Remember a time when it used to be enjoyable to watch a television show, or movie? A time when you could see a cliffhanger and there was surprise rather than outrage, or anger? Where did those times go? What happened?
This blog post comes off the end of the last episode of Arrow; 4×18 – Eleven Fifty Nine. Although, it is something I’ve been thinking about on and off lately. On that note, this post will contain spoilers for episode 18 of Arrow season 4. So, if you haven’t seen it, or don’t want to know what happens. Then read no further than this. Everyone else, coming along through my thoughts and join me.
It’s a strange dynamic when it comes to television and movies; particularly when it comes to comic book source material. The biggest argument, and hatred, towards these media entries is that it doesn’t follow the comic book or that character is alive in the comics. As previously mentioned, this came off the back of Arrow 4×18. In this episode a core team member, Laurel Lance aka Black Canary, is killed by Damian Darhk as he attempts to free himself from prison.
Inevitably this has been met with hatred among viewers of the show who love the character played by Katie Cassidy. This has led to many comments about how it’s been “taken over by Olicity” and how Dinah Laurel Lance as Black Canary is a heavy figure in the comic. While I don’t disagree with those statements. It doesn’t make sense to me. For the first point, Arrow, along with any other television comic book show, is an adaptation of the source material. What it doesn’t appear people are understanding, and this is from my viewpoint only and what I’ve seen, is that adaptations are not primarily for the fans. The fans will see something regardless of how it ends up. In the vain of a television show they may not continue watching, but they watch initially to see how the adaptation plays out.
Adaptations are designed to bring new fans into the property. Fans that may have not read the original comics, or know very little about the characters. The writers create their own way of telling the story using the comics as a basis.
In the movie scene, this can be seen with any number of comicbook movies; from Transformers, to GI Joe, to the reboot of Star Trek even. JJ Abrams reboot is actually a really good example of this. Before 2009 when Paramount wanted to “re-vitalise” a property that hadn’t been on air for a number of years, they hired JJ Abrams to reboot Star Trek as a big budget movie. The goal being to make this accessible to new audiences, and not just the hardcore Star Trek fans that would inevitably see the movie out of interest in their love of the property anyway.
Why does it work this way? Well, there’s the key. Firstly, for the studios producing these adaptations it’s about the bottom line. It’s business. They might have higher up people who are fans of the IP, but the bottom line is they are trying to keep their business in profit. That’s what entertainment is. To the majority of the world, television and movies may be a way to relax and enjoy something but you can’t forget that it’s business. In the same way that you go to work for whatever business you work for.
Secondly, if they can bring new fans into the IP then those new fans might seek out the original materials out of interest, and buy them because they like what happened with the new version. This happened with Star Trek, and Transformers, and a bunch of other IP’s.
Going back to Arrow, this is the writers version of the characters. Do I agree with Laurel’s death? For the most part, no. But I understand it. The biggest part I have an issue with in 4×18 of Arrow is that Laurel’s death seemed forced. There was a disconnect sync between Darhk’s escape and him stabbing Laurel. The use of Oliver’s arrow to do it was a good idea, and the symbolism behind that was actually pretty good (and I’ll let you figure out what that is). However, I didn’t feel like it should have happened that way. She deserved more.
The problem I have with Black Canary, is that the writers never really seemed to know what to do with her. Katie Cassidy as Laurel, or the Canary, was never really given anything “meaty” to do in the show. She was mostly always relegated to background\sidekick. The one exception being the one with both Sara and Laurel. The duality and passing of the torch between the previous Canary and the new Canary was excellent and played out nicely.
In the interest of honesty, I should say I was a big Olicity shipper in the early seasons. I stopped caring as much about midway through season 3 due to failing interest.Although not many of the people I talk to know that, as I’ve never said anything about it. The biggest reason for that, is television shows never continue well once the two main leads get together—if they’re playing that as a character thing. Castle is one example of this. The dynamic that Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic had in the beginning was interesting, and worked. After they got together, that dynamic seemed to falter, and it just isn’t as interesting any more. But that is another post, for another time. As for Olicity, the same thing started to happen. It started to lose the dynamic that the two had between each other because the writers had them almost always arguing, or clashing to attempt tension.
I don’t think I’ve seen anything outside of Sheridan and Delenn from Babylon 5 that held up the similar interactions between two characters—but that was before the main interrupt of shipping and\or really internet (even though it was becoming a thing while it was on air).
If you’re still reading this far well done you got through some guy rambling. Katie Cassidy’s Black Canary, in my opinion, got a bad story line, and bad death. She deserved better than that. Mostly for the line about Felicity in her death, which was disjointed with what she had just said, and what she said after that line. Then because of the way they played it out with her being fine one minute and crashing the next.
It wasn’t fair to the character. It wasn’t fair to the actor. It wasn’t fair to the story.
I will leave you with one final piece of advice. You may not like what has happened, but find acceptance with it. If it bugs you that much, stop watching. Go back to the comics for their storyline. But at the least, do NOT please. Do NOT send hateful tweets or messages to cast, crew and writers. They are just doing their jobs. Tell them your feelings, but don’t send them hate for it. Be respectful and it will make you out to be the better person.
In conclusion, the ability to not accept changes to story’s in television and movies with respect to comics and other source material is strange. Especially as comic books change things around all the time. They have multiple storylines, and paths. Characters change, they die. The have different origins. But it’s only visual television and movie media that gains the brunt of the anger.
Acceptance is something we all need to gain. Don’t like something, move on.
Dreaming Screenwriter 