Sunday, October 16, 2022

She-Hulk series from Disney+ is mostly awful, but what do I know? I only read the comics

Variety article on She-Hulk finale. (SPOILERS)


I watched all of She-Hulk and then read this article. (see above link to Variety piece) SPOILERS follow if you haven't seen the show.
From the article: "Reading the script, it was so true. There’s so much resistance to a woman just existing in that space of superheroes. There’s always going to be that. I sort of anticipated it. It’s why I also feel it’s important. There’s such an entitlement to space held by certain people, and to even exist as She-Hulk is like a fuck-you, and I love that."
No, there is not a lot of resistance to a woman existing in a space of superheroes, if there were, we would not have characters like She-Hulk or Wonder Woman or the myriad of female heroes out there. There is resistance however, to a female superhero done wrong. "Captain Marvel" to me is a great example of a superhero done right by the MCU, even though there were trolls saying she was OP and all that. Get over it, she's OP in the comics too and always was!
Disney's She-Hulk is done wrong, mostly by an actress who does not embody the character (she feels more like someone reacting and spitting out dialogue than someone embodying a character.) When SMG played Buffy as an example, she made me believe she was Buffy, she gave the character life, this actress' portrayal is conversely mostly lifeless.)
Kevin Feige had a huge hand in that finale, which is probably why it's so poor. Why are producers shaping shows instead of letting talented writers do the work? She Hulk writers are not talented, Jen is such a great character but in this show she is reduced to a feminist parody of herself who hates all men. Even the one dude who was good to her in the end turns out to be evil and fucks her over, because of course he does, he has yy chromosomes.
Just about the best thing about that finale is a clever homage or reproduction of the Bill Bixby/Ferrigno series from the 80s, but the writes manage to miss an opportunity there too, absent is a character like Mr. McGee, the journalist. Bruce Banner takes his place dressed in Bixby garb from the intro. I think having a female version of McGee would have worked better, or maybe have one of the Intellegencia, but that's a minor nitpick when there is much else that is bad.
But apart from all that, the best these writers can do is break the fourth wall and that is a narrative device that is mishandled imo because in the comics it was used efficiently but here it is mostly used to insult the viewer, i.e. "Isn't it so clever? or we are using this technique or x y z is happening because of this...." just in case the audience doesn't get the simple gag, let's explain it to them.
In conclusion, if you want a good She Hulk series read the comics by John Byrne. If you want a really bad She Hulk series then give this show a go.

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