This week's blog was already written in my head. I was going to share my thoughts and feelings on the great gun debate that everyone seems to be engulfed in, but then I found something way more pressing to talk about; Jimmy Olsen is a girl! In the upcoming film by director Zack Snyder, Man of Steel, it seems they are planning on replacing Superman's best friend, Jimmy Olsen, with a female counter part, Jenny Olsen, played by Rebecca Buller.
My brother alerted me to this grave crime, and I, being a bigger Superman fan than he, become enraged with fury. Jimmy Olsen is a character that goes to the very core of the Superman mythology. In the center of the story you have Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen. These are just five characters you can just alter and not expect to get hell from the fan boy community. As of right now Lex Luthor is not listed on the IMDB website as a character in Man of Steel, and Laurence Fishburne will be playing Perry White. Now changing Perry from an old white guy to an old black guy isn't too much of a difference, however, I will remind you his last name it WHITE. I know that in this P.C. world where you can't step on a bug without pissing somebody off the way to help a movie make money is to diversify your film as much as possible, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the story. Changing Jimmy from a young male to a young female completely changes the dynamic of the Superman mythology that the film will be based on.
Now odds are this Jenny could not be Jimmy changing his sexual identity, but perhaps his sister and Jimmy will be in the sequel, but let's stick to the point. This female character who is replace a male character could ruin this movie! If you know anything about the character of Jimmy Olsen you know that he is a young photographer for The Daily Planet who works with Clark and Lois, gets Perry's coffee, and is everything Superman fights for. Jimmy is idealistic. He likes to give people the benefit of the doubt and thinks people are mainly good. He even starred in his own comic book at one point. Now when Clark has a rough week of fighting super villains Jimmy reminds Clark that there are good people in the world besides him, and these people are who he continues to fights for. Clark and Jimmy hang out, Jimmy has his own watch to call on Superman when he's in trouble, and I think at one point Clark lived with Jimmy as his roommate. How is that relationship going to be the same when Jimmy is Jenny?
To answer my own question believe I have the answer; love triangle, or some form of puppy love. You see kids, love triangles are all the film franchise rage lately from Twilight to The Hunger Games. Clark developing a relationship with Lois would be just too simple for the film making hot shots of Hollywood. My guess is that when Lois and Jenny go out to cover Superman's adventures like Lois and Jimmy did that they'll both be smitten by the Last Son of Krypton and two tongues will fall the floor.
Of course this is all just hypothetical from what I know and what I hear about Man of Steel, and I had nothing to do with the making of this film, so don't quote me only any of this. But this little idea of Jimmy's possible gender switch does not help the fear I've had about this movie from the beginning. David Goyer, the man who wrote all 3 Blade and Dark Knight films wrote the story and screenplay for Man of Steel, and I know Goyer as a big comic book fan so I trusted him. Christopher Nolan, who is producing, is also a great film maker, who makes great films, as is Snyder. But to put all three of these people on a Superman film seemed like a mistake to me being that most of these gentleman make darker and more gritty films. Now that kind of tone is great for Batman, Blade, and Watchmen, but dark and gritty is the exact opposite of what Superman is. And seriously guys, a British actor to play the ultimate American hero?
I'm told Man of Steel will make Superman more relatable to modern film audiences, but both DC and Marvel have ruined film versions of their characters by straying from the formula that has made their characters work for decades! If Snyder ruins this chance for Superman's silver screen comeback he may just beat out Brett Ratner on my list of people I need to kick in the nuts. "What was I supposed to do? Just let 'em die?" "Maybe"
MAYBE, MAYBE! Do you even know who Jonathan Kent is! Come on guys! Pull you're heads out of those studio executive's asses and make the film worthy to be called MAN OF STEEL! Do it for comic book truth, film justice, and god damn it, The American Way! Here's the trailer, judge for yourselves:
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