Jessica Jones is a terrible superhero by superhero industry standards. Her name is forgettable; she sounds like a girl from your third-grade class. She's just another brick — a term assigned to the plethora of superhumans with super strength as their primary power. It's easy to see why she isn't popular or why many people, even some comic book fans, were puzzled by Marvel and Netflix's decision to give the character her own TV show.
But even though Jessica Jones is a terrible superhero — something she would be the first to admit — that doesn't mean she's unworthy of her own show or that her story stinks.
Jones's origin story is actually one of the more daring arcs Marvel has published in the past decade. Wrapped around themes of abuse and the struggle of rehabilitation, it's one of the most painful tales put into the pages of a comic book (and now a live-action TV series). Ultimately, it isn't about portraying heroism as most people imagine it. It's about survival, which is its own type of heroism — perhaps the truest kind.
Speaking at AOL’s Build Series yesterday afternoon, producer Melissa Rosenberg revealed that plans for Jessica Jones—then still known as AKA Jessica Jones—have been afoot at Marvel since 2010. The company, looking to make its first step into television even before Agents of SHIELD was a twinkle in anyone’s eye, planned to launch Rosenberg’s first adaptation of Alias on the Disney-owned ABC network in 2011.
But, like several other planned TV series at that point (including a new Hulk show, an adaptation of Cloak and Dagger, and even a series based around Mockingbird), production stalled and Marvel mulled over attempting to try the project out ever year, until the Netflix deal was announced in 2013. Rosenberg seems pretty happy about the move after all these years:
n answer, she, with help from her perfectly cast star Krysten Ritter, rewrote the definition of superhuman.
Yes, Jessica Jones (Ritter) is a woman granted extraordinary strength and, apparently, the ability to fly. But it's her superhumanity, rather than her superpowers, that makes the show so riveting.
Owing more to Tony Soprano, Jane Tennison and "Orphan Black" than Iron Man, Black Widow and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "Jessica Jones" is Marvel's first official foray into the Emmy-tempting world of prestige drama.
OK, occasionally Jessica will stop a car with her bare hands. But far more breathtaking is the show's examination of recovery: How does a woman truly survive a sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationship?
With the liquid eyes, full mouth and deadpan delivery of a 1940s movie star, Ritter ("Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23") slides into the role of hard-boiled private detective (crappy office, smart mouth, penchant for hard liquor) as easily as Jessica slides into her black leather jacket and jeans. Jessica is the quintessential tough girl with the heart of gold, prowling the mean streets of New York with an eye on a quick buck, but also the fallen sparrow.
There are cases to solve, but "Jessica Jones" is not a detective procedural, because Jessica Jones is not hard-boiled. She is scarred.
Nor is she technically a superhero. Though apparently involved in the touchstone of the Marvel Universe, the Battle of New York, Jessica mostly put away her powers after they were used for evil.
At some point, she fell under the spell of the mind-controlling psychopath known as Kilgrave (David Tennant), a man who can make anyone do anything just by looking at them. Why such a man has not tried to, say, control armies is not explained. Instead he is obsessed with Jessica, who, after being forced to commit one depraved act too many, managed to break free.
Sources : http://www.vox.com/2015/11/17/9750672/jessica-jones-marvel-explained
http://io9.com/we-almost-got-an-incredibly-different-version-of-jessic-1743135132
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-jessica-jones-20151118-column.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Jones
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357547/
But even though Jessica Jones is a terrible superhero — something she would be the first to admit — that doesn't mean she's unworthy of her own show or that her story stinks.
Jones's origin story is actually one of the more daring arcs Marvel has published in the past decade. Wrapped around themes of abuse and the struggle of rehabilitation, it's one of the most painful tales put into the pages of a comic book (and now a live-action TV series). Ultimately, it isn't about portraying heroism as most people imagine it. It's about survival, which is its own type of heroism — perhaps the truest kind.
Speaking at AOL’s Build Series yesterday afternoon, producer Melissa Rosenberg revealed that plans for Jessica Jones—then still known as AKA Jessica Jones—have been afoot at Marvel since 2010. The company, looking to make its first step into television even before Agents of SHIELD was a twinkle in anyone’s eye, planned to launch Rosenberg’s first adaptation of Alias on the Disney-owned ABC network in 2011.
But, like several other planned TV series at that point (including a new Hulk show, an adaptation of Cloak and Dagger, and even a series based around Mockingbird), production stalled and Marvel mulled over attempting to try the project out ever year, until the Netflix deal was announced in 2013. Rosenberg seems pretty happy about the move after all these years:
n answer, she, with help from her perfectly cast star Krysten Ritter, rewrote the definition of superhuman.
Yes, Jessica Jones (Ritter) is a woman granted extraordinary strength and, apparently, the ability to fly. But it's her superhumanity, rather than her superpowers, that makes the show so riveting.
Owing more to Tony Soprano, Jane Tennison and "Orphan Black" than Iron Man, Black Widow and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "Jessica Jones" is Marvel's first official foray into the Emmy-tempting world of prestige drama.
OK, occasionally Jessica will stop a car with her bare hands. But far more breathtaking is the show's examination of recovery: How does a woman truly survive a sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationship?
With the liquid eyes, full mouth and deadpan delivery of a 1940s movie star, Ritter ("Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23") slides into the role of hard-boiled private detective (crappy office, smart mouth, penchant for hard liquor) as easily as Jessica slides into her black leather jacket and jeans. Jessica is the quintessential tough girl with the heart of gold, prowling the mean streets of New York with an eye on a quick buck, but also the fallen sparrow.
There are cases to solve, but "Jessica Jones" is not a detective procedural, because Jessica Jones is not hard-boiled. She is scarred.
Nor is she technically a superhero. Though apparently involved in the touchstone of the Marvel Universe, the Battle of New York, Jessica mostly put away her powers after they were used for evil.
At some point, she fell under the spell of the mind-controlling psychopath known as Kilgrave (David Tennant), a man who can make anyone do anything just by looking at them. Why such a man has not tried to, say, control armies is not explained. Instead he is obsessed with Jessica, who, after being forced to commit one depraved act too many, managed to break free.
Sources : http://www.vox.com/2015/11/17/9750672/jessica-jones-marvel-explained
http://io9.com/we-almost-got-an-incredibly-different-version-of-jessic-1743135132
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-jessica-jones-20151118-column.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Jones
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357547/
No comments:
Post a Comment