suspension of disbelief

What? What does that mean? Well, this is what Wikipedia has to say:

It refers to the alleged willingness of a reader or viewer to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction, even if they are fantastic, impossible, or otherwise contradictory to ‘reality’. It also refers to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo: the audience tacitly agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment.

Too many words for you? Yup, same here. Well, basically ‘suspension of disbelief’ for stories, movies etc, means we know what we're watching isn't true, but we're just believing it for the sake of enjoying it. Just go with the flow.

But sometimes, I think it's just too much, especially in those stories that have been adapted from comic books. I don't know, maybe during the period when most of these comic books were first created, they didn't mind much about these stuff, so fair enough then. But to give those movie producers credit, they usually update the overall scenarios when adapting from comic books.

Superman

Superman, or Kal-El, was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932, and is now published by DC Comics. I'm sure everyone knows that his alter ego is Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter. Shame on those who don't know!

oops, i forgot to wear my costume. oh yes, it's in the washing machine. damn, now everyone knows my secret identity.

Okay, let's just say we (kind of) accept the fact that The Man of Steel wears tight blue clothing and *gasp* his underwear on the outside (so that should be overwear right?). And of course, his superpowers and the fact that he's an alien. There's nothing wrong with that.

But what about his secret identity? By just wearing a pair of glasses and normal clothing, he's not Superman anymore. Maybe he has some other power: the power to make people see through his spectacles. I think to make it more believable, maybe he should have other powers: the power to grow facial hair at will and the ability to change his hair colour. If Clark was a reporter with a moustache and a beard and maybe blonde(?) hair, that would be a more believable disguise, now wouldn't it?

Batman

Also published by DC Comics, Batman is a superhero co-created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939, although only Kane receives official credit. Unlike Superman, Bruce Wayne doesn't have any superpowers. He's a wealthy millionaire and a very intelligent man who, as The Dark Knight, uses his skills, wits and gadgets to defeat the bad guys. I'm sure everyone knows this already.

i'm a bat. wanna 'hang' out with me? just gimme a ring on my bat-phone.

Batman has nearly everything. The only thing he lacks is a sense of humour. Oh, and of course, he doesn't have parents anymore since they were killed in front of him when he was small. Kesian.

He usually uses his detective skills to investigate stuff. He knows nearly everything that's going on in Gotham City. You would think that by using a lot of money to create all his bat-gadgets and vehicles, the government sure could trace it all back to him. Come on, by having all these expensive high-tech stuff, there'd sure be suspicions of who is Batman. But no, he always gets away with it. And if there are new masked heroes or villains, he could easily find out who they are. No fair.

Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk is published by Marvel Comics and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962. When Dr. Bruce Banner becomes angry, he turns into the Hulk, a green, raging monster. He was first transformed into the Hulk after getting caught in a blast of a gamma bomb. The overexposure of gamma ray was the cause of his transformation.

the new (but small) incredible hulk, wearing specs, a watch and a pair of boots, with his bro, the blue hulk, and friends, defeating the evil warlord hell-mee the orange.

So when Dr. Banner turns into the Hulk, he gets bigger and bigger, so all his clothes gets ripped because they're too small for the Hulk's body. All except one that is. Well, not one, but half. His trousers. So they want us to believe that every part of his body grows bigger except his waist to his thigh?

I know, I know. No one wants to see his pants getting ripped away. What a major wardrobe malfunction that would be. But hey, at least make it a little bit believable, like maybe he wears extra expandable pants. That's what they did for Mr Fantastic in The Fantastic Four. He has this specially fabricated suit which can expand as he expands. Go on Bruce, go borrow his suit.

Spider-Man

Another Marvel Comics publication, Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962. Peter Parker, an orphaned teenager, gained his spider powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.

oops, i'm stuck up here. can somebody please help me? anybody?

Peter Parker is not a rich kid. He didn't have much money, but how did he get that costume? To make the designs himself is believable, but don't expect me to believe that he sewed it himself. Or if he sent the designs to a tailor, then his identity would be exposed, and not forgetting it'd be expensive. The movie version of his suit is way too expensive for him to own. With great power comes great responsibility, but with a great costume, there have to be great money to make it done in the first place.

There's something about the Spider-Man movies which I'm not particularly happy about. I don't know about the comics, but I watched the Spider-Man animated series when I was small and one thing I liked about Spidey was his sense of humour. However, in the movies, he's too jiwang with Mary Jane. If they're making more Spider-Man movies (and I hope they do), it would be good to hear a lot of witty comments besides all the action (and please, less jiwang).

From what I've written, you may think that I hate comics or movies based on them. On the contrary. I'm a big fan of them. A very big fan. It's just that I've switched off my suspension of belief for a while. Now that I've switched it on again, you guys should forget everything that I've written and just enjoy the comics/movies/fictional stories!

Heroes

Heroes is a television series created by Tim Kring, produced by Universal Media Studios in association with Tailwind Productions, and shown in NBC in the US. The series tells the stories of ordinary individuals who discover that they have superhuman abilities. It explores how these people adapt to the changes that their powers bring and their roles in preventing catastrophes. “Save the cheerleader, save the world”.

guess which heroes character. if all your guesses are correct, maybe you'll get a prize. nah, maybe not.

Although its concept is similar to any other comic book, the great thing about Heroes is that it makes the characters look normal, even with their superhuman powers. Well for one, they don't wear any costumes, especially tight ones. I mean, why must superheroes and supervillains wear tight clothings? Hmm, maybe to show off their perfect bodies I suppose. Heh.

I also like its overall story line, although certain episodes are quite disappointing, especially Season 1's finale. And there are also annoying characters like Maya and Alejandro who don't move the story much. (Alejandro's now gone, so when are they gonna get rid of Maya?)

It was a bit sad that Season 2 was cut short due to the writers' strike. I hope they can make the new upcoming seasons as good as the first one, plus make good season finales as well. If you haven't watched Heroes, I seriously recommend you to watch it. Best gua cakap lu. Can't wait for Season 3!

Summer Movies

this is not sparta. this is koolness, bebeh.

There are so many good movies this summer. I've already watched Iron Man, and I'm now of the opinion that Iron Man is the epitome of coolness! It's seriously cool. Go watch it if you haven't already done so. Oh, and stay until all the closing credits are shown. There's an extra scene at the end. It's the first film produced by Marvel Studios and it's great. Since it's made by Marvel, it stays true to the comic books, not like a certain trilogy of movies involving mutants which really strayed. Yes, the X-Men movies were cool too, but it was really disappointing that they changed a lot of stuff. Tukar sikit2 xpe la. But they had to make Cyclops look like a wimp and then kill the main characters. Haih.

mark 1, mark 2, mark 3. mark aih, cool gila.

Iron Man is like Batman, a rich guy with some cool gadgets, but with a great sense of humour which in a way makes him cooler. Sorry Batman. However, he does have certain problems which may be explored in the sequel.

Almost everything about the movie was superb. The starting, the plot, the action, the costumes, the ending, just great. You won't understand if you haven't watched the movie. Well, what are you waiting for? Go watch it. Now! Heh.

i have a whip and i'm not afraid to use it, even though i'm as old as your grandad.

Then there's Indiana Jones. I'll need to ‘revise’ by watching the first three movies before I watch the latest one. I remember watching the third instalment and it was very funny. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, who played his father, was good and their interactions were mostly humourous. Some scenes in that movie are just priceless.

i'm green but i ain't mean. seriously.

There's another Marvel Comics adaptation, The Incredible Hulk, and it's also produced by Marvel Studios. Now some people may be put off by this due to that dreadful movie Hulk. Well, I actually don't have the right to say it's dreadful, since I haven't watched it yet. Nevertheless, I wanna watch this movie and see how it goes. I heard that Tony Stark/Iron Man is gonna make an appearance in it. I think that Marvel will be making combining these heroes a few years from now. Now that is very interesting.

sorry, i have no idea what to write here.

There's also The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, continuing from the first one, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The first movie was okay, so I hope this one is better. The Chronicles of Narnia is actually a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. When I was in primary school, my teacher usually read us a story book after lunch playing time was over. Some of the books were those written by Tolkien and Lewis, so I vaguely remember some of these stories now. I'm not sure if Prince Caspian was one of those books though, but I'd still like to watch it.

not your normal superhero.

Hancock is another movie to be watched. Starring Will Smith, it's about someone with superpowers but who's very selekeh. Sort of like an anti-hero type of person. The trailer looks good, so I can't wait to watch it. But then again, trailers are usually good right?

you've gotta admit, that's one hell of a mean-looking guy.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army looks like a movie with a lot of action, so it should be a good one to watch. Hellboy is a Dark Horse Comics character created by Mike Mignola in 1993. He's a red-skinned demon. It's a good thing he's not the bad guy, or else all hell may break loose (pun intended).

it's dark out there, just like me.

If I'm not mistaken, The Dark Knight will be the last action/fantasy movie to be released this summer. It's a sequel to Batman Begins, and introduces Harvey Dent, who will eventually become the villain Two-Face, and The Joker. Unfortunately, the actor who played The Joker, Heath Ledger, has passed away a few months ago.

The movie looks really promising, although I don't like the look of The Joker much (with no disrespect to the actor). Batman Begins rebooted the Batman franchise and The Dark Knight continues this reinvention. Now if they combine Superman and Batman, plus other DC Comics characters, that would be very interesting as well.

There are too many good movies to watch. Haih, there goes my money. Oh and I'd like to apologize for the poyoness of some of the pictures above. I blame this craziness on the exams, which I've just finished a few days ago. Hurrah! But now I have to concentrate on my final year project. It's a good thing Manchester United won the Champions League the other day. Yippee! And they've already won the EPL. Yeay double!! So xde la down nk buat kerja kan. Ehe. And in between project work, I can chill to watch a movie with friends, or just hang out. Wanna join?