Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Pen meets paper and a comic book superhero is created, but with his secret life looming in the shadows, there is much more to Professor Marston’s story than meets the eye. This is the story about feminism and the women who inspired one of the most influential and empowered heroes of our time.

The immortal Amazonian princess and demigoddess, Wonder Woman, has an origin story solidified through the legacy of DC comics, becoming a strong role model for feminism and equality since her introduction in the 1940’s. Hitting the $400M mark at the domestic box office at the beginning of the year, Wonder Woman was an instant success, especially following the backhand that Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad so graciously gave us.

Before the release of Justice League in November, Angela Robinson presents the untold story of Wonder Woman, with her newest film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Robinson follows the story of Dr. William Moulton Marston, a professor at Radcliffe College who taught philosophy, who later came to creator of the famous comic book character.

The Wonder Woman comic hides countless callbacks to Marston’s life, which forced him in front of a trial in its earliest publication stages due to the heavy sexual and perverse themes that it carried. The famous polyamorous relationship and obsession with S&M forced Maston to create a life hidden from the public eye, though elements from his professional discipline are also found in the pages of the comics. As the inventor of the polygraph machine (most commonly known as the lie detector) one could assume the significance in the creation of Wonder Woman’s Lasso of truth, and multiple references to his DISC theory involving concepts of personal will, sense of power and human behavior.

The biopic tells the fascinating story of Marston (Luke Evans) and the polyamorous relationship he forms with his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and his mistress Olive (Bella Heathcote). In its earliest publication stages, the Wonder Woman comic book was highly criticized for it’s perversity, placing Marston in front of a trial to answer to the heavy sexual themes that it carried.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women is in limited release from November 9, 2017.

Published: http://www.kapownews.net/single-post/2017/10/06/Professor-Marston-and-the-Wonder-Women

IT: The Curse of the Clown

Most film reboots feel like a rebound… cheap, unorganized, and most of the time leaves you cradling your sad naked body in the shower at 3am on a Sunday morning. Perhaps that analogy only applies to me, but looking back at the 2011 remake of John Carpenter’s The Thing, we can agree that some films should remain under the covers.

All jokes aside, 2017 breaks the curse of box office blunders introducing Andy Muschietti’s version of IT. In 1990, Tim Curry donned the costume of the evil Pennywise, a shape shifting entity that awakens every 27 years to terrify the population of Derry, Maine, but now it’s Swedish actor, Bill Skarsgard’s turn. With the modern adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novel following the storyline more religiously, it’s no wonder why it has been smashing box office records. One thing remains though, Pennywise returns to the screen 27 years after the original, and completely by accident.

With sex jokes and a horror film, you’re probably wondering why this is relevant to the comic book industry, but put your mind to ease as we stem back to the dangers of playing a tormented and twisted clown on screen.

The Joker, one of the most formidable and recognizable villains in comic book history has undergone many incarnations over the years, from Cesar Romero’s comedic take on the character in 60’s, to Jared Leto’s god awful and dismissible version in Suicide Squad.

Above the wreckage of the live action attempts stand two individuals. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. Their role as the joker undeniably shaped the way we think of them today, but unfortunately they had a different recollection.

Nicholson, who played The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989, brought to the screen a very similar character to that of his in The Shining, a menacing smile and a psychotic mind. It’s understandable that Nicholson was emotionally drained whilst filming, but after many years reveals that he warned Heath Ledger before becoming the Clown Prince of Crime.

When Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight crept into theatres in 2008, audiences were eager to see the new Joker, a much grittier version portrayed by Ledger before his untimely death. The critically acclaimed film went on to be awarded some of the highest accolades, but the question on everyone’s mind was about how this character had forced Ledger down such a dark path.

That was before reports started to roll in, and it was revealed that the role was maybe a bit too ambitious. Ledger told reporters that he slept an average of two hours a night, and that he could not stop thinking though his body and mind were completely exhausted. Now it becomes obvious that playing a psychotic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy could be detrimental to the actor who takes it on board.

Going full circle, that brings us to 2017 with Pennywise the Clown. Bill Skarsgard, who has pushed himself to the limit in this rather challenging role, brings the process of transitioning from a young Swede, to a nightmare-fuelled clown from the darkest depths of Stephen King’s imagination. Skarsgard touches on the relationship he bears with Pennywise, defining it as destructive and torturing. Aside from the mentally draining exercises that he underwent in order to get into character, Skarsgard also mentions his exorcism of nightmares, where he embodied the form of Pennywise in his dreams, almost as if there was no subconscious detachment from reality and the set. We will have to wait and see what the real damage is when part two is released in a few years time.

Black Panther: The Mystical World Of Wakanda

The forthcoming installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces a diverse cast including Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, and Michael B. Jordan, who managed to score his second chance at Marvel victory following the devastation of the Fantastic 4 reboot.

Ironically, the film has been in talks for longer than we initially thought, with Wesley Snipes expressing interest in producing the film back in the early 1990’s. When Stan Lee joined the project, he confirmed that production would no longer commence due to the quality of the script. When the MCU finally started to gain traction Black Panther was announced as one of the ten films to be developed by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Over a decade later, it is complete and set for an early 2018 release.

Why did it take so long do you ask? It’s not because of equality or whitewashing, but because of the script, the costume design, dialect training, and of course, the conceptualization of Wakanda. Cast members have discussed what it was like working on set of the film, and to be entirely honest with you, it’s a step in the right direction for the future of the MCU.

Martin Freeman, one of the few white actors credited on the film, reprises his role as Everett Ross, one of the lead agents in the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre. He arrives in Wakanda as an assistant to T’Challa, in an attempt to counteract the actions of the films main antagonist. Freeman describes Wakanda as, “…an incredibly technologically advanced first world country, which no one knows about because it has shut itself off for its own safety and its own existence sake”. From his characters perspective he continues, “…like a CIA guy would assume, there wouldn’t be much in this central African country that would surprise him, and then he realizes that it resembles something 70 years in the future. Its kind of amazing”.

The director of the film, Ryan Coogler, would often assign homework to the cast members, usually in the form of a close study analysis of different African tribes. Through training and research, each member of the cast gained an insight to how his or her character would act, talk and dress.

Danai Gurira, most famously known for her role as Michonne on The Walking Dead, joins a large cast of African and African American actors. She says, “Wakanda is very exclusive and insulated, it doesn’t have foreigners come into the country ever. It does present very rich complexity that he is there, and definitely for the security of the nation, we don’t want any one to know that we had brought this man into the country, other than those who are present”. Gurira portrays the leader of the Dora Milaje, the personal bodyguards of the Black Panther recruited from every tribe of Wakanda.

Black Panther is gearing up for its release February 16 Next Year, and by the looks of the trailers and coverage thus far, it is no doubt a step in the right direction for the future of the MCU.

Published on http://www.kapownews.net/single-post/2017/11/17/Constructing-Wakanda-The-World-of-the-Black-Panther