“ I tend to think that what Fame has done is to replace The Sea as The Element of Choice of Adventure for Young People.
If you were a dashing Young Man in the 19th century you would probably have wanted to run away To Sea, just as in the 20th century you might decide that you want to run away and form a pop band.
The difference is that in the 19th century, before running away To Sea, you would have had at least some understanding of the element that you were dealing with and would have perhaps, say, learned to swim ...
The thing is that there is no manual for how to cope with Fame.
So you'll get some, otherwise likeable young person, who has done
- One good comic book,
- One good film,
- One good record,
suddenly told that they are a Genius,
Who believes it, and who runs out laughing and splashing into the billows of Celebrity, and whose heroin-sodden corpse is washed up a few weeks later in the shallows of the tabloids. ”
" As I mentioned in my introduction to Frank's Dark Knight, one of the things that prevents superhero stories from ever attaining the status of true modern myths or legends is that they are open ended.
An essential quality of a Legend is that the events in it are clearly defined in time.
Robin Hood is driven to become an outlaw by the injustices of King John and his minions. That is his Origin.
He meets Little John, Friar Tuck and all the rest and forms the merry men. He wins the tournament in disguise, he falls in love with Maid Marian and thwarts the Sheriff of Nottingham. That is his Career, including love interest, Major Villains and the formation of a superhero group that he is part of.
He lives to see the return of Good King Richard and is finally killed by a woman, firing a last arrow to mark the place where he shall be buried. That is his Resolution --
you can apply the same paradigm to King Arthur, Davy Crockett or Sherlock Holmes with equal success.
You cannot apply it to most comic book characters because, in order to meet the commercial demands of a continuing series, they can never have a resolution. Indeed, they find it difficult to embrace any of the changes in life that the passage of time brings about for these very same reasons, making them finally less than fully human as well as falling far short of True Myth. ”
"The Dark Knight"... by on Scribd
