Something that would be super-cool to see in the upcoming Iron Man movie...A conceit from the movie Tootsie.
Tony Stark, a boy genius grown up, an alcoholic womanizer, and a multimillionare munitions magnate, is forced by circumstances to assemble a mechanized battlesuit. He uses the suit to fight monsters and do good deeds. This public-spiritedness is supremely out of character for the arrogant Boy Wonder. Even he is a little mystified by it.
It has a parallel with Michael Dorsey in Tootsie, an actor who masquerades as a woman, Dorothy Michaels, to get an acting job. Dorsey, to his surprise, finds himself acting differently when pretending to be a woman. Midway through the movie, Dorsey relates to his roommate a difficulty he'd had that day on the job. "If it were me, I would have bawled the guy out," Dorsey explains. "But she didn't." Michael then has a minor epiphany. "I think Dorothy is smarter than I am."
Imagine a scene where Stark's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Whitney Frost, finds him in the armor, sans helmet. She asks, "Tony...really? Fighting bad guys and saving kittens in trees? You?"
Stark sputters for a minute, confused. He stares at his helmet and then blurts "Iron Man is better than I am!" He pauses again, confused at what he just said.
Once freed from expectations and his past, Stark discovers that he isn't the petty bastard he always thought he was, or that he at least has the potential to be a good man.
(...okay, okay, the movie is almost certainly centered around this very idea. It's kinda obvious. I just wanted to work in the "I think Dorothy is smarter than I am" quote into a post. I think it translates well to the world of superheroes and the nature of the secret identity. Plus, I don't work in enough references to cross-dressing in my blog. Have to work on that.)
A bonus picture: Abraham Lincoln at RFK Stadium, working the crowd during a Washington Nationals game. He'd just participated in the "Presidents' Race" down the first base line.
Weirdest thing about that Tootsie poster?
ReplyDeleteIt wants us to know the title character is "hopelessly straight."
Because we sure wouldn't want to watch a movie about a gay cross-dresser!
I'll be damned. I didn't see that.
ReplyDeleteFreakin' sad.
Your plot for Iron Man actually mirrors the true story of William Boyd.
ReplyDeleteA former silent film star who picked up some bad habits as his career took a nose dive, he was offered the part of Hopalong Cassidy, a cowboy who didn't smoke, or drink, or ever throw the first punch. And as he took the role, which made him a huge star again, he stopped smoking and drinking and became a better person in order to be a better role model for his young fans.
Sam Raimi's foray into the Armored Superhero Motif, M.A.N.T.I.S., dabbled with a related subplot before network-executive meddling dumbed the show down, ended any character development, and pushed it not over but into the shark tank.
ReplyDeleteThe M.A.N.T.I.S. suit was run by a neural network that directly interfaced with Dr. Miles Hawkins's brain. As he used the suit, the neural network "learned" -- and because he was intent on crimefighting while he was wearing the suit, it "learned" that behavior and started amplifying those personality traits when he wore it. His personality started to change in the suit, and he and his supporting cast noticed it.
It culminated in an episode where Hawkins is knocked out while wearing the suit, and the neural network's Scary Dark Avenger personality takes over entirely.
I think the Hopalong Cassidy comparison is more what you're aiming for, though.
This is really funny but was a bit down the expectation.
ReplyDeleteHe uses the suit to fight monsters and do good deeds.
ReplyDeleteThere are humorous part have been shared with this post. I liked it very much.
ReplyDeleteIt has a parallel with Michael Dorsey in Tootsie, an actor who masquerades as a woman, Dorothy Michaels...
ReplyDeleteAs an actor Michael Dorsey is an amazing one.I used see his performance.
ReplyDeleteIt wants us to know the title character is "hopelessly straight." HCG Blue Drops, the Faster and Natural way to lose weight...
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ReplyDeleteIt has a parallel with Michael Dorsey in Tootsie, an actor who masquerades as a woman, Dorothy Michaels, to get an acting job.
ReplyDeleteTootsie is about an unemployed actor with a reputation for being difficult disguises himself as a woman to get a role in a soap opera.
ReplyDelete