CGC Game Save '24 Team Fundraising Page
TEAM GOAL: $1,200/$1,500 UPDATE: You can now get PAETER'S listed REWARDS by donating to ANY TEAM MEMBER! Just contact Paeter via e-mail to let him know how much you donated to a team member and once he confirms the donation with them he will reply to you to make sure you get the reward(s) you wanted. Christian Geek Central is excited to continue our long-standing annual tradition (our 11th year!) of raising funds for children in urgent need, continuing that long tradition with our fourth annual "Game Save" event! (For more info you can watch this video! ) This year we are raising funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital , which not only provides life-saving care free of charge but also shares its cutting edge research with hospitals around the world, helping to drastically improve childhood cancer survival rates! Our team goal is to raise $1,500 for St. Jude's by the end of Sunday, November 10th. Below you will find a link to e...
I have to say, Paeter. I disagree with your comments about Clark Kent. Not Superman, mind you, I'm right with you on how they've gotten him wrong, but I think making Clark repulsive and weird would be a bad thing. Superman has already been (wrongly) accused of mocking humanity via his Kent persona (Kill Bill), so making him unhygienic and anti-social would only make more people think that Superman believes mankind to be inferior. I understand that you want Clark to be more identifiable, by why does being a nerd automatically mean being an outcast. That's outdated thinking. Nowadays, geeks are actually quite high on the social scale, at least in high schools, which is probably the social circle you're imagining. I think making him a work-from-home, humble kind of guy is the right direction, but he doesn't need to actually be off-putting or repellent. Honestly, hiding in the mediocre realm of competent-but-not-exceptional seems a more reliable cover for Superman AND an easier position from which to get the most readers to relate.
ReplyDeleteI know Superman was originally meant to be a reflection of immigrants/outsiders, but now he's become an icon of morality and decency (or he had until 2011), and I think that's what he should be. I think making Clark an underappreciated man (even if be design for his secret identity) covers the "I seem insignificant, but I'm actually awesome" vibe you were hoping to see rekindled, but without accidentally insulting their readership by making their identifiable hero repellent.
Just some thoughts. What do you think, Paeter?
Personally, I'd like to see the secret identities of DC go the way of most of Marvel...let's just have full-time heroes without the angst, contrivances, and reset buttons the secret identities require.
My thinking is partially based on a desire to "reclaim" the word "geek". Today we tend to think that being a geek is "cool" or at least acceptable, but the word geek comes from a label given to circus sideshow ("freak") performers who were strange to the point of being frightening and certainly UNacceptable to mainstream life. So I believe, by definition, the more "geeky" someone is, the less cool and acceptable they will be to the mainstream.
DeleteThat said, I'm open to someone figuring out how to make Clark unappreciated and an outcast without doing the full "nerd-package" I described. I just don't see as clearly in my mind how it could work the more "normal" you make Clark.
I think you're right that there is a potential danger of making the target audience (or humanity in general) feel mocked. I'm not sure how to side-step that and, like the hair issue I mentioned, think I would just have to trust a capable writer with that.
Good points! Thanks, Matt!