It is another week and there is another comic book movie hitting the theaters. This week we see DC trying to launch Green Lantern into the collective consciousness of the world. In all the discussion about Green Lantern around the internet I have seen one idea that seems to be dancing around the edges of the conversation. Green Lantern isn’t relatable. There seems to be a disconnect between Hal Jordan and a certain portion of the audience. People believe they can relate more to the comic book heroes of other summer movies.
There is the parental fantasy of the X-Men that every child is a precious snowflake who needs to be protected from the harsh ways of the world. Batman is the twisted personification of our own hubris. He is our fantasy that given enough time and resources a common man could turn himself into a finely honed instrument of justice. Thor tells of a charming god cast to earth, wandering the world learning humility and compassion. Superman has all the power in the world but would never use it for evil. Captain America is an example of a body being altered to match the spirit. This is all fantasy. Are we drawn to these stories because they are relatable? These are the things we were wish were true or hoped were true. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, is how things really are. He might actually be a little too relatable.
There are a lot of Green Lanterns. They were around before Hal and they will be around after him. Earth has three other guys who are completely qualified for the job. Hal is going to get replaced at some point, and it is only going to take about 5 minutes. He is a cog in a big machine. He is a cog that seems to have a lot of stories circling around him but he still wears a uniform that a couple thousand other beings wear. He isn’t even really allowed to throw any flair onto his uniform. He is no snowflake, and neither are you.
His bosses are not cool dudes. The Guardians do not set aside time for ice cream socials. They are the ultimate in emotionally devoid managers. If they could have machines as cops they would do it. They tried (Manhunters) and it backfired. Imagine the worst boss you ever had, and then imagine that they gave you a blackberry that you couldn’t ignore. Next they insisted on contacting you all the time, about everything. The Guardians don’t say please. We have all had bosses like that.
Hal’s coworkers are demanding. We are talking both as Green Lantern and his day jobs. His buddy Tom (Pieface…sorry), has an entire journal dedicated to his emerald adventures. That is a lot of pressure. Those pages need to get filled every day. There are days when the Guardians just need you to check the sump pump on a local swamp planet. Those aren’t the type of journal entries that are going to satisfy Tom. There are the other Green Lanterns as well. They all have access to the same green energy blackberry that the Guardians have turned into glowing albatross. Tomar-Re gets into a jam and the first thing he does is call up Hal Jordan. Does he say, “Please help me? I hope it isn’t too inconvenient.”? No. It is all “Don't resist me. Come now!” While the Green Lantern HR department does an okay job with onboarding, they need to set up communication workshops.
Hal has had a lot of day jobs. Most of them are not as fulfilling as he hoped they would be. Being a jet pilot is pretty cool. Right? It is until your emotional entanglements get a little too complicated. You got to move and keep moving, always a little unhappy and assuming that your job is the source of your displeasure. That it is causing a conflict with your low paying, highly demanding night job. Hal goes from jet pilot, to tour pilot, to insurance adjuster, to toy salesman, to truck driver, etc., etc. Every time he gets a new job he is filled with enthusiasm and hope. This is the time that his life is going to work out! Getting a compliment from your boss at the insurance company is just like finally getting the Guardians to say they like you! It doesn’t and it isn’t. He ends up sleeping in his car again because he had to ditch out on his studio apartment.
Hal’s acquaintances can be annoying. Green Arrow would be really impossible to hang out with. A rich kid, who decides to ape Batman’s style, then loses all his money and decides to try and find himself. Ollie convinces Hal that he isn’t doing enough for the Earth and that he needs to get down with REAL people. Insufferable. Are we sure that “Common People” by Pulp wasn’t actually about Ollie Queen? Green Lantern is constantly saving the planet. I am willing to throw him a pass on composting his garbage. It’s all dive bars and thrift store shopping with Green Arrow.
I look at the items above and I see a whole lot that I have in common with Hal Jordan. I haven’t had to sleep in my car but I have gone through tough phases of my life. I have had crappy jobs with demanding bosses. I have looked for fulfillment through work, and come up short. Maybe the problem is that Hal Jordan is a bit too much like us. He can do anything he wants with his ring but he still ends up reminding us of the drudgery of our lives. His magic ring even has a crappy battery like my cell phone.
Tom Katers actually really likes dive bars. He would totally get along with Green Arrow.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
Wow. Great article Tom. Hal did hit really close to home. Sure can relate to the enthusiasm of a new job, but feeling unfulfilled in the end. Luckily he has his kick-ass first job back these days
If anyone’s ever been a personal assistant, that blackberry analogy is crushing.
Are there any disgruntled green lantern characters in the DCU? I’d read a couple issues about a GL who loathes his sector.
Nope, to my mind he’s just fairly vacuous and underdeveloped as a character. he’s not even ‘everyday’ in an interesting way, there’s just a void where his personality should be – nothing to latch onto.
Oh Tom, you’ve gone and done it again – written another great article. So would his adventures with insanity Parallax be an indication that he had gone postal?
I have that boss…I’ve been working for him for seven years…
I MUST see Green Lantern NOW! Apparently, it could be the greatest, and most relateable thing I’ve ever seen! Thanks Tom!
This is good stuff. I would love to attend an ice cream social hosted by the Guardians. I think mint chocolate chip would be appropriate.
Funny stuff, keep it coming.
My take on GL has always been rather fascistic. The Green Lanterns are cosmic police assigned to upload Law and Order in our space sector. But what government body recognizes their authority. Who appoints them? Who over sees them? THe Guardians? A bunch of people on a faraway planet with very little commonality and no contact with human beings except through their own Green Lanterns. Our reason for accepting this overlording? Their race is older and knows better than ours. What the hell?
They have given a single person (well, ok 4 at this point) from our planet a weapon of immeasureable power to use to enforce cosmic law. His identity, while common knowledge to his masters, is secret from those of us supposedly under his jurisdiction. And of course a Green Lantern would never abuse this power, right Sinestro?
Green Lanterns pay is terrible too because all yourr checks are just constructs and what bank is going to take those?
REALLY well done, Tom.
I also thought this about the film, as well. A guy who just doesn’t believe in himself while people around him are dissapointed that he isn’t living up to his potential?
SPOILER ALERT:
Some people are complaining that Hal gives up after his first training session with Kilowog and Sinestro in the film and then goes home to hang out with the girl he likes. That is exactly what the majority of us would do! “I’m supposed to be fearless? I’m effing TERRIFIED!!!” I loved how much self-doubt movie Hal has. It’s completely relatable…but maybe not what people want in their superhero movies?
Again, great article!
Think you are reading too much into this. I think its just cool that a dude has an awesome ring that he can do almost anything with. Or, at least, it is if you dig the story.
I wonder at how many people really “get” Hal anymore. Back when he was created, test pilots were hot shit – Chuck Yeager and all those soon-to-be astronauts and NASA engineers down at Edwards AFB were the apotheosis of cool. It was a different time. We really don’t have that nowadays. Now the coolest guys in the room are actors who play really badass characters.
Good stuff.
Hal Jordan is just like you and me. He puts his pants on one leg at a time. Except once his pants are on, he makes gold records.
Common People based on Oliver Queen has me laughing very hard.
I think the main problem with the film was not the points you raised. I think the main problem with the film was that it was a bad film. No, thats unfair…it was late. It missed the train that could have made it watchable. It felt very dated and either the people making it had watching no other superhero films or every single one of them. It was both superheroes by numbers and science fiction by numbers. It was disappointing. Not atrocious as some are saying it was simply too late. And, perhaps worst of all, the use of the ring just didnt work for me. Everytime the ring was used felt like a ‘moment’. Something like ‘HERE IS A CAR’ ‘NOW HERE IS A SWORD’ rather than it being a fluid constant use of this ring’s capabilities. It was Hal as a character, it wasnt anything internal to the narrative, it was the structure and nature of the thing as a film, I’d argue.
^’WASNT’ Hal as a character…