Imagine if today, in the advanced age of the Internet, when 90% of its users "stick" to someone's existing opinion, criticism or effect of the mass Bandwagon, Smallville appeared.
The beloved series about Clark Kent's youth in rural Kansas, which from season to season becomes the epicenter of the entire DC universe (minus Batman) before Clark even cloaks the Man of Steel mantle, would most likely be dismantled online by critics and on-duty "only real" fans ”. However, no, that story remains in the best memories of the audience, because in those times there was simply no exposure to millions of incompetent people, critics and trolls who panickedly want to convince you that they are right and you are not. And that you are miserable. And that you should bury yourself and not breathe. It's the internet.
Today, this is exactly what is happening with the CW series in the DC universe: Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and the latest, Black Lightning, all of which apply the same principle that celebrated Smallville: Action, drama, kissing, breakup, action, reconciliation, apology , action, cliffhanger. The essence of the difference in the situation is that the exposure to criticism today is maximally directed towards the original material, ie. what is taken from it, mutilated or "mutilated".
Each of these DC series stands out a bit: Arrow tries to be dark and forces some ok choreography of the fight with crazy camera movement and Flash focuses on the special effects and benign nature of his characters. Legends of Tomorrow throws all logic and common sense out the window for the sake of forcing the absolute, innocent fun of each episode, and so I succeed in everything. Supergirl ... well, I'm not sure what Supergirl is emphasizing (because after the two episodes I had to watch - crossovers, what to do - I didn't want to draw any conclusions).
All of the above series are persistently greeted with a knife from season to season, because the audience does not want to understand their essence: Bringing the superhero genre closer to an audience that is not used to it. The CW does this so well that 35% of its audience is defined as the target group of “housewives between the ages of 35-50”. Whoever can get used to the fact that CW has to balance ardent superhero fans and completely unaccustomed "casuals", should not engage in these series at all.
But, outside of CW, there is only one more corner of the DC series that proves the incorrigibility of the Internet as a giant, eternal high school, where everyone tries to be as cool, edgy and special as possible, and at the same time follow the opinion of the mob at all costs. belong to the “herd,” and that is Gotham.
Is Gotham Elseword at all?
For the u, "Elseworld" is a DC tradition that sometimes moves its characters to other circumstances on a "what if" basis, as well as to completely different historical periods. Batman, through that multiverse, was a knight, a pirate captain, a steampunk Victorian hero, fought side by side with Captain America and Daredevil, chased in a monstrous horror version with Dracula personally, and himself became a vampire, and so I can count until tomorrow . At some point he fought with both Popey and Predator, so much.
“Staffworlds” became some of the most popular publications over time, but when one day it came to a series focusing on Jim Gordon’s career and Bruce Wayne’s childhood from the moment Martha and Thomas Wayne perished, as Heath Ledger’s Joker would say, “they are all clearly detached ”. The introduction of cult villains into the story, the young and still drooling Bruce that no one can imagine as a monster that instills fear in Gotham criminals, the strange counting of time, all this aroused so much unwarranted anger in fans of Batman's character and work, that then no one he did not think for a second about the potential that this series has.
As time goes on, Gotham may or may not be Elseworld, because whenever we think the story has been radically changed, the series offers us a grain of doubt about everything that is currently happening. The best move you can make is to consider Gotham a partial Elseworld.
Tomorrow I will tell you more about the series itself.