Why a Serious Green Hornet?
Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley
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The Lone Ranger
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:34 pm
Re: Why a Serious Green Hornet?
Well....they did it to my Grand Nephew and they did it to me as well......
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BilltheBat
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:10 pm
Re: Why a Serious Green Hornet?
A better question might be:
Why was Batman made as a campy comedy in 1966?
It has to do with comics and history, mainly. After WWII, the world wasn't the fearful and dark place of the Golden Age/Depression Era in many ways. So the tone of comics changed to try to match the audience's tastes. The comics of the 50s edged away from mystery men/crimefighting and dove into science fiction and fantasy stories to find fresh ideas for now familiar characters.
Many of the superheroes fell out of publication, leaving only Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in continuous print. War, Romance, True Crime, and Horror comics came into vogue instead of spandex-clad adventurers.
Batman became decidedly silly, which lasted until the Wertham crusade against the comic book business nearly shut the publishers down. The Green Hornet never really had such a phase, and the GH comics had gone out of print for the most part- the radio show, played for seriousness as crime adventure, was still the primary format.
Trendle had made sure the movie serials kept close to the radio concept, as he was very displeased with the Hollywood serial treatment that the Lone Ranger received. Batman, on the other hand was done cheaply and without the detail found in the comics of the 40s.
When Dozier got Batman rolling, it was inspired by the old serials being shown at the Playboy Mansion for laughs. Dozier's research on hand covered the silly period of the 50s, and it was decided by these suit-and-tie types that the idea of a costumed adventurer was ludicrous in the real world. So, in spite of the fact that the Batman comics of the Silver Age, under Julius Schwartz's editorship had turned to Sherlock Holmes-type puzzles and mysteries, comedy played with over-the-top straight faces was chosen the way to go for prime time television. And it was very popular method (as we here can attest), as it used the traditional elements in good proportion too.
So the TV series was the right thing for it's time, and drew on the entire history of Batman while catering to the tastes of American television in the 60s.
The Green Hornet, OTOH had no such swings in it's history, and was shoehorned into the tv format popular at the time. An hour drama format would have suited it better, but William Dozier and ABC had the property, not Quinn Martin.
Seth Rogen's take on superheroes and action is about the same as Dozier and crew's back in the 60s. As a comedian, of course Rogen wanted to do his film in the style he knows- so he mad the claim that the audience was ready for parody and tired of straightforward adventure superhero movies. He was way off the mark, but that just shows how rooted he was in his own style, and uninterested in paying attention to what the market was actually doing. The fact that SDCC was getting bigger every year and the crowds were fanatical about new content should have told him he was on the wrong track.
Why was Batman made as a campy comedy in 1966?
It has to do with comics and history, mainly. After WWII, the world wasn't the fearful and dark place of the Golden Age/Depression Era in many ways. So the tone of comics changed to try to match the audience's tastes. The comics of the 50s edged away from mystery men/crimefighting and dove into science fiction and fantasy stories to find fresh ideas for now familiar characters.
Many of the superheroes fell out of publication, leaving only Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in continuous print. War, Romance, True Crime, and Horror comics came into vogue instead of spandex-clad adventurers.
Batman became decidedly silly, which lasted until the Wertham crusade against the comic book business nearly shut the publishers down. The Green Hornet never really had such a phase, and the GH comics had gone out of print for the most part- the radio show, played for seriousness as crime adventure, was still the primary format.
Trendle had made sure the movie serials kept close to the radio concept, as he was very displeased with the Hollywood serial treatment that the Lone Ranger received. Batman, on the other hand was done cheaply and without the detail found in the comics of the 40s.
When Dozier got Batman rolling, it was inspired by the old serials being shown at the Playboy Mansion for laughs. Dozier's research on hand covered the silly period of the 50s, and it was decided by these suit-and-tie types that the idea of a costumed adventurer was ludicrous in the real world. So, in spite of the fact that the Batman comics of the Silver Age, under Julius Schwartz's editorship had turned to Sherlock Holmes-type puzzles and mysteries, comedy played with over-the-top straight faces was chosen the way to go for prime time television. And it was very popular method (as we here can attest), as it used the traditional elements in good proportion too.
So the TV series was the right thing for it's time, and drew on the entire history of Batman while catering to the tastes of American television in the 60s.
The Green Hornet, OTOH had no such swings in it's history, and was shoehorned into the tv format popular at the time. An hour drama format would have suited it better, but William Dozier and ABC had the property, not Quinn Martin.
Seth Rogen's take on superheroes and action is about the same as Dozier and crew's back in the 60s. As a comedian, of course Rogen wanted to do his film in the style he knows- so he mad the claim that the audience was ready for parody and tired of straightforward adventure superhero movies. He was way off the mark, but that just shows how rooted he was in his own style, and uninterested in paying attention to what the market was actually doing. The fact that SDCC was getting bigger every year and the crowds were fanatical about new content should have told him he was on the wrong track.