DC on Film: Which Way Are We Going Again...?

[Elmo]

That's fair enough overall. My main problem is that they keep applying the grim and gritty thing to completely the wrong properties. Grim and gritty Swamp Thing? Sure. Grim and gritty Superman or the Titans. Um, no.

They've been grim and gritty before, so it's not unusual for those characters. DC's strengths also apply to the big name heroes who are timeless and span all genres and interpretations. That's always been one of DC's core standards. So while a gritty Superman is "wrong" to you, it's not actually wrong, it's DC doing what they've always done. And Titans itself WAS gritty and dark in the Wolfman run so that's not even remotely wrong

[Shockingjustice]

My stance on it is that if it's appropriate for the intended audience or serves a purpose, and isn't the creators being over-indulgent, I don't mind it.

The Young Justice example doesn't bother me because tonally the show still doesn't feel any different, they're just allowed to show more.

Are you kidding? Human trafficking and kids dying, and gore is a huge tonal shift. It's a running gag of how horrific halo can die, heck she got her face melted off. That's in no way what the first two seasons of YJ was like.

[Vakanai]

Are you kidding? Human trafficking and kids dying, and gore is a huge tonal shift. It's a running gag of how horrific halo can die, heck she got her face melted off. That's in no way what the first two seasons of YJ was like.

They couldn't actually get away with showing gore, but come on man. Human cloning, amputee Roy, human experimentation, brainwashing, black ops missions, that one episode where we discovered the villain killed his little sister, the death of Wally, this show has always been dark. Only difference was how much blood they could actually show. The human trafficking totally fits in with what has come before though.

[Vakanai]

double post. Happens a lot when I use my tablet for some reason.

[DevilBat66]

There can never be enough blood.

[Shockingjustice]

Cloning and brainwashing isn't dark. That stuff happened in JLU. Neither is black ops mission which is basically stealth mission. Wally's death wasnt graphic and was on the same vain of what happened when Flash almost disappeared in JL. I'll give you amputee. But you are really reaching to justify the upped rating og YJ. It wasn't that dark, but it did handle mature subjects. I don't recall any little sister dying, but I'm sure they didn't show her heart exploding like they did in season 3. No one was showed getting their neck broken, or a spear through them. There was literally no reason for the upped violence. I'll give you human trafficking but don't act like the rest of that stuff fit what was at most a PG- to PG-13 show.

[Vordan]

They couldn't actually get away with showing gore, but come on man. Human cloning, amputee Roy, human experimentation, brainwashing, black ops missions, that one episode where we discovered the villain killed his little sister, the death of Wally, this show has always been dark. Only difference was how much blood they could actually show. The human trafficking totally fits in with what has come before though.

Yeah YJ was never a light-hearted show. Wasn’t even really for kids honestly.

[Shockingjustice]

Yeah YJ was never a light-hearted show. Wasn’t even really for kids honestly.

Depends on your definition of kids show. Not every kids show is like TT:Go. It would have never been on cartoon network if it wasn't a kid show. This show was kind of like Avatar on Nick, where both Kids and adults could like. It's just weird they went this route when they didn't need to.

[Shockingjustice]

DC is offering more variety of multimedia than it ever has.

You've got straight down the middle superhero fare like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, & Shazam!

The grim n' gritty is getting its time to brood in Titans. The alternative fans have got Doom Patrol. Not sure how Swamp Thing is going to turn out, but it seems to be aimed at the horror fans.

The cartoons span everything from PG13 superhero stuff, to the all-ages comedy of Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls.

And you've got the hilariously over the top 90s badassery in the Injustice video games.

DC's strength has always been the staggering variety of genres and tones it can offer. The return of the DC Showcase shorts is a testament to that.

I feel like this might be a case but it feels like there missing Teen to YA content. I would say the Teen Titans would be for teen but after watching the movies, that doesn't seem like their target demographic. I would say YJ would fall with YA adults, since the violence factor. I think you're right in them trying to get different tones amd genres, but it still feels oddly off. You'd think they would showcase shorts for the younger heroes that would get Young audience members interested. Though if the Adam strange short is like the YJ version he sounds fun. Someone mentioned it was basically a sci fi version of Alice in wonderland.

[DrNewGod]

Cloning and brainwashing isn't dark. That stuff happened in JLU. Neither is black ops mission which is basically stealth mission. Wally's death wasnt graphic and was on the same vain of what happened when Flash almost disappeared in JL. I'll give you amputee. But you are really reaching to justify the upped rating og YJ. It wasn't that dark, but it did handle mature subjects. I don't recall any little sister dying, but I'm sure they didn't show her heart exploding like they did in season 3. No one was showed getting their neck broken, or a spear through them. There was literally no reason for the upped violence. I'll give you human trafficking but don't act like the rest of that stuff fit what was at most a PG- to PG-13 show.

You are correct in saying that "Secrets" didn't show Harm actually stab his sister, but they make it clear he murdered her with his dagger in order to purify his heart so that he claim Beowulf's sword.

Most of the dark content others point out did occur in YJ seasons 1-2, but you are also correct in saying they didn't pile on the gore as they have in S3. Perhaps Vordan is correct in saying YJ wasn't a show for kids, but neither was it as gratuitous as what we're seeing lately.

All of which is going off topic. Are their more recent films showing signs that WB/DC is moving toward less gore, or are they just isolated anomalies?

[Shockingjustice]

You are correct in saying that "Secrets" didn't show Harm actually stab his sister, but they make it clear he murdered her with his dagger in order to purify his heart so that he claim Beowulf's sword.

Most of the dark content others point out did occur in YJ seasons 1-2, but you are also correct in saying they didn't pile on the gore as they have in S3. Perhaps Vordan is correct in saying YJ wasn't a show for kids, but neither was it as gratuitous as what we're seeing lately.

All of which is going off topic. Are their more recent films showing signs that WB/DC is moving toward less gore, or are they just isolated anomalies?

You are correct with secret I had completely forgot. For me it feels like DC films skew more toward Mature content with isolated light hearted content. This would include live action shows and animations. The CW shows flash and legends do remain light hearted, but didn't Arrow start off extremely Dark and different from the original character. He was killing a lot of people early on which I dont know if it is accurate to the comics or not.

[Frontier]

You are correct with secret I had completely forgot. For me it feels like DC films skew more toward Mature content with isolated light hearted content. This would include live action shows and animations. The CW shows flash and legends do remain light hearted, but didn't Arrow start off extremely Dark and different from the original character. He was killing a lot of people early on which I dont know if it is accurate to the comics or not.

People die a surprisingly high amount on The Flash.

[Shockingjustice]

People die a surprisingly high amount on The Flash.

That's fair. I do feel like the legends also tend to kill sometimes, Rory has to have burned someone alive, but for the most part its pretty light hearted with lots of comedic/cheesy elements. I now kind of agree with you that YJ hasn't completely changed, but it still feels like the need to make it more mature was not needed, but a DC thing to do.

[DrNewGod]

...didn't Arrow start off extremely Dark and different from the original character. He was killing a lot of people early on which I dont know if it is accurate to the comics or not.

If you go back to the 1940s, Green Arrow wasn't perforating people; he was pinning their clothes to the wall, or bopping them in the face with a boxing glove arrow. It wasn't until Grell's Longbow Hunters that Green Arrow got a harder edge to him. And even that wasn't as intense as the Oliver Queen that Arrow gave us for almost all of S1.

Still, while Arrow was dark, and violent, it wasn't graphic. Some of that's a function of network TV.

[Agent Z]

You are correct in saying that "Secrets" didn't show Harm actually stab his sister, but they make it clear he murdered her with his dagger in order to purify his heart so that he claim Beowulf's sword.

Most of the dark content others point out did occur in YJ seasons 1-2, but you are also correct in saying they didn't pile on the gore as they have in S3. Perhaps Vordan is correct in saying YJ wasn't a show for kids, but neither was it as gratuitous as what we're seeing lately.

All of which is going off topic. Are their more recent films showing signs that WB/DC is moving toward less gore, or are they just isolated anomalies?

Outside of Titans, YJ season 3 and Doom Patrol, none of DC's recent output (t.v or movies) is particularly gory. There is no "moving toward less gore" because there wasn't much gore to begin with.