Taking the Sheen Off

Charlie Sheen has been in the news a lot as of late. It started out with his routine misdeamnors, escalating with holding up production, his public insults to the production staff, his show going on hiatus, and finally, with Sheen being fired. As a result, Sheen has probably become more ubiquitous as a media than ever. Notably quoting his bizarre stream-of-conscious terms like "fire-breathing fists", "tiger blood", and "ninja warlock assassins" I've tweeted a few jokes about him here and there, but I do have to say, the media storm kind of veers into pet peeve territory for me.

It is, on a few levels, an interesting story. Even kind of relevant, at least relative to the sphere of showbiz, which is this blog's intended purview. The highest-paid star on television was fired from his juggernaut of a show. CBS is going to have to either cancel or heavily revamp their tentpole. In the money-driven ecosystem of Hollywood, this time capitol just wasn't enough. This has very rarely, and on this scale actually never, happened before. Chuck Lorre and the network do have other successes going on for them, but if the CBS dynasty that has ruled the 2000s falters in the next couple of years, this will probably be looked at as a turning point. But I think Sheen-fever is still a bit unwarranted.

I'm an entertainment aficionado, but I've never really cottoned to the tabloid aspect of popular culture, for several reasons. One is I for one am I a private person, and thus am often averse to seeing dirty laundry being hung over the clothes-lines of society. Secondly, because...it's one thing for a mediocre star to be successful, but there's something about this decade's fascination with people falling upwards into stardom. I mean, it's one thing that many of the best in their field struggle for recognition, but that the one thing they're doing wrong is not sucking enough?

Thirdly, because it's hypocritical. As an industry and a pastime. There's always a sense of moral judgment from those who write and read the tabloids but...all this does is escalate the presence of the famewhores and human trainwrecks. "Tsk tsk, I can't believe [crazy star here]"

Plus, to be honest, I don't find Sheen's ramblings to be that quotable. It's the same kind of word-salads that I think Adam McKay got the ball rolling with, and that Diablo Cody won an Oscar then later incurred backlash for. I mean, yes, there's something a little surreal about Charlie Sheen of all people pulling jargon from a Dungeons and Dragons manual, but is it really tat unique? "I'm going to bear-murder you with my celestial kitana of of excellence. Winning." Wow, I just talked like Charlie Sheen, and it only took me thirty seconds to think of how to do it. Because just about every comedian this decade has been doing it.

Also very troubling is people who seriously idolize the guy now. I mean, let's not forget, he does beat women. He does a massive amount of drugs he can't quite handle. And his getting fired from the show has very little do with creative differences. He didn't try to steer Two and Half Men into a direction of substance. He just whined a lot. People seem to appreciate when stars break down false civility that exists in Hollywood, (I do think that was the unpardonable sin with Sheen as far as his producers were concerned, too) but he comes across less like a rebel than a diva. How is he "telling it like it is", though? Yes, the show isn't very good, but do we see Sheen with a show on par with Community in the wings?

It's just really weird seeing a news cycle with a very obvious built-in obsolescence.

Catwoman's a Natural Fit, Really

Anne Hathaway has officialy confirmed she's going to be playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. For months, people were wondering if the main female character would be Talia Al Ghul, or if it was Selina Kyle, she would not be donning the Catwoman costume. Everyone was expecting something more along the lines of a spy movie because of the universe Nolan has presented.

I'm rather surprised people were talking about Catwoman not being suited up for this installment. People keep talking about "realism" and what works in the universe Nolan is trying to create. In my view, this is a misinterpretation of what Nolan's manifesto. And that is, Nolan isn't trying to tone down the comic book elements for its own sake. In fact, in some ways, it's not very analogous to the real world at all. Heath Ledger's Joker is less cartoonish than Jack Nicholson's, but more supernatural, if ambiguously. To be honest, whenever somebody says "comic book style", they betray how little they actually know about comic books.

One needs to look at Nolan's comments regarding masked figures. In the universe the movies present, they insist superheroes don't exist in any form. Now, a world where not even Superman, the Lone Ranger or even Zorro aren't so much as a part of our culture? How does that exactly reflect "the real world"? That pretty much says presenting a down-to-earth fiction isn't the primary goal. The objective is to distill the Batman mythos. To present it in a vacuum, devoid of any context except the modern, civic world. Nolan wants to create a myth out of the cop story.

He shows a strong, almost fetishistic, attention to police protocol and legal procedures. Remember, the entire plotline of The Dark Knight hinges around Harvey Dent's prosecution. Superheroes are often referred to as the modern myth of our times, but myths have to, in some way, represent the values of those telling them. America is, in theory, a secular nation, formed in post-enlightenment times. If we're not quiet Godless, it's a lie by omission. The structure of law and order, and the frustration of corruption informs the unspoken common denominator region of the free world. Therefore, a lot of "cop movie" archetypes abound in the franchise. As gaudy as the Joker is, he makes a strange sort of sense, because we have had real criminals dress like clowns--and clowns, or at least clownish makeup has found itself into counter-cultural movements. It's almost a shorthand at this point. That's why the idea of a Selina Kyle who is actually Catwoman is not really out of left field. I mean, the term "cat burglar" is common lexicon, and many non-superhero films portray female thieves wearing skin-tight outfits. Come to think of it, she wouldn't be anymore out of place than a guy who wears a burlap sack to compliment his Sunday best. As long as she's not pilfering Bast statues, there's no way it's going too far.



I think there's another objective as well. It seems to me that Nolan wants to focus on the idea of normal people becoming archetypes by choice. The Joker's interrogation scene explains he thinks that Batman and himself are the wheat compared to society's chafe, and that there's something distinctly "different" and non-human about them, even if they're not strange visitors from another planet, or irradiated mutants. Similar themes are touched on in Watchmen, which, despite the lack of any superhumans other than Doctor Manhattan, seem to treat the given crimefighter as something other than human. "Escalation", "symbols" and "theatricality" are arc words used in Batman Begins, but I think what Nolan is latching onto, in superhero fiction, is the idea the idea of posthumanism. Punks, Goths, Drag Queens, even Furries are examples of a modern culture where we fight against what were given and reinvent ourselves to our own tastes.



Looking at Nolan's films, there's a recurring theme. The Prestige, Inception and Memento are all about mind over matter. They're about people with the will (if accompanying fractured psyches) to customize reality to their purposes. Perhaps in a way, it's important to explore this using the Batman template, because he didn't really become something else by accident, but by his own choice. The Joker also seems to flagrantly reinvent himself to the point of his previous identity seeming to not exist (That is if he is not a supernatural creature the way The Dark Knight tempts you to ask). Interestingly, Two Face became what he was largely by accident, but he seems to very much break from riding shotgun in his own dilemmas. In this sense, Catwoman makes a perfect addiction to the narrative, because she's the ultimate example in taking the world on her terms. Batman is devoted to order and justice. The Joker, for all his shilling of anarchy, shows the hypocritical zealotry of a dogmatic atheist. Catwoman provides a third option of "The world of law has little use to me, but I don't see why I have to salt the fields out of spite". It would also explain why Bane, of all villains, was chosen for this installment. Longtime comic readers will remember he's all about the initiative. He built himself up to counter Batman...just to counter Batman.

It's kind of a shame then that Robin won't be used in Nolan's movies. I always found the idea of a "laughing" crimefighter could add a lot to the saga. In Begins, Wayne dresses like a bat because he's afraid of them. I was always intrigued by the idea of a Batman counterpart who wasn't afraid of anything...