Best/Worst Deconstructions in tv and movies

[sunofdarkchild]

I don't know if I'd call him a deconstruction, but I have never liked Gene Hackman's Lex. In a Superman movie the villain should not be comic relief. Especially not when there's already enough humor in the Clark scenes. I can't take the threat seriously if the movie treats the villain as a joke like that.

[AJBopp]

I don't know if I'd call him a deconstruction, but I have never liked Gene Hackman's Lex. In a Superman movie the villain should not be comic relief. Especially not when there's already enough humor in the Clark scenes. I can't take the threat seriously if the movie treats the villain as a joke like that.

With that argument, I'd like to suggest that Thor Ragnarok was a pretty awful deconstruction, as it was pretty hard to take the destruction of Asgard seriously

[sunofdarkchild]

With that argument, I'd like to suggest that Thor Ragnarok was a pretty awful deconstruction, as it was pretty hard to take the destruction of Asgard seriously

Thor Ragnarock was basically a parody. It was about at serious as Spaceballs.

[Tuck]

1970's Lex was a nutjob in a red/purple tights and jetboots.
The business man is a post-Crisis invention of the 80's.

I don't think "legitimate businessman" Cobblepot was a thing yet either when Batman Returns came out. (Which is not to say they didn't make a radical departure from the comics.)

I don't know if I'd call him a deconstruction, but I have never liked Gene Hackman's Lex. In a Superman movie the villain should not be comic relief. Especially not when there's already enough humor in the Clark scenes. I can't take the threat seriously if the movie treats the villain as a joke like that.

He was a Bond villain. They were going for a general audience and needed to make a superman movie rather than a comic book adaptation.

[Tuck]

With that argument, I'd like to suggest that Thor Ragnarok was a pretty awful deconstruction, as it was pretty hard to take the destruction of Asgard seriously

It's hard to watch that movie and take it on its own. It's a fun movie, but you can just feel them throwing up their hands and saying, "screw it, we can't make Thor work."

[numberthirty]

While I'm often in the "Is that even actually deconstruction?" camp, I did think it was an interesting component of Batman Begins. Just having Bruce point out that having to steal to feed himself gave him perspective was a worthwhile second guess.

[Powerboy]

Best: The 1960s Green Hornet which was a deconstruction of the original version.

Worst: the Green Hornet movie of a few years ago. Also, the "Land of the Lost" movie of a few years ago. It's pretty pathetic when a super low budget Saturday morning live action show from the 1970s had a first season that was better than a multi-million dollar movie when it comes to everything except the special effects.

[Alan2099]

I don't think "legitimate businessman" Cobblepot was a thing yet either when Batman Returns came out. (Which is not to say they didn't make a radical departure from the comics.)

Penguin pretending to be a legitimate buisness man and running for mayor was a plot used way back in the Adam West series.

[Powerboy]

Thor Ragnarock was basically a parody. It was about at serious as Spaceballs.

That would be fine with me if it was a standalone. But it's part of a greater whole and perhaps the most significant part for the Thor mythology are the events of Ragnarok that are treated as comedy. Even when IW continues the story and shows the tragedy of it, it's like a complete change of genres that only leaves me wishing the actual story had been presented the way IW portrays it to be.

[jbmasta]

That would be fine with me if it was a standalone. But it's part of a greater whole and perhaps the most significant part for the Thor mythology are the events of Ragnarok that are treated as comedy. Even when IW continues the story and shows the tragedy of it, it's like a complete change of genres that only leaves me wishing the actual story had been presented the way IW portrays it to be.

If the original vision of Ragnarok, as hinted at in Thor's vision in the Norn pool in Age of Ultron, had been been carried out would the film have been as successful? What makes Ragnarok stand out is Taika Waititi's highly memorable direction and tone. If we'd gotten a darker Ragnarok it could have invited unwelcome comparisons with the DCEU, as well as the way the previous Thor films in the MCU are seen.

In-universe you could see the start of Infinity War being as the gravity of being the last of Asgard dawning on refugees, and as Thanos attacks with such brutality. Even if half the Asgardians did manage to evacuate they're an endangered species now and have been used to relative comfort. Who knows how many survived the finger snap?

[KurtW95]

Best: Cobra Kai (Johnny and Daniel)
Worst: The Last Jedi (Luke)

[Lukki]

Exactly. With all the jokes, it was hard to take Ragnarok/the destruction of Asgard seriously. The movie would have been so much better if it was a little bit darker. The Korg comments (and whole character) in particular felt so forced and out of place.

[jbmasta]

Powerless made a pretty good effort to show civilians living in a world with active superhero and supervillain activity, even it was skewed towards comedy most of the time (one of the employees gets their arm turned into a tentacle and the episode is more about Van claiming credit for Emily's efforts in the name of good PR). In the episode where Adam West guest stars Emily's new apartment is in a building damaged by an alien spacecraft and in another episode she dates one of the Riddler's henchmen (who fought a Green Lantern at some point). That's an angle with loads of mileage, like job security, insurance, even regular relationships like family, friends and significant others. The whole thing with Emily's apartment is mined for jokes (she should have rented, all she has is a robot vacuum cleaner which then falls out the hole to the outside) while having some heartwarming stuff but isn't resolved, and is something that would legit affect people in a superhero world.

[Dark Soul # 7]

It's hard to watch that movie and take it on its own. It's a fun movie, but you can just feel them throwing up their hands and saying, "screw it, we can't make Thor work."

No no no.

That was them clapping their hands together and saying "Alright, this is how we make Thor."

And it's not a parody. It's an action adventure movie with lots of comedy in it.

[KurtW95]

It's hard to watch that movie and take it on its own. It's a fun movie, but you can just feel them throwing up their hands and saying, "screw it, we can't make Thor work."

The comedy works. It’s a funny movie. But it’s not Thor. Closest thing to Thor was the opening scene. After he broke free and was fighting Surtur.