing, the performances, the sound, the music, the direction, the editing... Labor intensive human efforts and collaborative at that. A tremendous amount goes into making a big budget film these days and it seems a shame that scripts get rushed through, too many hands are on the page marking it up, schedules are more important than content. Release dates are announced ahead of scripts or casting or even choice of director.
RICK: My Captain America feels the losses. He also knows that ending the war quickly is the only way to save lives. He looks over his shoulder at the men who have fallen and it only galvanizes his efforts. Should have copied the interview link but it is since lost. How would World War II have been different if America had gotten involved in 1934? Or 1936? Or 1938? Part of the reason for this isolationist policy was the horrors of WWI. This was Europe's war. The land struggles and ethnic rivalries were European. America was not yet a super power either. It is a sign of the nation's moral softness that we did not intervene earlier. Think of the lesson we did not learn in Rwanda. Evil must always be made to face the righteous fury of those who stand against it. We came to the aid of France, Britain and Russia when they were on the mat NOT because we opposed evil, a European evil so far away. Captain America was dreamed up by Kirby and Simon BEFORE America entered the war. They understood this evil and they had Cap fighting Hitler and Tojo before Pearl Harbor. In their comic, Cap is a hero, a full blown patriot. There were no excuses for him being American. He doled out two-fisted justice where it was needed. This was not some impassioned plea by two Jewish kids for America to sit on the sidelines and wait it out. Simon and Kirby saw America as being in the thick of it, leading by example.
RICK: I just finished reading a series of comments that the Cap director Joe Johnston made regarding Cap. I suppose it is to be expected. Shooting has already begun and the script vetted by everyone who was going to get their hands on it. It was disheartening because his view of Cap as much more "international" in range. This kind of revisionist, liberal crap is what turns people off.
Cap as a character, as envisioned by Simon & Kirby, was a direct response to the hideous evil that was unleashed in Germany, Japan and Italy during WWII and America's need to step in and combat tyranny. The struggle to create a super soldier has by necessity been a long one covering many years and guided by many hands—all with the express purpose of giving the United States of America a secret weapon during war time. Steve Rogers becomes Captain America (Not Captain Ally or Captain United Nations) and is able to give hope to our troops in the darkest of fights. This is the real strength of Cap and not his fighting prowess. In the field, he can do very little except act as a human symbol to remind the other soldiers why they fight and what they fight for. The ideals of liberty, freedom, might and compassion. Victory in WWII was not assured just because the Americans got involved. England was taking a pounding and many other countries had already been overrun. Germany had also been racing to develop its own super soldier...
