Well, if Warner Bros. is going to scrape the bottom of the barrel for superheroes, it makes sense that they would choose a superhero who was essentially scraped from the bottom of the barrel. For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll admit that I had a Green Lantern action figure when I was a kid, and he was one of my favorites. Not sure why, but the costume always looked pretty ominous and mysterious, which, in hindsight, is important because his superpower comes from a little piece of emerald jewelry that can conjure anything that his mind imagines, from a giant fist or hammer to a set of swords – and as per the movie trailer, a Gatlin gun.
As opposed to a character like Batman, Superman, Iron Man and the like, Green Lantern has been rebooted a number of times beginning with his initial stint from 1941 – 1949 and then in the early sixties when the current incarnation, Hal Jordan, was launched. However, he too was killed off and brought back a handful of times over the next few decades, so the success record of Green Lantern isn’t stellar to begin with, but his transition to summer blockbuster is representative of the film industry’s need to capitalize on everything until it is a stone cold corpse waiting to be revived as an amalgamated monster a la Frankenstein without the social critique on science and narcissism.
Using Green Lantern is also symptomatic to the epidemic of unoriginality. Much like his initial appearance toward the end of the Golden Age of comics, his origin story is rather, well, uninteresting. Sorry to offend, but our brave test pilot – who is also rendered irresponsible and reckless through his flying maneuvers and his lascivious ways – is given a ring by the dying alien Abin Sur and is told “it chose you.” First off, if the ring, which contains the “most powerful force in existence,” were the CEO of all intergalactic peace keepers, how shallow is the recruiting pool if they’re choosing this guy? Sure, he’s brave and has the “power to overcome ‘fear’,” but what about his liabilities? To be frank, it’s almost as if Jordan is being conscripted, and instead of being sent through a set of a gatekeeping, safeguarding, filtering processes, he is caught in the ring’s haphazard and desperate fight to protect the universe from the Paralax, “an entity that fed on the yellow power of ‘fear.’” Moreover, what does this desperation say about the state of the myriad galaxies in the universe? Have their just been a number of attacks without exit strategies? In other words, who’s been running the show, and for what reasons?
Analagously, what does Warner Bros’ investment in such a character say about their exit strategy? In a sense, Jordan is their Operation Enduring Freedom, an idea that sounds ideologically sound given that all other studios are cashing in on the superhero genre, but where do they go from here? Once the personified “fear” is beaten, Jordan’s job will be to defeat “fear” again. Where does this vicious samsara end?
Something else of note is that the “most powerful force in existence” is credited as being the “power of will,” or for anyone who’s quit smoking, “will power.” So, all of his abilities come from the belief that he can do them, but I have will power, so why can’t I imagine a Gatlin gun and have it magically appear? And, what kind of will power does he have if he’s fashioned as a playboy who wakes up every morning next to strange women? Wouldn’t the more appropriate object of recruitment be a priest or zealot?
The final issue that arises with Green Lantern is his catchy oath. At first, it didn’t bother me, but I couldn’t get it out of my head, which I suppose is a great marketing strategy and something to give the kids to cling to when the new line of Lantern action figures hit the store shelves. At the same time, it’s a symbol of laziness, and, well, theft.
The oath:
In brighest day and blackest night
no evil shall escape my sight
let those that worship evil’s might
beware my power…
green lantern light!
Catchy, yes? Also might sound familiar:
Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may I wish I might
Have the wish …
I wish tonight!
While the number of syllables differs by 7, the rhyme scheme and tone are rather similar. Take this in combination with “will power” being the color green and “fear” the color yellow, one thing is clear: the original creators of Green Lantern were tripping on acid and listening to children’s poetry while thinking about the cosmos and pondering their position in this little corner of the universe.
