It seems everyone has an agenda these days.

Sadly, this mentality far too often bleeds into the creative realm. I’ve been part of or seen several conversations recently where this trend was noted. Exhibit A is the controversy that plagued the Hugo Awards in 2016.

These issues raise several questions for writers.

What is the purpose of a story?

How can writers create a strong narrative when pressures to fit within certain expectations mount?

Is creative license and freedom slowly dying to the drumbeat of popular demand and an increasingly politicized climate?

Can authors just tell a good story, or will such an approach spell future doom?

What a Story Shouldn’t Be

In art, do you ever notice those details that don’t seem to match up? A song drifting too far toward a peppy beat for the lyrics? A movie scene where melodrama rules when plain drama would suffice? The feeling a character doesn’t quite belong in a novel?

Maybe that’s nothing more than poor execution, but it could also be the result of shoehorning a certain message, theme, character arc, or anything else into the story. Simply for the sake of pushing a specific agenda or checking off someone else’s set of boxes.

Unfortunately, such a mindset plagues Christian as well as secular publishing. One end pushes for diverse characters, increased sexuality, or whatever the soup-of-the-week selection happens to be.

The other end is equally at fault, though for different reasons. Driving a moralistic message into the narrative. Insisting upon a conversation experience. Slipping a religious undertone into every passage.

While we can argue that some agendas are less harmful than others, the fact remains that such purposeful confining of a story shouldn’t even be on the radar.

What a Story Should Be

A story should have an agenda. One so simple it makes 1+1 look complicated. At the end of the day, a story’s primary goal should be to entertain the reader. That simplicity comes with many layers of increasing complexity, because a story that grips and compels has many parts.

Rather than one individual pet peeve or agenda being the emphasis, however, each should contribute its part to making the whole work shine.

Let the story flow naturally, every aspect strengthening the rest, growing out of the nurtured soil of a darn good tale. From there, the meaning will arise.

That doesn’t mean themes, messages, and implications are pointless. The difference lies in the approach. It’s one thing to say, “Let me write a story as a means of trumpeting my soap box issue.” It’s quite another to say, “What is this story about?” and then write a plot, characters, theme, and world genuinely reflecting that.

Authenticity, Not Agenda

A story, if nothing else, must be authentic. Not gagged and disfigured by this demand or that agenda until it becomes but a shadow of its potential glory.

Let us not intentionally write a story focusing on a certain underprivileged group merely for the sake of appeasing people. If that’s the story burning on your heart, and you want to share it, that’s perfectly fine.

Write those stories that refuse to let you go, and let them be diverse and different, compelling and challenging.

But most of all, make them authentic.

Do you think stories suffer too much from an agenda-driven approach? What can be done to counteract the trend?

It’s time for our summer writing challenge!

Summer is the perfect time to slow down and pick up a good book to take to the beach or pool side or wherever you are vacationing. For writers, that “good book” might be the one you’re writing. Either way, we’d like to add to your summer writing and reading joy.

As we have for the last several years, Spec Faith is holding a summer writing challenge, a type of writing exercise, with rewards. There’s feedback from other Spec Faith visitors and there’s the potential for a $25 gift card from either Amazon or B&N. And for readers, there are stories or story beginnings to enjoy. It’s all very win-win!

As a refresher, here’s how this summer writing challenge works:

1. I’ll give a first line, and those who wish to accept the challenge will write what comes next—in 100 to 300 words, putting your entry into the comments section of this post.

“What comes next” may be the opening of a novel, a short story, or a completed piece of flash fiction—your choice.

In keeping with Spec Faith’s primary focus on the intersection of speculative fiction and the Christian faith, writers may wish to incorporate Christian elements or to write intentionally from a Christian worldview, but neither is required. Likewise, I’d expect speculative elements, or the suggestion of such, but entries will not be disqualified because of their omission.

2. Readers will give thumbs up to the ones they like the most (unlimited number of likes), and, if they wish, they may give a comment to the various entries, telling what particularly grabbed their attention.

By the way, I encourage such responses—it’s always helpful for entrants to know what they did right and what they could have done to improve.

3. After the designated time, I’ll re-post the top three (based on the number of thumbs up they receive) and visitors will have a chance to vote on which they believe is the best (one vote only).

4. I’ll again sweeten the pot and offer a $25 gift card (from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble) to the writer of the entry that receives the most votes (as opposed to the most thumbs up). In the event of a tie, a drawing will be held between the top vote getters to determine the winner.

And now, the first line:

Elijah wanted to run—to hide if not to get help—but he couldn’t leave the kids alone.

Finally, those silly little details we all need to know:

• Your word count does not include this first line.

• You will have between now and midnight (Pacific time) this coming Sunday, June 25, to post your challenge entries in the comments section.

• You may reply to entries, giving thumbs up, this week and next. To have your thumb-up counted to determine the top three entries, mark your favorite entries before Sunday, July 2.

• Voting begins Monday, July 3.

Feel free to invite any of your friends to participate, either as writers or readers. The more entries and the more feedback, the better the challenge.

Welcome to all you new Wonder Woman fans. Whatever you felt about the other DC superhero films, we can unite around the awesomeness of this latest DC story, which stars Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, and is directed by the earnest and myth-minded Patty Jenkins.¹

Perhaps before Wonder Woman arrived, you assumed wrongly that DC movies only want to be “grimdark” for darkness’s sake—and that sad Superman kills, and Batman turns evil.

If so, here’s hoping the well-reviewed, high-fantasy tale of undividedly heroic Diana, princess of Themyscira, has challenged your preconceptions a little bit.

Many DCEU (or DC Extended Universe) “truthers” have insisted this film series, from Man of Steel (MoS) to Batman v Superman (BvS), does not want to make superheroes all dark and nasty. Instead, as I said here, these super-stories clearly want to explore this challenge:

Who are good heroes, and why should they fight for a sinful world that does not deserve them?

So far, MoS and BvS have explored the question and offered only hints toward the answer.

But Wonder Woman does not attempt to “course correct” or “lighten” the DCEU as much as share another story, from another perspective. Its story asks the same question in a more accessible way—with words, not just images—and also begins to answer the question.

As I’ve mentioned, I hope future DCEU films will continue to follow this theme, even while following varied genres, characters, and secondary themes. I want to see these stories freed from genre constraints—such as “the world is an overall nice place that understands good heroes” or “you can kill people or destroy cities pretty much free of consequences.”

And I have four more wish-list items I have for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the entire Justice League universe I’ve been waiting to see on-screen for so long.

Naturally I will discuss some spoilers from at least three DCEU films.

5. Keep each hero’s musical themes absolutely consistent.

I wrote this before Wonder Woman even released, and was happy to hear Hans Zimmer’s already-famous warrior-rhythm theme for the heroine, now reprised and remixed by the new film’s composer, Rupert Gregson-Williams.

Zimmer himself composed for the whole Dark Knight trilogy and then did Man of Steel and half of Batman v Superman. For the latter two films, he used a simple consistent themes for Superman, and composer partner “Junkie XL” developed a new theme for Batman. Now that Zimmer is moving on, “Junkie XL” would have done Justice League.

But now … well, Danny Elfman is scoring Justice League. He’d also composed scores and soundtracks for Batman (1989) and Spider-Man (2002). He also partnered with Brian Tyler (my guess he was a late addition) for Avengers: Age of Ultron. And his addition concerns me.

I know. In the grand scheme of things, this is low priority. But I really, really like consistent musical themes throughout a visual story structure. Especially if they’re catchy themes.

So I hope, whatever Elfman does to add his own creativity to Justice League, that he also follows the established themes for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Sure, mix them up, or do a variation, as he did in Ultron with Alan Silvestri’s The Avengers theme. But don’t drop all the themes (like Marvel movies often do, ahem) as if they never existed.

6. When Superman returns, make sure he’s convincingly grown.

People complain a lot about Superman through both the films so far. They say he’s too sad or not heroic enough. They assume that because older Superman movies show the hero fully developed by the end credits, this film series should follow the same approach.

Superman will return.

But in fact, if many other DCEU “truthers” and myself are right, the DCEU films are still showing Superman’s origin story. And by doing this, they end up having the audience right where they want them: actually longing to seeing a fully-realized Superman onscreen again. You know, instead of just tolerating Superman, all “boring” and retro, a mascot and not a man—and not nearly as interesting as the “conflicted” heroes we thought we preferred.

No, the series isn’t simply holding out the goods to string along the fans. This is simply the practice of good storytelling: letting a hero struggle and try and fail, often for a good long while, before triumphing and becoming the hero we always knew he could be.

If I’m right, then, this may be the first superhero film series in which the “messianic” hero’s journey is over within the first three films. After this, Superman will indeed become the solid hero we suddenly realized we wanted all along: confident, morally certain, and fighting for truth, justice and the American way. Oh—and determined never to kill, not because Superman just somehow always knew this was terrible, but because (thanks to the impossible situation with General Zod), he had to do it once, and swore never to do it again.

Fortunately, Justice League’s promised return of Superman could give us all what we want to see—both the fans who disliked Superman in the earlier films, and demand a better Superman, and the people like me who have loved Superman’s character arc.

In either case, I say Superman’s return should help us all agree what the previous films were meant to do: show this man convincingly growing into his own symbol of hope.

Break a rule or two, and tell, not just show, what Superman was going through earlier.

Give him an awesome yet natural speech to his friends about what he’s learned.

Show gloriously his enhanced inner heroism as he helps lead the new Justice League.

Show him smiling. A lot. Let’s see him enjoy being a hero, even while facing new challenges and supervillains who can’t stand his pure-heartedness and try to break him!

7. Don’t let meme-heroes and popular misconception run the show.

There are at least two types of Batman:

• Serious story Batman (with many variations)
• Meme-Batman (with at least three variations).

In the last week, two significant events happened in the world of Meme-Batman: The Lego Batman Movie released to Blu-ray, and we lost the original Meme-Batman, Adam West.

I like Meme-Batman, and play “Lego Batman” video games, and laugh at The Lego Batman Movie. But this Bat-version is not like an actual human person, and thus can’t qualify as “the best Batman.” This didn’t stop some overzealous Lego Batman Movie fans for claiming this was the “best Batman movie ever,” which is just plain silly. Sure, this movie shows Batman at his silliest and most infantile, pouting, self-absorbed, my-parents-are-DEAAAD silliest. It pokes fan at more-ridiculous fans, who insist that (paraphrased) “Batman is the awesomest superhero” who “doesn’t have any powers” and yet “literally scares the Grim Reaper.”

But man does not live by silly alone. Neither do major motion pictures. Which is why I hope Justice League, The Batman, and future DCEU Bat-stories keep the jokes to a minimum. We’ve heard it all: my parents are DEAAAD, secret identities are hackneyed, and Batman is really rich, because he’s Batman. Don’t stay there. Let Batman mature a little, and fight to recover his moral core—which is what the oft-maligned BvS actually showed him doing.

8. Proceed with absolute confidence in these heroic characters.

None other than Marvel Studios kingpin Kevin Feige shared his suggestions for the DC film series back in 2013, as the Marvel series began phase 2 and before Man of Steel released:

Man of Steel looks like it’s going to be awesome and obviously Dark Knight is awesome. [… DC filmmakers should] have confidence in the characters, believe in the source material, don’t be afraid to stay true to all of the elements of the characters no matter how seemingly silly or crazy they are.

To an extent, Marvel’s films have led the way here, only avoiding the silliest costumes and origin stories, but doing their best to stay somewhat realistic while honoring the source. Tony Stark really does build giant mecha suits he can summon remotely. Doctor Strange really does do mystic battle with a giant evil space head from another dimension.

Yet DC’s films have a lightly-tapped advantage: they can take these ideas more seriously, because (so far) they don’t feel they need to self-distract with Ironic Self-Aware Moments.

In fact, the closer these films approach the ideal of real-life seriousness, the more people feel compelled to mock or criticize them—such as when Jonathan Kent in Man of Steel sacrifices himself to preserve his adopted son from the world Apparently, people aren’t used to this kind of earnest storytelling. The problem isn’t that this isn’t realistic (after all, this scenario is pretty far-fetched). The problem is that people aren’t used to this level of “frame rate” that bends closer to reality. Apparently, this sight strains some viewers’ eyes.

Give these things dramatic weight—and hew closer to the even weightier themes of good and evil, heroism, moral strength vs. compromise, and even the truth behind ancient myth—and DC’s films can truly offer stories most moviegoers haven’t considered.

Wonder Woman gives me hope that DCEU will earnestly embrace the heroic nature of their nearly century-long meta-cast. From the moment of Diana’s clear-voiced introduction—the same as you hear in this trailer—this story tells you its own themes and invites you to see the world anew through her eyes. A generation ago, audiences nearly believed a man can fly. Now we can adopt the humility of children, and believe that a Superman can fly (and die, and rise), and the Batman can be redeemed from the dark vigilante’s logical fate, and that Diana can help teach them both a true vision of heroism preserved in the mythic past.

This story also gives Christians a delightful opportunity.

No, we shouldn’t write 12-part sermon series or breathless blog articles proclaiming that, hurrah, superheroes are Christian heroes, so Christians are actually cool in the world(!!!).

Nor should we be too cool and ignore the fact that Christianity does inform these stories.

Instead, we should see these heroes for what they are: Christ-figure-figures. They’re more like us, as we strive to be Christ-like heroes. And if we can stretch our hearts further, if we can “believe” in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, and the entire Justice League—well, that’s good practice for believing in the true Hero of all heroes.

It’s summertime, and that means superhero movie season is in full swing. This year, we’ve already had LEGO Batman, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and most recently, Wonder Woman, with Spider-Man, Thor, and the Justice League locked and loaded. And then there’s 2018, which is going to be another spandex bonanza. Much ado has been made about the popularity of superheroes (and geekdom in general) in the 21st century. I am a casual superhero and comics fan at best (blasphemy, I know), so I won’t add my two cents to the commentary cloud, but I would like to wax philosophical for a minute about something I came across today.

There was an article published on NBCNews.com titled “What Wonder Woman Teaches Us About How to Be a Leader.” I clicked on it out of curiosity and scanned through the fairly generic

Image copyright Warner Bros.

list of inspirational tidbits, like not taking “no” for an answer, not being afraid to speak up, finding mentors who will push you, etc. All valid points, but it made me think, “Do we really need a fictitious comic book character to teach us these character traits?”

I applaud superheroes teaching life lessons to kids. Superman hates racism and so should you! Spider-Man thinks drugs are for losers! Batgirl says bullies are wimps! Yet this article on Wonder Woman’s admirable qualities had priority placement on an international news website. Granted, she’s so hot right now, but it made me wonder how many seminars and self-help workshops might be out there that are based on the go-getter personalities and unwavering persistence of these figures that don’t actually exist.

Image copyright Buena Vista Pictures

So why are we looking to superheroes to give us that extra drive to succeed in the boardroom or find the inner strength to open our own business? Are there not enough real heroes in real life? Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass makes a memorable statement in my favorite superhero movie, Unbreakable. He says, “These are mediocre times…People are starting to lose hope. It’s hard for many to believe there are extraordinary things inside themselves as well as others.” I recently rewatched Reign of Fire, in which Matthew McConaughey’s ultra-macho dragonslayer character declares, “Envy the country that has heroes!” The crowd cheers and applauds. Eyes flashing with contempt, he snarls, “And pity the country that needs them.” The crowd falls silent.

Humanity has always had heroes. Every culture has myths and legends and gods and demigods. Yet now, with the internet and especially social media, we can see just how human these larger-than-life people really are. These days, heroes are pop stars who lip-sync and athletes who dope up and business-people who stab others in the back. There are hardly any “war heroes” anymore, and even those who are idolized by many, such as Chris Kyle, are demonized by just as many as well. The news treats us to “heroes of the day,” regular people who do extraordinary things. The video goes viral, they get their fifteen minutes of fame, and we forget them.

Yet there are still plenty of heroes who have incredible backstories, fought (or still fight) every day, and are well-known in the world. People like Malala, Oscar Schindler, Joan of Arc, Jackie Robinson, and many others have had more of an impact on the world than any comic book character. And of course there is the Bible, with Samson, Esther, Daniel, and countless others who literally changed the world. They’re not beautiful, however, or glamorous, or fighting crime in our world today. They get a bestselling book and an Oscar-baiting biographical movie and that’s it.

I have nothing against superheroes. I just think it’s a lamentable state of affairs when not just children, but grown adults are looking to comic book characters for inspiration in their lives. These are indeed mediocre times.

The Button Girl by Sally Apokedak is a digital young adult fantasy intended for the general audience. See excerpt here.

The Story

Young Repentance Attwater has reached the age of “buttoning,” or marriage, but she lives in a breeder village under the control of the overlords. She decided years ago when she witnessed her brother taken away from his family into slavery that she would never bear children only to lose them to the overlords. Even if she had to go into slavery herself. Even if she’d be separated from her family, from her sister who she wanted so desperately to protect.

When the day of the buttoning ceremony, Repentance must decide if she will follow through on her commitment or if she’ll become like her mother—contented, and powerless, in the face of the overlords’autocratic rule.

The Setting

The Button Girl is set in a fanciful place, in an indeterminable time, where overlords rule lowborns, where some people live in the hot, swampy fog created by the hot springs and others live in the sun on the top of the mountain in the ice castle, where some have gifts of moon cloth and others have skimmers and still others have dragonsticks or sun cloth, but the overlords have taken control of it all.

The land is appropriately “other” for a fantasy, and feels very real and vivid.

The Characters

The cast of characters in The Button Girl is not overwhelmingly large and each individual has clear, discernible motives. Repentance is the point of view character, and like many teens, she thinks she knows better than her parents. She may not be able to change the world, but she wants at least to gain some measure of control over her own circumstances. But she underestimated the effects of her choices. She didn’t know or understand all the factors, and in the end she must make a heart-wrenching choice that she never anticipated.

She’s a likeable character, and all along I found myself cheering for her and hoping that she’d found the path to safety and happiness.

The other characters remain true to form and each acts in understandable ways. Sober is a compelling character. The king is sympathetic and powerless, Comfort is vulnerable, the prince is selfish and greedy. They all act in ways that are true to their character. Together they create a story that is intriguing, to say the least.

The Plot

Repentance doesn’t want to have kids because she doesn’t want to give them up to the overlords. She doesn’t want to stand by idly as her own parents did when the overlords took their sons. She wants to protect her younger sister Comfort, but realizes she really can’t do anything to keep her safe. Against the helplessness of her life, Repentance decides to control the one thing within her power—she can refuse to button.

But to make that decision, she is dooming herself and her would-be button mate, to lives of slavery.

Only after her choice is irrevocable does she realize the ramifications of what she’s done—and the evil far outweighs the good.

Throughout her journey, Repentance struggles with why Providence has allowed the overlords to have control over the lowborn. Is Providence unfair? Or does He even exist? Why do her prayers seem to fall on deaf ears?

Repentance continues to act rashly, and one poor decision seems invariably to lead to another.

In the end, she knows what she should do, but does she have the strength of character to do it?

Recommendation

The Button Girl may be a YA fantasy, but readers of all ages will be delighted with this story. It’s filled with gripping tension, engaging characters, a fantasy setting that comes to life, and above all a problem that is so relevant to our times.

Apokedak gives no easy answers, but she does put her character into a situation that forces her to choose, and in so doing she allows us to see more clearly what our responsibilities are today. It’s a brilliant way to address what our culture faces.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Readers of all stripes, but especially fantasy readers, will be thoroughly engaged throughout. This is a book you won’t want to miss.

A day may come when epic fantasy novels are summarized, when the beauty of bullet points is trumpeted throughout the land.

When the walls of tradition and hours of reading come crashing down.

IT IS THIS DAY!

This day, bullet points shine in their useful glory.

By all you hold dear, I bid you charge forward and read, fans of fantasy.

Lord of the Rings in Bullet Points

VOLUME 1

• Hobbits love birthday parties
• Bilbo heads off on another adventure, leaving his possessions to Frodo
• Gandalf discovers Frodo has the One Ring
• Frodo flees the Shire with Sam, Merry, and Pippin
• The importance of mushrooms is noted
• Tom Bombadil likes to sing and isn’t tempted by the Ring (because yes, this is the book version)
• Bombadil helps the hobbits several times
• The hobbits reach Bree, where they don’t find Gandalf but come into the company of a ranger named Strider
• Ringwraiths attack Bree, but Strider and the hobbits escape
• The company heads east through the wilderness to Weathertop
• The wraiths attack, and one stabs Frodo
• They begin travel to the Ford
• Sam sings about trolls
• Glorfindel (NOT ARWEN!) shows up and bears Frodo onward
• The wraiths nearly capture Frodo, but drown in a stampede of river horses
• Frodo swoons and awakes in Rivendell
• They regroup in Rivendell while several important characters arrive and a great feast takes place
• Bilbo sings for over three pages

via GIPHY

• Elrond calls a council where stories are told, decisions are made, and the Fellowship is formed
• The Fellowship heads south, but their way is blocked
• They turn aside and try to cross the mountains
• A blizzard has other ideas, forcing them to trek the dark paths of Moria
• They find the dwarf-kingdom abandoned save for orcs
• Mithril proves its value by saving Frodo’s life
• Gandalf says some famous lines and eventually falls at the Bridge of Khazad-dum
• The Fellowship escapes to Lothlorien
• Frodo and Sam view the Mirror of Galadriel, where they see grim portents
• Frodo offers Galadriel the Ring, but she refuses
• The Fellowship departs down the Anduin
• Aragorn sees his ancestors carved from stone
• Boromir goes mad
• He tries to steal the Ring
• Orcs attack
• Frodo slips away to the east, but Sam follows and refuses to be left behind

VOLUME 2

• Boromir dies
• Merry and Pippin are captured by orcs
• Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli hunt some orc
• The trio meets the Riders of Rohan
• Merry and Pippin escape the Uruk-hai
• They end up in Fangorn and meet Treebeard
• After lots of talking, the ents march on Isengard
• Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli continue to pursue the orcs
• They’re reunited with Gandalf, now the white, who didn’t die after all
• Together they go to Edoras, where Gandalf frees Théoden from the spell of Wormtongue
• Éowyn has a crush on Aragorn
• Rohan’s warriors head to Helm’s Deep, accompanied by Gandalf & company
• Battle at Helm’s deep—Gimli passes Legolas in orcs slayed by one
• The remains orcs flee and are swallowed by the forest
• Everybody important from the battle travels to Isengard, where they find Merry and Pippin alive
• Merry and Pippin relate the destruction of Isengard
• Saruman says some shifty things that fall on deaf ears
• The important people head south
• Pippin’s curiosity almost kills him when he peeks into the Palantir
• Gandalf and Pippin make a mad dash for Minas Tirith

In other parts of the world…

• Sam and Frodo wander around Emyn Muil
• They capture Gollum, who’s been stalking them
• He’s forced to help them
• The trio endures the Dead Marshes, where Frodo nearly drowns
• They fail to enter Mordor at the Black Gate, but tricksey Gollum tells the hobbits of another way
• Sam cooks a stew and Gollum says “What’s taters, precious?”

via GIPHY

• Frodo and Sam taken by Gondorians
• Sam sees an Oliphant
• Frodo and Faramir say many things and the hobbits learn of Boromir’s death
• Gollum captured again
• Hobbits and Gollum head toward Mordor up the Stairs of Cirith Ungol
• They enter Shelob’s lair, and Gollum disappears
• Shelob attacks, but Frodo plays hero and they escape
• Shelob stings Frodo
• Sam fends off attack from Gollum, thinks Frodo’s dead, and takes Ring
• Orcs take Frodo, who Sam finds out is still alive
• He’s left alone, while Frodo is in the hands of the enemy

VOLUME 3

• 

  Image via lotr.wikia.com

  Pippin and Gandalf come to Minas Tirith, where Pippin makes a rash decision

• Denethor shows some pride issues
• Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, and the Dunedain travel through the creepy tunnel inside the tomb
• Aragorn recruits an army of dead dudes
• Rohan’s army musters and rides to Gondor
• Minas Tirith besieged—bad things happen
• Rohirrim encounter Wild Men, then arrive in time to save Gondor’s skin
• Theoden killed by Witch King, who’s then killed by Eowyn
• Epic battle
• Aragorn & company arrive on the black ships, turning the tide of the fight
• Denethor tries to burn himself and the wounded Faramir, but ends up burning alone
• The hordes of Mordor are driven back
• In the aftermath of battle, Aragorn plays doctor
• Everybody who’s anybody and still able to function rides for the Black Gate
• Brief discussion with a mouthy dude, who hints Frodo and Sam have been captured
• The final battle commences and the eagles come

Meanwhile…

• Sam saves Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol
• The hobbits head into Mordor
• They find out Gollum isn’t dead
• They fall in the company of orcs, but manage to slip away
• They trek the hopeless road to Mount Doom
• Sam is amazing and encourages Frodo
• Gollum returns and attacks
• Frodo reaches his destination, but instead of destroy the Ring, he claims it
• Sauron freaks out
• Gollum bites Ring from Frodo’s finger before falling into the Crack of Doom

via GIPHY

• Sam and Frodo escape
• Barad-dur crumbles
• Sauron’s army laid waste
• Sam and Frodo saved by the eagles (of course)
• Reunions and stories abound
• Boring stuff in Minas Tirith between Eowyn and Faramir, which includes disturbing dreams and blossoming love
• Aragorn crowned king of Gondor
• Lots of goodbyes and the journey homeward, with notable stops at Isengard and Rivendell
• The hobbits return to find the Shire oppressed
• They free the Shire from Sharkey, who turns out to be Saruman, who stabs Wormtongue and is summarily shot
• Frodo and his friends make one final journey
• Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, and the elves sail into the West
• Sam, Merry, and Pippin go home

A bit long-winded, but how long did that take? A few minutes at most? Compare that to the hours of reading the entire book. Not that reading Lord of the Rings is ever a bad thing, just difficult to fit into our busy lives.

What books would be good candidates for the bullet point treatment?

*This post appeared in original form at zacharytotah.com in November, 2015*

The list of superhero movies include Superman movies, Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk, Wolverine, Captain America, the Avengers as a group, and recently Guardians of the Galaxy and Wonder Woman, to be followed by Transformers, another Spider-Man, Thor, and others.

The question is, why?

Why are we revisiting the world of superheroes who stood for truth, justice, and the American way, when our society seems to be moving away from those values? Truth is relative, justice is questioned and even a bit slippery, and globalization seems to be far more important than the American anything.

And yet our movies harken back to the silver era of comics that trotted out one superhero after another who set to right what was wrong in society, effecting change one person at a time.

Why do we want to see movies about superheroes now?

Are the movie makers altering the superhero’s DNA to fit the liberal agendas of those behind the scenes, or does the superhero of today hold fast to his or her once-clear principles? I don’t have anything with which to compare them because I was not a comic book reader, apart from the occasional Superman or Spiderman story I read when I was visiting my cousins.

But I find it fascinating that we have come back to the superhero in an age when fathers aren’t considered super or heroic, when government officials are not respected, when police are considered untrustworthy by many, when lawyers are mocked and judges are politicized, when clergy are denigrated. In other words, where are the real-life heroes?

Are we turning to a fictitious superhero of the past because we long for heroes or because we want to mold them into a new image to fit with the facts of contemporary society?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

At last, positive reviews are rolling in for Wonder Woman, proving even to possibly trend-following critics¹ that DC still makes great superhero movies.

In fact, with one notable exception (Suicide Squad), all the DCEU films have been great. Yes, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS) were controversial and pillaged by critics. But often critical viewers were biased to favor what they assumed they should expect from a superhero movie: e.g. a story that is transparently “fun,” or a story that jumps straight into fully-developed heroic characters without much early challenge to them.

That being said, I do see potential hazards for DC’s new shared superhero film universe. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to offer Ten Ways to Fix the Marvel Cinematic Universe (part 1, part 2) and not give DC the same treatment (yet clearly Marvel’s story is further advanced).

Here are four ways to fix the DC Extended Universe (or DCEU) before it breaks.

1. Don’t treat Wonder Woman like a series ‘course correction.’

This week’s predictable and popular media line is this: “The other movies sucked, and now Wonder Woman will show them how it’s done.” But this line doesn’t even make sense.

Fact: this new film is just as much part of the same DC film universe as the last three. In fact, the oft-maligned Man of Steel and Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder—the one who’s supposedly making all the heroes brood and murder and be horrible—shares a story credit for Wonder Woman. BvS set up Wonder Woman, right down to the placement of a photo from Wonder Woman (with Gal Gadot and costar Chris Pine) and backstory references.

So far, the best breakdown of this new myth comes from ScreenRant’s Andrew Dyce:

Man of Steel gets at the heart of the best Superman stories in terms of its premise: he is special at birth, raised into a good man by Earth parents, emerges into the world as a guardian angel, and must defend all of humanity as he struggles to integrate his two selves, born of two worlds. But drop that story into our imperfect world, and it’s filled in with elements of xenophobia, government structures too big to fight, unwinnable scenarios, and the simple fact that sometimes ‘choosing one or the other’ leads to trauma, not closure. […]

On character terms, Diana stands apart from the previous DCEU heroes by simply being not human, and not ‘of’ the modern world. She is one of the only Justice League members to claim that ability, able to see, criticize, and hope to change the world – which she has the luxury of doing, since it played no part in shaping her. If those critical of the DCEU’s prior films want a hero who embodies the kind of optimism, heroism, and nobility that you don’t find anywhere else, Diana is the most likely to fill the void. Because she’s literally from anywhere else.

Clearly, people who malign Snyder as if he personally “hates Superman” or only revels in “grimdark,” redemption-less stories need to revise their tune. Wonder Woman is not a huge “course correction” for this series. Let’s not see it as much. Instead, this is the same ongoing story, yet with a different chapter. When contemporary heroes are shaped and challenged by today’s world with all its dysfunction, the story sure can use a hero who steps out of the mythical past, beyond this world, to challenge the status quo. Seems Diana is just this hero.

If I’m right, the DCEU should stick to its own story and let people finally catch up. Don’t play along with the “course correction” version by critics who seem not to get it.² And yet:

2. Make sure the stories themselves explain things a little better.

Personally, I like analyzing movies that are meant to be analyzed. Man of Steel and BvS aim for this standard, sometimes overtly with religious imagery and classical references.

And sometimes this is to a fault. I dislike saying this, because I prefer the symbols and such (even in superhero movies) to go deep. But people aren’t getting it, and this brings some of the critical bashing. To head them off, the films could stand to explain these things better. Makers can’t go on hoping fans and “truthers” (like these) will get on websites to explain.

For example, consider BvS’s infamous “Martha” moment. Batman is shocked by Superman’s attempted last words about his mom, and finally turns back from the dark side. This works for many people, including me, because all you need is the film’s flashback, with tragic music theme reprise, to know what this means to Batman. But other viewers mocked and howled. What should have been a very humanizing moment for our heroes instead became a stupid meme. A few minutes of explanation may set it straight, but flippancy is a powerful thing.

Batman himself can fix this (because he’s Batman). Justice League can include a moment or two, perhaps when Bruce speaks with Diana, about why he spared Superman’s life. I know, it risks selling out this moment that, in theory, is communicated better with images and music, not words. But in this case and others, clarity and compromise serves the viewer.

3. Do not attempt the supposed, stereotypical ‘fun’ ‘Marvel method.’

So far, DC films show their strongest when they emphasize thematic cohesion and a single, complex narrative that has developed from Man of Steel to BvS.

Only Suicide Squad veered off-course with terrible results. The 2016 ensemble “worst heroes ever” flick exploiting its characters and themes, rather than earnestly exploring them. BvS erred on showing-not-telling. But Suicide Squad literally exposition-dumped right on the screen. Suicide Squad also rammed pop music into the soundtrack, with no discernible callbacks to previous films. (I don’t even recall Junkie XL’s new Batman theme accompanying the Dark Knight’s cameos.) This is far more like the stereotypical “Marvel formula” than we’d care to admit: pop music, character-cramming, and flippant jokes.

But this is unfair to Marvel, which takes its characters seriously and rarely exploits them for mere LOLz. So far the Marvel films have embraced some stereotypical “fun,” but also taken time to win audiences’ hearts and minds to lesser-known heroes like Thor and Ant-Man. Chris Pratt (Peter “Star-Lord” Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy films) gets this:

“I really like all the [DC superhero films]. … I think they’re really cool and I’m not a real tough critic on those movies. But one of the flaws might have been they were introducing too many characters in ‘Suicide Squad.’ They spent 10 minutes telling us why should we care about these characters, rather than creating trilogies for each character and convincing us to care about the characters.”

By the end of Suicide Squad, I was beginning to care about Deadshot (thanks mostly to Will Smith’s great performance). But I never really cared about Harley Quinn or Dr. June Moon. So this format isn’t DC’s best way to go. Build up the heroes first, as in Man of Steel and BvS and now Wonder Woman. Do not distract from them with cheap and flippant characters.

4. Broaden the story tone, but don’t forget those deeper moments.

I don’t like “grimdark” stories at all. That’s why I enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s “nobledark” Dark Knight trilogy, the noble-mixed tones of Man of Steel, and the nobledark tone of BvS. But I wouldn’t want every DC film to operate like this. As I mentioned in my BvS review:

Like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman is about the long wait, the challenge, the slow build, a careful and methodical establishment of a hyper-realized story-world and its metahumans and meta-themes. Only then are we ready to go play. […]

Now that the DCEU world-building is well underway, storytellers are promising a “lighter” approach — as was always planned — to the two-part Justice League film. This August’s Suicide Squad also promises a quirkier tone. Perhaps we, along with the story and its heroes, will find that we’ve not simply been given new “fun” but have been asked to earn it.

So now that most critics are praising Wonder Woman to the skies, after they blasted BvS, I must admit I’m slightly worried. Did Wonder Woman avoid those deeper, slow-world-build parts? I hope not. Instead, perhaps director Patty Jenkins, supported by Zack Snyder and others, managed to broaden the palette. Perhaps if the story does include more seasoning with color, natural humor,³ and added explanations of characters’ growth moments, people will better see these deeper moments.

Tomorrow: the fourth DCEU film, Wonder Woman, releases in the U.S. Next week on SpecFaith, I’ll conclude with Four More Ways to Fix the DC Film Universe.