“Les héros sont fatigués”, as the French say. Heroes are tired. Maybe not, but so think the Hollywood studio execs. Diving in the Fountain of Youth The last trend in Hollywood is to drown recurrent heroes in the Fountain of youth. Batman was the first franchise to take the dip in 2005. Portrayed in the first four installments of the franchise by baby boomers Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and Georges Clooney, the Dark Knight reincarnated into the youthful thirty something Christian Bale.
What goes for bats goes for spooks. James Bond is currently going the same way with 37 years old Daniel Craig replacing 55 year old Pierce Brosnan with “Casino Royale”. Crow feet, more than a Vodka-Martini induced damaged liver, is the likely culprit for the timely replacement (Roger Moore acting as a cautionary experience).
From what has leaked from the sets and the trailer, the next installment of the 007 franchise could have been titled “James Bond Begins”, just like the last Batman. In the next episode, special agent James Bond is poised to receive his 00 agent status, complete with his licence to kill and a few traumatic experiences to shape his character. This one will definitely be about sex, money and murder.
Daniel CRAIG as James BOND.
“Aiming” for a younger Target Audience?
“Rebooting” franchises is not just another Hollywood fad. One of the most successful comics series these days is Marvel’s Ultimate versions of the main characters (Spiderman, the X-men, the Fantastic Four…). Marvel’s superheroes returning to teen age, while their older counterparts continue their extended lives in other series like “Civil War”. Competitor DC Comics has not caught on the move yet, but it can be acknowledged that a younger Superman is having his own story arc parallel to the usual one.
Rebooted franchises…
By rebooting franchises or superheroes, the media firms create new continuities, starting all over again but retaining the main characteristics of the characters. Think of an automobile maker launching new models with the well-appreciated features of its predecessors.
The VW Beetle and the VW New Beetle,
The Golden Age Blue Beetle and the present day Blue Beetle.
What goes for cars also goes for DC Superheroes…
The big question could be: “why starting over ?” Obviously, 007 had it coming, with the James Bond Girls never getting any older as time (and episodes) passed. Pierce Brosnan lip-locking with 21 years old Rosamund Pike in “Die Another Day” was a bit like a dirty old man flirting with jail bait.
David Craig is certainly more suitable to … engage Eva Green a younger demographic target ! The fact is that the ret-con trend might reflect the shifting global target of recurrent heroes, which is getting younger and does not have the same cultural references as the baby boomers. Bond’s competition got noticeably younger with the success of. Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, a spy that was younger and edgier than James Bond when he was introduced (a gap that Daniel Craig’s Bond will contribute to close).
At the end of the day, franchise heroes are icons of their time. Today’s corporate superheroes are not anymore Waren Buffet, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs but the likes of Google’s Sergei Brin and Michael Page, sport icons like Tiger Woods, David Beckam and Maria Sharapova, pop stars Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé Knowles are in their twenties or early thirties. (Note to Mr Jobs: The turtle neck thing helps a lot, but the trick only goes so far. Another corporate spokeperson could be of some help to woo Generation Y consumers). These younger icons are the new references of the global market place.
Western Europe, Japan and North America are the only ageing parts of the world. The emerging world’s population is young and wants young heroes.
Copyright Alfred LARGANGE – December 2006
