The Official Costume Thread - - - - - - - - - - - Part 20

[afan]

They said they hired him because he's the fastest typer they've ever seen

One of my biggest issues with both the Donner films and Smallville, is how Clark Kent even gets a look in at one of the greatest newspapers of the world without any real experience of even having a job, let alone journalism.

I mean, we can't say for definite with S:TM because we don't know what happened in offscreenville. I supposed in offscreenville he might have earned loads of experience that got him the job and they just never mentioned it.

Perry White's exact words were......."Lois, Clark Kent may seem like just a mild-mannered reporter, but listen, not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seen."

Not to be picky of course, but it was a bit more than just fast typing.

I agree with your overall point tho.

As Bats N Hornets said, in many incarnations Clark has no journalistic experience, he gets the job because he gets "the scoop", due largely in part because he is also Superman, which also perfectly sets the tone for his adversarial relationship with Lois. That's what I prefer.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Yeah the scoop thing makes much more sense. He can be a freelance journalist trying to get newspapers to buy his stories in tough times, but once he becomes the journalist with the Superman scoop, they would want to secure him on their staff so no other paper gets the story first.

P.S.
What does 'punchy prose style' even mean? Cause to me, a prose style suggests the opposite of what you learn in Journalism school.

And it actually takes a lot of getting used to, writing stories in a NON prose way, avoiding adjective and descriptive long sentances, sticking to the facts and a detatched tone.

We used to get marked down if our news stories came out sounding too similar too 'prose'.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

For more years than I care to remember, I have always thought Perry said "Punchy pro style"

Learn something every day...

 

[KalMart]

Yeah the scoop thing makes much more sense. He can be a freelance journalist trying to get newspapers to buy his stories in tough times, but once he becomes the journalist with the Superman scoop, they would want to secure him on their staff so no other paper gets the story first.

P.S.
What does 'punchy prose style' even mean? Cause to me, a prose style suggests the opposite of what you learn in Journalism school.

And it actually takes a lot of getting used to, writing stories in a NON prose way, avoiding adjective and descriptive long sentances, sticking to the facts and a detatched tone.

We used to get marked down if our news stories came out sounding too similar too 'prose'.

I always felt prose referred to a standard grammatical/structural way of writing...as opposed to haiku, or a screenplay or what have you. So Perry, in his own way, was saying his writing was more interesting than your bog-standard A to B relaying of info. Maybe that standard definition was meant in the film for the general viewer, rather than a more specific definition that real journalists may use.

 

[not_a_victim]

Another poster...or maybe in another forum...also prefers that it is home-made by Martha in that it further reinforces that it is the Kents that make Clark Superman, and not his Kryptnian physiology. As if like with STM, too much emphasis is made of some sort of pre-ordained destiny that Jor-El assigned to Kal-El, instead of being more for just survival....and his values/character from being raised a Kent are what contribute more and led to his own decision to become a hero/protector/etc. I think there's some validity to that. I don't know if it'd really make a difference to a movie audience...and they'd rather have what's 'cooler' onscreen...but as an avid fan, yeah I could see how Jor-El's presence/importance has somehow overshadowed some of Supes' earthly upbringing in the movies.



I do think it's okay to have something as a memento to represent JorEl when the baby grows enough to understand. It's sweet. Like a dad leaving his infant son his military uniform jacket before he heads off to some final battle in which he will likely die, or what have you.

Having the Kents hold back on Clark's origin until he reaches young adulthood would go a long way towards saying the Kents made the mindset of Superman, and his Kryptonian powers gave him the ability to use it. That is just about the only criticism I have about STM. Clark's moral upbringing isn't really shown. Of course, two people who bring an orphan into their home, and raise it as their own are implied to be good, honest, moral people, but there's no exposition from his childhood showing John and Martha leading him down any particular path in life.
In the comics, it's always implied, if not outright decreed, that the Kent's upbringing shaped the man he became. Conversely, the alternate world story lines, such as Red Son, show what a creature with Superman's powers would do with a wildly different moral code...

 

[hopefuldreamer]

I always felt prose referred to a standard grammatical/structural way of writing...as opposed to haiku, or a screenplay or what have you. So Perry, in his own way, was saying his writing was more interesting than your bog-standard A to B relaying of info. Maybe that standard definition was meant in the film for the general viewer, rather than a more specific definition that real journalists may use.

Yeah I know what you mean.

And maybe the general definition of prose is different to how our lecturer used it.

I guess all I was trying to say, is that it'd be awesome to see a version of Superman in which Lois and Clark are actually believable as successful journalists.

And to do that, you have to show that it was hard for them to get there. Because it SHOULD be hard to get a job at the Daily Planet!

I hope they show how hard it is for Clark to get his stories even looked at at first. I hope they show Lois, instead of pounding the pavement for that pulitzer, pounding it to secure her job and keep Perry happy for another week. I hope they show the Daily Planet modernised, having a website with video functions etc.

 

[KalMart]

Yeah I know what you mean.

And maybe the general definition of prose is different to how our lecturer used it.

I guess all I was trying to say, is that it'd be awesome to see a version of Superman in which Lois and Clark are actually believable as successful journalists.

And to do that, you have to show that it was hard for them to get there. Because it SHOULD be hard to get a job at the Daily Planet!

I hope they show how hard it is for Clark to get his stories even looked at at first. I hope they show Lois, instead of pounding the pavement for that pulitzer, pounding it to secure her job and keep Perry happy for another week. I hope they show the Daily Planet modernised, having a website with video functions etc.

A la...Lois should know how to spell, and Clark will need to have had a degree and prior experience? What is this, a Nolan film?

 

[DKDetective]

A la...Lois should know how to spell, and Clark will need to have had a degree and prior experience? What is this, a Nolan film?

I hope so. :P

 

[KalMart]

Having the Kents hold back on Clark's origin until he reaches young adulthood would go a long way towards saying the Kents made the mindset of Superman, and his Kryptonian powers gave him the ability to use it. That is just about the only criticism I have about STM. Clark's moral upbringing isn't really shown. Of course, two people who bring an orphan into their home, and raise it as their own are implied to be good, honest, moral people, but there's no exposition from his childhood showing John and Martha leading him down any particular path in life.
In the comics, it's always implied, if not outright decreed, that the Kent's upbringing shaped the man he became. Conversely, the alternate world story lines, such as Red Son, show what a creature with Superman's powers would do with a wildly different moral code...

I agree to a certain extent...but I do think at least in a cinematic 'shorthand', it did highlight the morals instilled in him by the Kents during that short talk with Dad and just the whole Rockwell-ish vibe of the sequence. And thats not easy to do...make you feel like he had a warm, good upbringing in just a few minutes. But it was admittedly overwhelmed by the electronic ghost-head of Jor-El and the whole 'destiny' thing.

 

[afan]

For more years than I care to remember, I have always thought Perry said "Punchy pro style"

Learn something every day...

Ya never know....you may be correct.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I always thought of the punchy prose style thing as kind od a NY Daily News type of writing. It has its own meter and rythme.

 

[Krumm]

Any one see this yet? Peter Rubin talk about working on Krypton designs and his "S" shield. Not much really, but any news is good news.

Well, Man of Steel comes out in 2013. I've left some fingerprints on that. I spent nine months working with Alex on the details of Krypton. Like I said, he's a thinker... for him, it was all about the aesthetic and the culture of these aliens - characters that everybody thinks they already know, which made it all the more challenging. He was very particular, which drove me to work hard to try master the style he had in mind. It stretched me, and I think we did some new and interesting things, both from a visual point of view and also technologically, within the process. Zack is a strong director, too, and I'm very excited by what he's bringing to the story. What we did behind the scenes is going to have repercussions in the business, and on screen it's going to knock people's socks off, in my opinion.

I'm a huge Superman fan going back to childhood, and so was very, very glad to be a part of it. I got some amazing design opportunities. For one, I was asked to design the new "S" insignia, the one that Henry Cavill is wearing in all those leaked on-set photos. I've been drawing that in one version or another since I was four years old. I was hitting in the sweet spot, and it felt like one of the high points of my career as a designer. There were some interesting struggles associated with it - I'll tell that story someday. - filmsketchr.blogspot.com

 

[Kryptonian Warrior]

I always thought of the punchy prose style thing as kind od a NY Daily News type of writing. It has its own meter and rythme.

Just out of curiosity, what does "punchy prose style" mean?

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Now who would talk crap about a film franchise consisting of four films where three of them were terrible. Who dares?

 

[Showtime]

Anybody notice that Faora's suit looks sort of like the Ty Zor concept art?

 

[camp Blood]

He's not God...he's only the messiah.

you guys don't all him christ-opher nolan for nothing by the momento the dark knight and the holy inception ahhh-no-lan



also I can't say I'm a fan of that armor design but it may look better on a woman

 

[ChickenScratch]

Just out of curiosity, what does "punchy prose style" mean?

I was commenting on how Clark got the job as per Perry's quote. As I mentioned before, I think his punchy prose style refers to the style of writing that the NY Daily News does since The Planet headlines seem to read like NYDN headlines. But you should check it out, the daily news has a certain bouncy rhythm and meter to it, there's even consideration given to make headlines and paragraphs rhyme sometimes.

When I was in journalism in college they used to teach us little tricks like how to load a paragraph, how to make certain things rhyme or ring better, or find some sort of meter within the story that makes it easier for the reader and a lighter read.

A couple examples -

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/11/ny_nyp_3.jpg
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/mul...ods.newspaper.headlines/images/dailynews2.jpg
http://assets.espn.go.com/sportscenter/images/NYDailyNews.jpg

 

[Lead Cenobite]

Now who would talk crap about a film franchise consisting of four films where three of them were terrible. Who dares?

It's not just the sequels that get crap around here. Nearly every discussion turns into what STM did wrong (bleh Krypton, bleh Jor-El, bleh Reeve's Clark, bleh Lex, bleh how Clark became a reporter). And Superman II was far from terrible. I'd take it over the deep, thoughtful, and DULL Dark Knight anyday.

 

[Lily Adler]

I barely noticed STM bashing. I've seen a few criticize it.

 

[KalMart]

I barely noticed STM bashing. I've seen a few criticize it.

The 'Donner-Cut' worship is much more annoying.

 

[craigdbfan]

Superman and Superman II are great movies nuff said.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Superman III has some good stuff with Bad Superman, too.

 

[camp Blood]

I hope they show zod learning the powers

while I love the old one I thought he just kind of fell into the powers without really learning how to use and control them

 

[Nevaratoiel]

...maybe in this reboot, Martha makes Clark his three piece business suit instead!

At least this would be plausible since there is no way she could make the Superman outfit.

Tomorrow night we will be able to say that MOS is coming out Next Year!

feels better somehow....

Or maybe just have him say his mother made it for him, to make him more likeable to the crowd. I mean, Superman talking about his mother makes you (or at least me) go; 'aww, that's cute'. But I don't think they should go with his mother actually making the suit, for real, like they did in Lois and Clark. I agree it should be from his alien heritage, like they did in 'Smallville'. Sounds more believable to me.

 

[camp Blood]

Maybe Lara can make the super suit and Martha can make the Clark suit