The Snyder's cut, what a journey!
Alright, I am excited about the movie, as everyone of you already knows. I've tried to shorten the text as much as I could, but it's not an essay. take it more as my usual ramblings about things I like, in this case: Snyder's version of superheroes.
Disclaimers: I absolutly understand that his cinema isn't for everyone and you have the right to dislike his movies, just as I have the right to absolutely dislike the x-men franchise (except Logan). so, I'm not bashing people who don't like him, don't worry.
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Prior to the idea of the movie, I had little knowledge concerning the industry. I also had faith in the movie-goers, faith that quickly dwindled as I was made aware of the toxic side of fandoms. I used to think that maybe people would be decent enough not to send death threats to actors, producers, or directors but I was wrong. Some people go to such extremes and we've seen it with ghostbusters (2016) and the very disgusting people who engaged in cyber-harassment, rape threats, and racist outbursts towards Leslie Jones. We've seen it happen with Kelly Mary Tran and Daisy Riddley and even Rian Johnson. those people would not back down from bullying others into submission. Unfortunately, those are the loudest voices and you can find them all over the internet. And those voices are of course, given a platform and listened to by studios.
Back to the movie. I think that there is a lack of good faith when it comes to people reacting to zack Snyder's cinematography. You could criticize his work (no work is perfect and no work suits everyone), but you can't possibly say he doesn't know how to direct nor doesn't he know how to tell stories. It's absolutely alright to not like a director's work. I for one, don't like the portrayal of the X-men and mutants Brian Singer did in all of his movies. Once I went past the curious choices he made regarding my beloved Marvel teams, I started to look at how exactly he constructs his movies and why they don't mesh well with my own taste. I compared his movies with each other and realized they constantly clashed with one another which made it hard to digest. Yet, people love these movies, and every time I mention I am an x-men fan, they would talk about the movie because that was their segway into Marvel comics. Good for them, I honestly am happy that the movies led them to take interest in the x-men but I would never be seen or heard say I do love them, cause I don't.
So, why is it that people are so allergic to Snyder and his vision of the superheroes? allergic to the point that studio interference was so ham-fisted into the project that we got the god-awful Josstice League. That's not a novelty here, studios go with the flow and they try to make sure they will earn money. Some people, the very loud people, decided that they wanted the movie to be similar to the Marvel movies and I sincerely believe that they didn't think this through, In what capacity should movies ALL look alike? I knew I had a Marvel overdose by the time BvS was out, I had enough of "funny" one-liners and quick banters between people. I was looking for something different and less formulaic. I was looking for an actual identity and I had it with Snyder. I had it and quickly lost it to Studios that were too afraid to commit to their first idea.
You know, it's a little enraging, because I wished we had his full vision on display. it could have been released to the public and nothing would have prevented the studios to reboot it later? I understand, it's the rush to the billions and that's where they lost. They missed an opportunity to serve something different, instead, we got the fun but limited Shazam (very purged from the deep topics they could have talked about but instead brushed off for cheap and easy laughs), and Aquaman (again... they really ham-fisted the dudebro persona of Jason Momoa and muzzled the director's affinity with horror movies. It could have been exciting to have the bright Atlantis (perhaps a little too light-bulbed) and the monsters of the abyss. but the movie was actually fun and decent. we could have had something different and unseen but studios got cold feet instead.
Back to the movie. Actually, Man of Steel. I keep laughing through my teeth when people who love Nolan's cinema jump on Man of Steel without realizing that Nolan wrote the story and the screenplay. it is a story that would have been directed by Nolan should he have stayed on board. Zack really just directed it, gave it a soul and his style. I sometimes wonder what would Nolan's fans say if it had been done by their "batman's trilogy god" instead of Snyder. The movie made me discover the subtle relationship between directors and screenplay/ story writers, as well as the & and the "and" in a script/story. I'll share it with you. when you have a script written by A & Z that means both wrote at the same time. they worked together. when you have a script written by A and Z that means both wrote their scripts and they meshed it together with the script written by A being the most prominent script in the end product. mindblowing, right? but when you look at BvS for example, you see that it's the latter's case, which could explain why we had a sensation of watching two movies instead of one.
Back to the movie, and actually Zack Snyder's style. It's not for everyone. much like most movies aren't for everyone as well. Titanic? gigantic success but a bore-fest for me when I watched it. X-men movies? I can't stand them, except for Logan. it's the only movie from the whole franchise that I love and why is that? mmm I guess it's because of both the tone, but the way those characters are treated, and the audience that follows. nothing is dumbed down, nothing is oh so simple either. the movie has you think, it's riddled with symbolism, it has several layers to it and I love those types of movies. This what Snyder's work is about. The symbolism (sometimes in your face, sometimes very subtle), the humanity of his characters, the many layers you can find upon watching the movies he makes more than one time. I had a field day with both Man of Steel and BvS because of this. because he gave me everything I've ever wanted in a superhero flick. everything, from the filter to the grandiose entrance of Wonder Woman against "Doomsday" was up to discussion. his Batcave, his motives, what could have happened to him to make him stray from his moral compass so hard?
I heard so many criticisms about Batfleck, "oh but he doesn't kill", "this is not the real Batman", and I'm thinking. Well, the original batman did kill, what about that? Are you going to ignore it because comics code happened and they made it so he never kills anymore? what about, "If he's killing people left and right what happened to him to make him do this?" I mean, has it become so difficult for people to see beyond what the screen is showing? But then it dawned on me that perhaps people have connected to one version of the character and don't want to see anything else on the screen. I mean, many people grew up with the Adam West version of Batman and hated what Burton did to it -Some people grew up with the 92 cartoons and didn't like Schumacher's version. I guess that it really comes to people who had a full version of what their heroes should/must be and therefore could never accept that something different might exist. It's fair game, really, we can't possibly love everything but what crosses the line for me is the whole public lynching that seems to have been the norm for a long while now. (remember what happened to the star wars prelogy and Jar-Jar?)
Back to the movie, again. Why is it so bad to have different versions of the same character existing today? Maybe this version of superman didn't ring a bell to those who preferred the Richard Donner version. I think it didn't. However, while I'm absolutely not speaking for everyone here, I can tell you that the Snyder version of both Superman and Batman rang a bell to me. You see, I remember what Nolan said after he made his Batman trilogy: it was time to put those heroes in the 21st century. people change, societies change over the years and decades and that's a fact. Superman had always been the story of an immigrant who proved to be the citizern of his country despite his different origins. back in the days it meant something crucial for his creators, to make an all-american man with just a few upgrades and an almost divine moral compass. it had to be done because outsiders suffered from so many discriminations and prejudices that they had to be more than perfect. the idealized society also had to be accepting with superman's enemy showed as being essentially evil. Then you also had the looming shadow of war, that called for idealism and a little dash of a romanced society to rouse some patriotism from readers and a very manichean vision of the world. After all, it was still a time when ugly people were seen as evil and beautiful people as the embodiement of good.
Nolan and Snyder's superman spoke to me more than any other version of this character did. Same with MCU's Captain American who inspired me more than th eone in the paper. (especially in captain america 2). His experience as an actual immigrant, who had to choose between assimilation or communautarism and decided to be the best of two worlds spoke to me on a soul-level. the reception the public had of this "alien", this "different person", spoke to me as well. the world either fantasized on him, worshipped him, put him on a pedestal or downright hated him, feared him or remained suspicious. I felt inspired with him because he kept choosing to do the right thing despite all the shit thrown at him. This superman, for the first time was finally approchable. Yes, it's not going to be a version that agrees with everyone, but can't we just appreciate that we live in a time when we can have the Donner's version around, the Snyder's versions around and also the CWs version of the character as well. we can have it all, we can have everything and I would say that it's a good thing that we can witness it.
In conclusion: I am extremely excited about the Snyder's cut. you know, because he managed to at least have his movie out the way he wanted it without studio interference. I want to see the heroes I really loved with Snyder's vision and talk about it for days, weeks, maybe even years. I am not saying it's going to be the best film in the whole world, but I can't wait to have my 4 hours of serotine injected through the eyes.
let's hope you can, if not liking the movie, at least understand that people love them and respect their choice to love those movies.
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