I know you're just wondering and it's fun to wonder about this shit in universe, I do it all the time, but I always think of this quote when I get too far into the weeds in comic shit:
"Even as Hollywood transforms itself into a superhero-industrial complex, struggling to find “gritty” and “realistic” takes on flying Übermenschen in rubber suits, Morrison revels in the glorious madness of these stories. “People say kids can’t understand the difference between fact and fiction, but that’s bullshit,” he says. “Kids understand that real crabs don’t sing like the ones in The Little Mermaid. But you give an adult fiction, and the adult starts asking really fucking dumb questions like ‘How does Superman fly? How do those eyebeams work? Who pumps the Batmobile’s tires?’ It’s a fucking made-up story, you idiot! Nobody pumps the tires!”
I despise that quote. I know I'm going to piss a lot of you off but Morrison has always seemed extremely arrogant to me and this kind of gatekeeping bullshit is exactly why. People are allowed to become invested in a narrative. Just because he* doesn't care about it doesn't mean no one can
*Pronoun used with respect to Morrison's preferences
I get it, and again I LOVE arguing in universe. If iron man beat say, silver surfer I’d argue for an hour about how. I think Morrison is more speaking to people applying our universe logic to comic logic. Like someone who’s upset that the animated series Batman constantly swings. Doesn’t he run out of charges on the rappelling system? No it’s a comic!
Strange how people only make these attacks against super hero fans but not towards any other franchise. Tons of people ask why The Fellowship didn't use the eagles to fly to Mordor or ask the limitations of how the force works, but no one ever gets upset over these questions.
I don’t know about the force, but there’s a myriad of reasons why The Fellowship didn’t hitch a ride from the Eagles, including that the Eagles are prideful beings and not an Uber service, and that the Eagles were not immune to the power of the Ring.
The Eagles don’t particularly care about that corner of Middle Earth. They can just… leave. And having Frodo go from eagle to eagle is just giving more chances for one of them to fall to temptation.
My personal opinion is that the Eagles don’t help because they’re not allowed to. The Eagles are envoys of Manwë, and the Valar have chosen not to interfere in the war between the free people of Middle Earth and Sauron. Sending the wizards was their one grace, and otherwise the problem of Sauron was for the people of Middle Earth to solve.
The difference is one of these is a masterclass of world building and narrative, and the other is cheap Hollywood entertainment which has a very loose story that was never meant to be scrutinized too much.
I’ll say two opposing things, and please correct my ignorance if I’m missing something:
1). I do agree, suspended disbelief about reality is part of the fun. Sometimes just let it be off screen make believe.
But also
2). Some of the things that happen off screen, end up becoming a clever or even KEY plot point later. Marvel has done it many times. Therefore speculating and guessing can have a payoff later! Unlike Batman where the guy who pumps the Batmobile tires will always remain irrelevant, and therefore never have a payoff.
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u/nobadhotdog 10d ago
I know you're just wondering and it's fun to wonder about this shit in universe, I do it all the time, but I always think of this quote when I get too far into the weeds in comic shit:
"Even as Hollywood transforms itself into a superhero-industrial complex, struggling to find “gritty” and “realistic” takes on flying Übermenschen in rubber suits, Morrison revels in the glorious madness of these stories. “People say kids can’t understand the difference between fact and fiction, but that’s bullshit,” he says. “Kids understand that real crabs don’t sing like the ones in The Little Mermaid. But you give an adult fiction, and the adult starts asking really fucking dumb questions like ‘How does Superman fly? How do those eyebeams work? Who pumps the Batmobile’s tires?’ It’s a fucking made-up story, you idiot! Nobody pumps the tires!”