Clark J. Kent
02-15-2002, 10:16 PM
I don't want any of you to come on and flame me for seeming to want to rain on your parades, because I mean no personal insults to any of you. Still, this is an issue that I feel very strongly about and have been building up a certain degree of frustration over for quite some time. I welcome intelligent, peaceful replies, but please, let's not flame and call names in this topic. I never intended for this to be personally offensive; if you find this personally offensive, you are reading much too far into the post. With that disclaimer having been said, I shall begin...
For a long time now, fans of JL everywhere (this is not the only JL forum in which I participate,) have been clamoring for love interests to arise between the members of League, and even between villains and members. Posts plague the board (or did at one time,) trying to argue that Superman and Diana should get together. The same has been said about Flash and Hawkgirl, Nightwing and Supergirl; fans have actually embraced and relished in the idea of Batgirl and Batman, the incestuous relationship of Batman Beyond, and one of the biggest mistakes of that series. This evening, I was speaking to someone who actually asked me if I thought Felix Faust liked Diana. "If he did, I didn't pick up on it," I replied, and asked "Why do you ask?" The answer I got (I am not making this up): "I just think it would be interesting for him to like her and for her not to like back."
This is not a soap opera, ladies and gentlemen. For all its flaws, Justice League is supposed to be a serious action/adventure show. Yes, it has its funny moments of course. It's not ALL action and adventure, nor should it be. I do want to see lighter moments between members, but do they need to date? Does there need to be solid sexual tension between characters to make this show interesting?
Well, some sexual tension is actually interesting. I cannot deny that I always liked the triangle between Clark, Lois and Superman in S:TAS. But this was because there was a definite conflict. Lois liked Superman and not Clark, and it was fun to watch Clark and Lois fight and tease. Yes, that was fun. And you know why it stayed fun? Because nothing solid ever became of it in the animated series. And yes, it's funny to see Flash trying to make passes at Hawkgirl, who blows him off, or Diana who just isn't really interested. But do we need the two of them to date?
I am sorry, ideas like this would not only be damaging to the show, but would simply be corny. Why would Superman and Diana date? Just because they are both superheroes and serve on the same team together? Why should anyone genuinely respond to Flash's advances? We don't need romance on the show for the sake of having romance on the show. If each of these character had their own series, then I would suggest introducing a romantic interest.
BTAS had Selina Kyle, who worked wonderfully, in my opinion as a foil for Bruce Wayne. What great, strong character she was. And you could see the chemistry between the characters. You could see the playfulness and the way Bruce always tried making Selina like HIM and not BATMAN.
BTAS also featured Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, which was a very legitimate relationship as well. I enjoyed watching them in the episodes they appeared in together, and especially the two of them in Sub-Zero. This relationship made some sense, though. They were all but introduced from the beginning as being romantically involved; or at least we all knew they would be eventually. Two young kids hanging out together with similar goals and mindsets made sense wanting to be together. They were already good friends, and when they brought the relationship to a higher level, you could see why. They'd already been through a lot together.
I don't see that same chemistry with other heroes that fans seem to clamor for. I think it's just the age old obsession with Superman and Wonder Woman. It doesn't make sense to me beyond that. But maybe I'm just biased; maybe I don't want to make sense to me because I think this would cheapen the show.
As I often do when I write at such length, I've forgotten completely where I was going with this post, but I will certainly add to it later. I would just like to get intelligent feedback with informed opinions on this much of the matter, and then we will continue the discussion from there.
Thanks for your cooperation.
For a long time now, fans of JL everywhere (this is not the only JL forum in which I participate,) have been clamoring for love interests to arise between the members of League, and even between villains and members. Posts plague the board (or did at one time,) trying to argue that Superman and Diana should get together. The same has been said about Flash and Hawkgirl, Nightwing and Supergirl; fans have actually embraced and relished in the idea of Batgirl and Batman, the incestuous relationship of Batman Beyond, and one of the biggest mistakes of that series. This evening, I was speaking to someone who actually asked me if I thought Felix Faust liked Diana. "If he did, I didn't pick up on it," I replied, and asked "Why do you ask?" The answer I got (I am not making this up): "I just think it would be interesting for him to like her and for her not to like back."
This is not a soap opera, ladies and gentlemen. For all its flaws, Justice League is supposed to be a serious action/adventure show. Yes, it has its funny moments of course. It's not ALL action and adventure, nor should it be. I do want to see lighter moments between members, but do they need to date? Does there need to be solid sexual tension between characters to make this show interesting?
Well, some sexual tension is actually interesting. I cannot deny that I always liked the triangle between Clark, Lois and Superman in S:TAS. But this was because there was a definite conflict. Lois liked Superman and not Clark, and it was fun to watch Clark and Lois fight and tease. Yes, that was fun. And you know why it stayed fun? Because nothing solid ever became of it in the animated series. And yes, it's funny to see Flash trying to make passes at Hawkgirl, who blows him off, or Diana who just isn't really interested. But do we need the two of them to date?
I am sorry, ideas like this would not only be damaging to the show, but would simply be corny. Why would Superman and Diana date? Just because they are both superheroes and serve on the same team together? Why should anyone genuinely respond to Flash's advances? We don't need romance on the show for the sake of having romance on the show. If each of these character had their own series, then I would suggest introducing a romantic interest.
BTAS had Selina Kyle, who worked wonderfully, in my opinion as a foil for Bruce Wayne. What great, strong character she was. And you could see the chemistry between the characters. You could see the playfulness and the way Bruce always tried making Selina like HIM and not BATMAN.
BTAS also featured Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, which was a very legitimate relationship as well. I enjoyed watching them in the episodes they appeared in together, and especially the two of them in Sub-Zero. This relationship made some sense, though. They were all but introduced from the beginning as being romantically involved; or at least we all knew they would be eventually. Two young kids hanging out together with similar goals and mindsets made sense wanting to be together. They were already good friends, and when they brought the relationship to a higher level, you could see why. They'd already been through a lot together.
I don't see that same chemistry with other heroes that fans seem to clamor for. I think it's just the age old obsession with Superman and Wonder Woman. It doesn't make sense to me beyond that. But maybe I'm just biased; maybe I don't want to make sense to me because I think this would cheapen the show.
As I often do when I write at such length, I've forgotten completely where I was going with this post, but I will certainly add to it later. I would just like to get intelligent feedback with informed opinions on this much of the matter, and then we will continue the discussion from there.
Thanks for your cooperation.