Did you know Chronicle is a really good movie?

[Kim]

To be honest, that lampshading kinda bugs me, given the poor representation of gay characters in popular entertainment and generally mocking tone such a lampshading has. I generally felt that the themes of the character would have been better reinforced by making Matt gay. Since each character's "theme" was such a major part of the movie, it's a bit frustrating, beyond my own personal bias, that that was held back in an attempt to make it easier for straight guys to identify with.

[Jagos]

"Theme?"

So what were Andrew and Steven's themes?

[Kim]

To be honest, theme is probably a bad word for it, but whatevs. Anywho...

Andrew's theme is how he distances himself from society. He builds a wall between himself and others. In the end of the film, his concept of himself being the " alpha predator " or whatever is taking his wanting to be separate from others to its logical extreme of him seeing himself as separate from others. In a word, Andrew's theme would be "destruction", because he attempts to destroy his connection to society.

Steve's theme is more about a very strong social relationship. He feels a very strong connection to others and society. If it weren't for him being killed , he's definitely the most inclined of any of the three towards being an actual superhero. While Andrew uses his powers to further divide himself from others, Steve, being the socially focused individual that he is and about that connection, tries to rebuild Andrew's connection to society and the rest of the world. If Andrew is destruction, Steve is reconstruction.

[Jagos]

So how does Matt fit into this? It seems that Andrew and Steve are two sides of an opposite coin without Matt being any type of counterforce.

[Kim]

Matt falls in the middle ground. His false persona is simultaneously his way of separating his true self from others, yet also how he *attempts* to connect to others. While Andrew and Steve are both about reinforcing their starting points with how they develop, Matt is more about overcoming who he once was. As he is the only survivor , this is fitting. By tearing down his false persona, he's truly able to connect with others, thus why the end foreshadows his becoming a superhero, as Steve would have done had he survived .

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Magus

I'm going to assume you mean Matt, Jagos.

And I feel it's a superhero movie, just one whose entire story arc is an examination of the origin of the superhero that takes place between Spider-Man getting his powers and Spider-Man not stopping that dude from murdering his uncle because gotta get me some money, with like, maybe the five minutes directly after that as an epilogue. So not a traditional one but one all the same...

The more I analyze super-hero fiction the more annoyed I am that everyone latched onto the "has powers" aspect as defining of the genre and less the actual things that used(because even mainstream comics writers drank the "It's modern myth!" Kool-Aid a while ago.) to make Super-hero stories unique from other ones. MAYBE the idea of them battling the troubles of a modern teenager might be considered "Super-heroic" but Just the "Get's powers, has character development/conflict" does not a super-hero story make.

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Premmy

The more I analyze super-hero fiction the more annoyed I am that everyone latched onto the "has powers" aspect as defining of the genre and less the actual things that used(because even mainstream comics writers drank the "It's modern myth!" Kool-Aid a while ago.) to make Super-hero stories unique from other ones. MAYBE the idea of them battling the troubles of a modern teenager might be considered "Super-heroic" but Just the "Get's powers, has character development/conflict" does not a super-hero story make.

the "superpowers" thing is part of it, but people are mainly calling this a Superhero movie because Andrew is basically Peter Parker, if Aunt May was an abusive drunken ex-fireman and Peter wasn't a fucking saint.

[Magus]

Also another thing about you saying they have to fight crime, which to me would make Thor or Iron Man pretty much ineligible to be a superhero, for example. When Matt fights Andrew to try and prevent him from killing people, saves Andrew's father, etc., it makes him into a superhero. I mean you don't see Thor or Iron Man putting down robberies or something, they battle other super powered beings in their respective works, but they are still in the superhero genre because they're saving people or the planet or whatever.

Although again as you said you may have problems with the modern superhero stuff as a whole.

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Magus

Also another thing about you saying they have to fight crime, which to me would make Thor or Iron Man pretty much ineligible to be a superhero, for example. When Matt fights Andrew to try and prevent him from killing people, saves Andrew's father, etc., it makes him into a superhero. I mean you don't see Thor or Iron Man putting down robberies or something, they battle other super powered beings in their respective works, but they are still in the superhero genre because they're saving people or the planet or whatever.

Although again as you said you may have problems with the modern superhero stuff as a whole.

Well "Crime" "Hatred" "For Freedom" anything but "That guy/those guys" A super-hero has to fight a concept more than a specific enemy. It has to be a constant battle. If it's a one-time thing where they then just try to live a normal life or go on to become military weapons, then no, they wouldn't be super-heroes.