Raul Aguirre, Jr. On Angst-y Characters

I won't even bother to summarize the opinions of creator of Raul Aguirre, Jr., the man in the Man vs. Art podcasts, since listening to this particular rant is so entertaining! While riding the bus home recently and listening to him vent, I'm sure people who saw my silly grin thought I was some kind of weirdo.

Basically, he's complaining about all of the darkness in characters and illustration, especially with live action comic book-based heroes. I found myself endlessly nodding in agreement. I don't like when comic book-based live action movies are campy and don't take themselves seriously at all (Fantastic Four I & II and Batman and Robin) but I also don't like when they're so dark that I want to turn on a light so I can actually see what's happening (The Dark Knight.) I guess it's hard to strike the right tone between camp and serious but Iron Man I got it right.

Aguirre also goes on a tirade about Tim Burton's work, which he dismisses as an "aesthetic." I agree with him completely. I can only take Burton's work in small doses. I'm fascinated that a human being has such a seemingly limited world view: that being that everything happens at night (his remake of Planet of the Apes. I kept wondering if this was a planet that didn't orbit the sun it was so damn DARK!) and every situation is sinister (I skipped Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka because I didn't want to see drab, dreary, dour versions of my childhood favorites.) I mean, this guy knows ONE THING: DARK! Even his early drawings and animations were dark. It's a viewpoint that simply doesn't apply to the real world.

So that's what I have to say about this podcast. Take a listen for yourself and enjoy!