Emerald Lamp
Next year, Warner Bros. will be releasing a movie based on a superhero named Green Lantern. This is a big deal to me, because Green Lantern is my favorite superhero and has been since I was twelve years old.
“Green Lantern” is not like most superheroes like Superman or Wonder Woman, since many characters have held and currently hold the title of GL. In the interest of brevity, I’ll explain it thusly: Green Lanterns are an intergalactic peace keeping force. There are 3600 sectors of the universe, each with two officers. Earth is in sector 2814.
The Green Lantern’s weapon is a ring which, in the most simplest explanation, can make/do anything the wielder wants it to. It can make a giant green boxing glove and smash you with it; it can scan your immediate area for carbon monoxide. The ring must be recharged by a lantern shaped battery - hence the name.
However, this is the second version of a Green Lantern. This is where things can get confusing if you don’t know much about comic books, so try to bear with me. The first Green Lantern was Alan Scott, created in 1940. His ring was a magical artifact from ancient times. A talking green lantern (not to be confused with Green Lantern officers. This is literally a talking lamp) instructed him to carve a ring from its surface to have access to its power at all times. He made a loudly colored costume (red, purple and green) and began fighting crime because that’s what you did in the ‘40s.
Unfortunately for Mr. Scott, his comic didn’t do well and got cancelled.
The concept was revived in the ‘50s with the science fiction explanation that is still the norm to this day. This new Green Lantern was named Hal Jordan. However, Alan Scott is still around and due to the magic properties of his ring has barely aged since World War 2.
Most average people who don’t read comics but like superheroes know Green Lantern from the Justice League cartoon; this GL is John Stewart - an African-American. He is also an officer of the Green Lantern Corps, but is not THE Green Lantern (if that makes sense). In short: John is a GL, but when you pick up a Green Lantern comic, the main character is Hal Jordan.
Hal Jordan will be the main character in the new movie, since he is the “official” Green Lantern currently. The movie probably isn’t going to do that well for reasons I just realized while taking a shit.
You know what we don’t need? Another superhero movie about a young white guy. I must choke back my fanboy inclinations and admit that having Hal Jordan be the main character of the movie, even though he IS the proper choice canonically, is stupid. Because it’s boring. It would be nice to have a superhero movie with a black male protagonist who isn’t all “I have GOT tuh get me ONE UH DEEZ!” and is just a reasonable person. We elected Obama; we’re ready for it. Someone who ISN’T Will Smith.
But, I’m not naive. I know middle Americans (a.k.a. Real Americans) don’t want to see a movie about a darkie (who isn’t Will Smith).
You know what I like to see in movies about superheroes? A lot of bureaucracy. The Green Lantern Corps are basically cops of the universe. They have rules, orders, assignments - they report to the Guardians of the Universe...when Hal Jordan first receives his ring he has to go to the planet Oa for training. Imagine if, when Peter Parker discovered his powers in Spider-Man, he had to take a time out to go learn how to use them properly. It kind of takes the wonder and excitement out of it. A space trooper who has to file reports and can be suspended by his bosses is a concept that can work in a comic book or novel, but in a movie it might seem a little dull.
The better choice would be Alan Scott. The magic ring has no rule book, no training required. We don’t have to take time-out from the main plot for the main character to go to another planet. Aliens are cool and everything, but that sort of scope will probably end up making any Earth based sequence that comes after it seem...a little dull. Alan Scott is easier to relate to, easier to comprehend and an all around simpler story, which is always good for a movie.
It’s sort of like how, in the original Star Wars trilogy, Jedi and Lightsabers are really interesting and novel because there aren’t many of them. When Luke uses his Lightsaber to its full effect in Return of the Jedi it’s really fucking cool. Then you watch the new trilogy and you find out the Jedi were dispatched on boring missions by a council of assholes who sit around saying stupid shit. You see four year-old kids training with mini Lightsabers and huge battles where there are literally dozens of people using Lightsabers and it makes the whole concept seem...a little dull.
Too often, we get caught up with things that are cool and exciting in theory. In theory, seeing an epic battle between robot armies, clones and Jedi knights would be a lot more interesting than watching just two people fight, very slowly. But when Vader chops Luke’s hand off, it’s way more compelling than anything from episodes 1, 2, or 3.
It’s not our fault, I guess. Theories are often compelling. Like “cutting taxes helps the deficit” or “eliminating earmarks means we’re serious about the economy” or “electing a black president won’t cause a huge racial divide, we’re past that.” We should remember that, no matter how cool ideas seem to be, we should remember to vet them properly because god dammit I want there to be a Green Lantern 2!
“Green Lantern” is not like most superheroes like Superman or Wonder Woman, since many characters have held and currently hold the title of GL. In the interest of brevity, I’ll explain it thusly: Green Lanterns are an intergalactic peace keeping force. There are 3600 sectors of the universe, each with two officers. Earth is in sector 2814.
The Green Lantern’s weapon is a ring which, in the most simplest explanation, can make/do anything the wielder wants it to. It can make a giant green boxing glove and smash you with it; it can scan your immediate area for carbon monoxide. The ring must be recharged by a lantern shaped battery - hence the name.
However, this is the second version of a Green Lantern. This is where things can get confusing if you don’t know much about comic books, so try to bear with me. The first Green Lantern was Alan Scott, created in 1940. His ring was a magical artifact from ancient times. A talking green lantern (not to be confused with Green Lantern officers. This is literally a talking lamp) instructed him to carve a ring from its surface to have access to its power at all times. He made a loudly colored costume (red, purple and green) and began fighting crime because that’s what you did in the ‘40s.
Unfortunately for Mr. Scott, his comic didn’t do well and got cancelled.
The concept was revived in the ‘50s with the science fiction explanation that is still the norm to this day. This new Green Lantern was named Hal Jordan. However, Alan Scott is still around and due to the magic properties of his ring has barely aged since World War 2.
Most average people who don’t read comics but like superheroes know Green Lantern from the Justice League cartoon; this GL is John Stewart - an African-American. He is also an officer of the Green Lantern Corps, but is not THE Green Lantern (if that makes sense). In short: John is a GL, but when you pick up a Green Lantern comic, the main character is Hal Jordan.
Hal Jordan will be the main character in the new movie, since he is the “official” Green Lantern currently. The movie probably isn’t going to do that well for reasons I just realized while taking a shit.
You know what we don’t need? Another superhero movie about a young white guy. I must choke back my fanboy inclinations and admit that having Hal Jordan be the main character of the movie, even though he IS the proper choice canonically, is stupid. Because it’s boring. It would be nice to have a superhero movie with a black male protagonist who isn’t all “I have GOT tuh get me ONE UH DEEZ!” and is just a reasonable person. We elected Obama; we’re ready for it. Someone who ISN’T Will Smith.
But, I’m not naive. I know middle Americans (a.k.a. Real Americans) don’t want to see a movie about a darkie (who isn’t Will Smith).
You know what I like to see in movies about superheroes? A lot of bureaucracy. The Green Lantern Corps are basically cops of the universe. They have rules, orders, assignments - they report to the Guardians of the Universe...when Hal Jordan first receives his ring he has to go to the planet Oa for training. Imagine if, when Peter Parker discovered his powers in Spider-Man, he had to take a time out to go learn how to use them properly. It kind of takes the wonder and excitement out of it. A space trooper who has to file reports and can be suspended by his bosses is a concept that can work in a comic book or novel, but in a movie it might seem a little dull.
The better choice would be Alan Scott. The magic ring has no rule book, no training required. We don’t have to take time-out from the main plot for the main character to go to another planet. Aliens are cool and everything, but that sort of scope will probably end up making any Earth based sequence that comes after it seem...a little dull. Alan Scott is easier to relate to, easier to comprehend and an all around simpler story, which is always good for a movie.
It’s sort of like how, in the original Star Wars trilogy, Jedi and Lightsabers are really interesting and novel because there aren’t many of them. When Luke uses his Lightsaber to its full effect in Return of the Jedi it’s really fucking cool. Then you watch the new trilogy and you find out the Jedi were dispatched on boring missions by a council of assholes who sit around saying stupid shit. You see four year-old kids training with mini Lightsabers and huge battles where there are literally dozens of people using Lightsabers and it makes the whole concept seem...a little dull.
Too often, we get caught up with things that are cool and exciting in theory. In theory, seeing an epic battle between robot armies, clones and Jedi knights would be a lot more interesting than watching just two people fight, very slowly. But when Vader chops Luke’s hand off, it’s way more compelling than anything from episodes 1, 2, or 3.
It’s not our fault, I guess. Theories are often compelling. Like “cutting taxes helps the deficit” or “eliminating earmarks means we’re serious about the economy” or “electing a black president won’t cause a huge racial divide, we’re past that.” We should remember that, no matter how cool ideas seem to be, we should remember to vet them properly because god dammit I want there to be a Green Lantern 2!