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Both Metropolis and Gotham are NYC- Metropolis is NYC during the day- Gotham is NYC at night. That's how they were originally conceived.

I disagree with your point about realism. In Nolan's movies, at least, there were essentially three kinds of people in Gotham: people who stayed because they wanted to make it a better place, people who stayed because they wanted to profit off the city's corruption, and people who stayed because they had no means to pack up and move out (being held there by their families, or their jobs, or just poverty). There are plenty of real cities with problems similar to Gotham's (although not to the same extent), but people don't move out of them en masse. For some people, it's just a matter of where they've always called home.

I disagree with your point about realism. In Nolan's movies, at least, there were essentially three kinds of people in Gotham: people who stayed because they wanted to make it a better place, people who stayed because they wanted to profit off the city's corruption, and people who stayed because they had no means to pack up and move out (being held there by their families, or their jobs, or just poverty). There are plenty of real cities with problems similar to Gotham's (although not to the same extent), but people don't move out of them en masse. For some people, it's just a matter of where they've always called home.

 

The people who profit off of corruption were criminals anyway, people without means to move would not be middle class, and just ask how many people by choice stay in say, East St. Louis or Memphis in the bad parts of town. Gotham shouldn't have anybody left that isn't a criminal. [/hyperbole] Particularly after the No Man's Land earthquake thing.

 

DV is right however, he reminded me about that concept of Metropolis being NYC in day and so forth. So I suppose Gotham may be better in the daytime, but it's implied that that's not the case.

*Kraggh facepalms at his name being misspelled for the millionth time*

 

I agree with the things you brought up, and I have to admit that this is really cool. I had always hoped to see someone else take up the mantle of the nerd debate for me after I brought it up one time too many, and it's also good to see someone make a strong case. That you have a blog entry on this at all is great, and it reminds me to get off of my lazy and nervous butt and rewrite the unpublished draft of my eventual "Why the World Needs Superman" blog entry, although my thesis there would be so big and has so many supporting details that I could almost publish a book on it, which is the main reason why the essay is intimidating. For sure, it will be several thousand words. However, the prominance of the subject now, especially once it has spread beyond my blog, presses me to take up the mantle and be a leader in this discussion again and write that essay.

 

Meanwhile, I wrote this a while back, Superman and Der Übermensch as Conflicting Roots for Worldview. It was something I intended to write as a buildup to a grand case for Superman that was was thought to come much sooner.

 

But seriously, I'm totally happy that someone decided to impersonate me, and I love your new avatar-banner combination.

 

24601

*Kraggh facepalms at his name being misspelled for the millionth time*

 

I agree with the things you brought up, and I have to admit that this is really cool. I had always hoped to see someone else take up the mantle of the nerd debate for me after I brought it up one time too many, and it's also good to see someone make a strong case. That you have a blog entry on this at all is great, and it reminds me to get off of my lazy and nervous butt and rewrite the unpublished draft of my eventual "Why the World Needs Superman" blog entry, although my thesis there would be so big and has so many supporting details that I could almost publish a book on it, which is the main reason why the essay is intimidating. For sure, it will be several thousand words. However, the prominance of the subject now, especially once it has spread beyond my blog, presses me to take up the mantle and be a leader in this discussion again and write that essay.

 

Meanwhile, I wrote this a while back, Superman and Der Übermensch as Conflicting Roots for Worldview. It was something I intended to write as a buildup to a grand case for Superman that was was thought to come much sooner.

 

But seriously, I'm totally happy that someone decided to impersonate me, and I love your new avatar-banner combination.

 

24601

 

Sorry, I noticed that after the fact Kraggh.

 

And yes, I really like the banner-av combo too. The gold color of the sunlight and the wheat gives an inspiring picture and I've liked that picture of Superman on the farm for a long while. (Or at least as long as it's been around, which is a few weeks.

Looks like you've edited this since I've last read it.

 

Alright, so about Gotham. This really got to me with The Dark Knight and also sort of with The Dark Knight Rises. They're billed as the most realistic superhero films ever made, but in most part I think the realism is just visual, because when you actually look at the plots, I got disenfranchised with TDK once I saw it again on DVD. The joker arrived, people hated him, and then all of a sudden everyone turns to him, which they bill as realistic because the criminals were desperate but seeing as how he treated his own people, I've come to really doubt that. Then he managed to do so many ridiculously convenient things at once, and all of his giant schemes were given no explanation other than plot magic. How did he know how do get the judge and the commissioner? Plot magic. The bomb in the hospital, in the boat, basically everything else? How did he walk on a school bus without gaining any attention? What about that school bus in the beginning that rammed into the bank? That one was in a line of school buses. Didn't anyone of the many witnesses begin to wonder? Yeah, no clue about that, and there just seemed to be no way. They made for very good action/suspense movies, but they're hardly the be all and end all of superhero film like they're being treated.

 

Same goes for TDKR, which I liked more than TDK. At least Bane was the "leader" of a well-organized terrorist group. However, it still would have been cooler if his means were explained through some other means that plot magic, because some of that stuff requires extreme suspension of disbelief, and Nolan's film have some huge plot holes that you could drive a bus through. It's odd that this is a criticism for the original Superman films but not for Nolan.

 

I'm not hating on the films. They are very professional and they have an actual cinematic vision inspired by the silent era of movies, but they're not models for perfection like some people are claiming them to be, and they're hardly the be-all and end-all of superhero movies.

 

On another note, I watched an old interview with Christopher Reeve that was made right before Superman IV came out, and he had this immense pride in the films. He said "Did you know that, with the exception of the first film, not one person dies in the Superman films? Let me repeat that. Not one person dies." he really thought that was something and really cool. People don't really find that cool anymore. I was talking with a certain BZPer over skype, and when I said that the upcoming Man of Steel had to be more than just an action movie, he responded with "Your idealism is cute."

 

For that statement, some if my worst fears regarding Batman's dominance in culture to be realized. I don't want people to stop believing. I don't want people to demeaningly think of idealism as nothing but naivete. I wish people (American audiences in particular) could stop for a moment and just believe in Americana again.

 

Which is what your avatar and banner is. Yes, I finally had to come to this. Like you, I always (or at least, since I became a Superman fan) found the image of Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman in the fields a very inspiring image. When I rewatched Superman: The Movie, I remember when he stood on the open fields after his father died. It was a poignant moment in the film. Then I saw other illustrations of Clark on the farm, in the cornfields. There was one with his father, his arm over his son's shoulder, looking into the golden sky as the sun neared the horizon in the west. There's something in that image, especially as an American, that resonates, something that few fictional characters can fulfill. Yes, in the world of Superheroes there are many colors, but for me it is ironically Superman, the one people treat as a general rule that he cannot be related to, that I find reflects the truth in my soul. Real-life parallels and memories come to mind, those things that have come to shape and define me when I was a little child, and when I look at Clark Kent with his parents, I feel that there's someone out there who really gets me.

 

That said, I also really like Aquaman. He needs more attention.

 

24601

All I really did was add a few images.

 

But yeah, TDKR kinda' lost me on the realism when the football field exploded. The Joker never struck me as unrealistic, primarily because it seemed he was a really obscure criminal before he decided to take on the mob, and because I watched it years after its release on DVD, and shortly afterwards, there was that shooting in Colorado. Somehow, that guy managed to get by without anyone doing anything, so I'm not all that surprised that the Joker pulled it off in that movie. But the football field was ridiculous.

 

And Aquaman's kryptonite is his Silver Age portrayal, which he probably won't be able to shake until somebody makes a good Aquaman movie. However, his new comic has been one of the best selling along with Batman and Justice League, from what I've heard, so maybe somebody has figured out how to turn Aquaman from "that enviro-nut who talks to fish and is weaker out of the water" to "that guy who can skewer and pick up a car by his trident, slam it into the ground, and cause a tsunami if he cares to do so". But for now, he's still stuck with his 1960's stigma that Superman and Batman lost long ago.