Wonder Man 1x4: Identity and Function

Marvel has a thing for starting in the middle, then revealing how it all began mid-season. Episode 4 is the play within the play. It’s presented like a classic black-and-white movie, complete with classic title fonts, although the time period is contemporary. It introduces “Doorman” Davis (Byron Bowers), the reason people with powers are literally gatekept from working in Hollywood — Simon’s biggest hurdle in getting a major role. Under that kind of spotlight, Simon would be hard-pressed to hide his abilities, but that doesn’t stop him from aiming high anyway. Although the events in Episode 4 happened recently, the Doorman Clause is a black-and-white dealbreaker law, and for Simon, it might as well be a long-established canon event — hence the black-and-white presentation.

This episode is all about Doorman, a name Davis is called because of his function as a doorman at a popular Hollywood bar where ordinary patrons get to rub shoulders with the stars. Josh Gad, as himself, drops by in person and entertains the crowd with his rendition of Olaf’s song about a snow-person’s expectations of chilling out on a summer vacation. So timeline-wise, we are in the post-Frozen era.

After hours, Doorman has a heart-to-heart talk with his boss, who asks whether he has any ambitions beyond being a doorman at her bar. Doorman shares that despite his low-wage position, he is happy doing his job, in which his identity and function align perfectly. That night changes everything. The ever-present Roxxon company negligently causes an industrial accident that empowers Doorman by turning him into a literal walking, talking, human-shaped door. A bit like the Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but non-multiversal and less malignant. Now Doorman’s identity and function are totally fused into each other.

The very next day, Doorman becomes a hero, saving the patrons — and Josh Gad — from a fire in the bar. A grateful Josh immediately employs Doorman as his personal assistant, mainly for quick escapes from uncomfortable social encounters. Later, Josh convinces him to play a side character in his heist movie, telling him that all he needs to do is say a line and otherwise be himself — as a door. Trevor would cringe at such advice on acting, but Doorman follows it and becomes an instant success.

From this point, Doorman is on an upward trajectory of fame, wealth, and social clout. But the star he becomes is far removed from what made him happy in the first place. His identity and function are now split between how his audience sees him and how he sees himself. He realises he has zero talent for acting and that he only gets jobs because of his unique ability to become a door on command. He makes up a catchphrase — “Ding, Dong” — which makes him instantly identifiable and endearing at first. However, his fans grow tired of hearing it, so he takes acting lessons. He falls flat when he tries to show off his new skills on a talk show, attempting some serious Shakespeare, but knowing he cannot finish the line with conviction, he falls back on “Ding, Dong” to make the audience laugh instead. As a star, Doorman is just a one-trick pony.

Doorman’s downward spiral is just as rapid. From no longer getting job offers to addiction and poverty, Doorman’s identity and function completely separate. Doorman the doorman: alignment was bliss. Doorman the Hollywood star: a personal disaster rolled into an identity crisis. At this point, Josh Gad returns to offer Doorman a chance at a comeback — reprising his role in a sequel to the heist movie that made him a star. In the meta, it’s a comment on milking a formula by making a sequel in hopes of recapturing lightning in a bottle. The scenario is the same as before: master thief Josh Gad needs a quick exit; Doorman is there to provide one. But this time it doesn’t work.

At a critical juncture, Doorman loses his function as a door, and Josh doesn’t reappear on the other side. Earth-616’s Josh Gad variant, for all intents and purposes, vanishes from the world — perhaps stuck in the non-space that exists between an egress and its exit. Ironically, Josh Gad mirrors what would have happened to his Frozen alter ego had he persisted in enjoying the summer.

With this single catastrophic incident, Doorman is taken into DoDC custody. Superpowers are deemed too dangerous to have a place in moviemaking, and so the Doorman Clause takes effect, ostensibly barring Simon from being employed at all, let alone becoming the big star he dreams of being.

The irony is stark in this episode. Fame is fickle. Fans latch onto a simple thing — like a dumb catchphrase — and someone with no real talent rockets to stardom. Meanwhile, truly talented people who are absolutely dedicated to the craft, like Trevor, spend years in the industry and, despite perhaps one or two career high points, are still looking for their big break.

Wonder Man 1x3: Permissions and Approvals

Continuing with the exploration of social theatre, Episode 3 focuses on family drama: the matriarch's birthday celebration.

The episode begins with a flashback of Simon being examined by a pediatrician. He has survived a kitchen fire completely unscathed. When questioned, his Mother overacts her relief -- clearly she knows Simon has powers, but keeps it hidden from the doctor, claiming a miracle. Simon also appears to lie about the cause being his fault for improperly operating a stove. His powers are an internal affair, for good reason.

Back to the present, we get an unsavory reflection of the US prison system and the budgetary philosophy that if there's a prison, it must be filled. This pretension (also pre-tension) sets the motivation for the DoDC's pursuit of Simon Williams with the presumption of guilt predicating the search for evidence to convict him.

Under threat of being returned to prison himself, Trevor sets up for his latest "act" with Simon by putting on the DoDC's wire. We see him rehearsing his opening "line" -- gratitude for being invited to the party -- in front of a mirror. Armed with foreknowledge, Trevor feigns surprise when Simon announces he needs to go to Pocoima for his mother's birthday, and gets a reluctant invitation to tag along -- as Simon's buffer.

Once again, the most sincere conversation between the two is when they quote lines of classic plays to each other. Simon talks about his ambition to be "everywhere", while Trevor affirms Simon's talent and that he has what it takes to succeed. Simon also agrees that he should stop seeking permission to be, instead of waiting on someone else's approval -- something he realizes he has been doing all his life.

Simon's new resolve is immediately undermined the moment he arrives at his mother's. Competing for Mummi's approval, Simon's more successful brother has made himself the head of the household. While he disparages Simon's career in acting, Eric is quite the performer with his big gestures, loud proclamations, and scripted lines everybody can repeat as an expected crowd participation refrain. He makes a dramatic flourish, revealing the hidden chopping board in the kitchen island he built to a pair of impressed guests. Simon, on the other hand, is not competing, and not acting when it comes to his relationship with Mummi.

Simon gets a further taste of disapproval from his peers as they chat about his job as an actor. They snigger about how three auditions and an acting class  constitutes a whole working week for him, while commenting in Creole how shabby his clothes look, as if he doesn't understand the language he grew up with.

Trevor, plays his role striking conversations with the party guests. While he can't get much information from anyone, he completely breaks character when one auntie absolutely refuses to go according to script, preferring to talk about Eric over Simon. Although there's no subtitle, I assume she comments under her breath in Creole that Trevor is such a fake.

The party comes to a close with everyone singing the birthday song, a real-life ritual that is in fact an elaborate musical number with the celebrant taking centrestage for a camera/audience that is sometimes present, and sometimes invisible. Simon is part of the pageantry, but his expression shows that he knows how much of an act it all is.

Alone in the kitchen at last, Trevor gets to see what Simon's family is really like. Nice guy mask off, Eric forces Simon to confess that he lost the American Horror Story part Mummi was so proud of. Eric continues to undermine Simon in front of Mummi by reminding everyone that Simon's birthday gift, and really his general upkeep were paid for by Eric. When Simon mentions his potential callback for the Wonder Man movie, Eric likens it to getting a second interview for a job he might not get. Trevor's comment that the value of an actor is not measured in money gets no response.

Trevor gets the irrefutable evidence the DoDC is looking for when the pressure gets too much for Simon. In his rage, Simon shatters the kitchen island Eric is so proud of, though he causes no harm to the people around him. It is still sufficient evidence to classify him as a danger to society and justification for locking him up.

On the drive back to LA, Simon is on the verge of giving up. At an improvised rest stop, Trevor drops the curtain on his act with Simon. Excusing himself with the need to pee, Trevor removes his wire and breaks it. I imagine the audio is not stored on the wire but recorded somewhere else, but this is Trevor saying I'm done -- damn the consequences. Time to get real.

Upon Trevor's return to the car, Simon has news: they both got callbacks. The episode closes on Simon's vindication.

It's here... not

Been waiting a little over two weeks for the first physical print copy of my book, People, Peace and Power-ups, to arrive. Once I've done my proof-read and certified it free of printing errors, I will allow my publisher to finally push it out to the world.

This is the package that arrived on my doorstep that I'm eagerly unboxing...

And it's not my book. Someone on the shipping end must have mislabeled my package with this one, so that's going to be yet another delay of maybe another month or so. Something is telling me I'm keeping my day job for a little while longer.

It is what it is.

Wonder Man 1x2: Side Quests and Distractions

Episode 2 begins with Trevor presumably returning from China, having survived the events at Ta Lo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The continuity is less important than its thematic parallel. The conflict in China arose out of Shang-Chi’s dad being deceived into thinking his wife was imprisoned by her own people, making him chase an empty final mission — a tragic end for someone reputed to be immortal, and otherwise always got his way. Anyway, we get where Trevor’s been as he is on a plane talking to a Chinese woman, recounting to her how his mom set him on his life’s mission to be a great actor someday.

Trevor’s mission is once again sidetracked when, at the airport, he is tackled to the floor by the DDC for being the terrorist he only thought he was playing. He takes a deal to play under the direction of DDC’s P. Cleary in the act of deceiving Simon into revealing evidence of superhero powers.

At this point, let’s take a detour to explore the DDC. Damage Control debuted as a comic book, but it set a much different tone and function from the DDC in the MCU. Comic book Damage Control was a pure comedy of non-powered office workers and engineers impossibly tasked with cleaning up and restoring the damage caused by superpowered activity — a common occurrence in New York 616. Essentially, Damage Control represented stagehands and set builders for the Marvel Comics “theatre,” resetting the stage for the next violent encounter, though less like conventional theatre and more like Toho Studios, famous for its weekly Godzilla rampages. This conceit explained why New York always looked pristine before it got wrecked again in another powered clash.

The MCU’s DDC is cast more like present-day real-world immigration control, dealing more with the superpowered beings themselves rather than the damage they cause (though we did see their engineering department in Spider-Man: Homecoming). Nothing funny about them — they seem like self-righteous, officious a**holes.

OK, back to the series.

Simon’s agent, Janelle Jackson (X. Mayo), diverts his attention from Wonder Man to make a self-video audition for another movie project, hinting that it might increase his chances of being cast in the role he really wants. Simon tries to make the video at home, but the stress of having his girlfriend walk out on him, combined with his inability to get into character, causes him to lash out with his powers (possibly telekinetic) and damage his apartment.

When Simon reaches out to Trevor for help, Cleary sees an opportunity for Trevor to get evidence from Simon’s apartment. Cleary gives Trevor a device that can clone Simon’s laptop. Trevor’s job looks easy-peasy to us — the evidence is all there to be collected.

But Cleary’s plans get derailed when Simon decides not to shoot in his own apartment and instead rents a private studio. Here, Marvel shows us another way Hollywood auditions talent. OK, nice. At the studio, the camera operator proves so inept at reading the audition script that they abandon the effort altogether. It’s a bit of poetic justice. What Simon did to wreck his shoot last episode parallels what happens to him in this one.

Trevor has the brainwave to shoot the audition video at his old co-star’s house. Joe Pantoliano plays himself, reality bleeding into the fictional world. Here, we’re treated to some social theatre where past hurts and old grudges are smoothed over with politeness and platitudes. Trevor has lived a long time with the idea that Joe had backstabbed him in their long-ended hit series South Shore Hospital, but that “scene” had played out very differently from Joe’s point of view. When Joe tries to explain, it only rankles Trevor further. He breaks from social politeness and storms off, while Simon takes his side, insults Joe, and leaves too — his audition tape still not made.

Simon finally decides to shoot at home after all. Now everyone’s back on track with the main side quest — the audition tape. Cleary gets whatever his device has cloned from Simon’s laptop, and Trevor accomplishes his mission. Trevor also uncovers actual superhero damage inside Simon’s apartment, but for now we don’t know what he will do with that information.

Simon gets his video shot, with Trevor reading the co-dialogue. The bond the two have developed through their misadventures shines through. Simon has found his motivation and his character’s frame of mind. More than that, the scripted dialogue sounds so intimate and sincere that it feels as though the real-life actors, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, are speaking to one another in genuine respect and appreciation for the working partnership they have in the real world.

The theme of betrayal rings strongly in this episode: Shang-Chi’s dad betrayed by the “mega soul-sucker” as optional backstory, Trevor betrayed by Joe, and Simon in danger of being betrayed by Trevor. The layers and concentric circles blending reality and fiction are palpable here — not just as text, but as lived experience. And this is only Episode 2.

Wonder Man 1X1: The Hero's Backlot

Marvel has delivered another act of self-commentary in the new Wonder Man. It comes across as an understated Marvel superhero offering, but it is more about processes -- the overlap of a new hero's backstory and how a Marvel movie is made, where the behind-the scenes of movie production takes precedence over superhero shenanigans.

Let's see if I got this: we viewers are watching an actor (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) playing the main character, actor, Simon Williams, auditioning to play the main character of a remake of a movie "Wonder Man," a character with super powers -- but although Simon has powers, he pretends he doesn't, while auditioning to play a character whose identity is tied to the powers he openly wields. It is a washed-up actor looking to make a comeback, Trevor Slattery, played in real life by Ben Kingsley, who once thought he was acting as a terrorist, not knowing that actual acts of terror in the MCU were being carried out in the name of the Mandarin, the character he thought he was playing. Trevor has put Simon on this path to play Wonder Man, Simon's childhood hero, but the audition itself is a sham, an act Trevor is perpetrating on Simon on behalf of P Cleary (Arian Moayed), agent of the Department of Damage Control. It's Trevor's "Mandarin" role all over again -- smaller, scaled-down and this time fully complicit in the deception.

In summary, we have overlapping layers of actors playing characters thinking they are being themselves, but are really playing characters in someone else's theatre. That is some rabbit hole. The overarching premise, it seems to me so far, is that Marvel is lifting the curtain on the process of making a superhero movie in the real world, but depicting the process in a world inhabited by superheroes, where the actors -- for contractual reasons or because they are hunted by DDC -- have to pretend they don't have powers if they do.

What drives this opening episode is the first step in the actor's process of being cast, the audition. Simon is an actor who overthinks his roles, even when all he needs to do is say a line then lie dead in a moonbeam. Yes, Simon is at the time we are introduced, a Day Player. An extra. A "calafaire", however it's spelled in my region of the world. For Simon, there is no small role. His impulse is to take over his entire shot and build a reality around his character who merely exists as an afterthought for the rest of the crew. But in building his character's reality, he destroys the real reality of the shoot -- time, budget, goodwill and patience -- that his shoot gets cancelled and his reality as he envisions it never gets made.

Having been politely fired, Simon goes to a screening of "Midnight Cowboy" (a movie about a man pretending to be a cowboy, eventually finding meaning in human connection, not performance -- an ironic mirror to Simon's life) and enters Act 1 Scene 1 of Trevor's play which involves implanting in Simon the idea to audition for "Wonder Man". At this point, we get the inkling of a fake friendship that could possibly evolve into a very real one eventually. The situation here is seemingly foreshadowed in the audition script for "Wonder Man" that Simon is to read. It is the character of Wonder Man monologuing about refusing to abandon his friend, possibly mentor, while making a last stand against hostile aliens.

Episode 1 takes us through the audition process, from the interaction with Simon's long-suffering Agent, to Simon finagling an audition spot at the last minute, to the door where he signs in to receive his script (and declare that he does not have super powers), to the queue of hopeful auditionees. We get to observe Simon's nerves under pressure and his breakdown, but Trevor (Act 1 Scene 2) meets with him to steady his nerves and give him tips on how to audition successfully: "don't think, just do" which is the very opposite of Simon's method. And when Yahya Abdul Mateen II delivers that monologue at Simon's audition, this scripted speech lands as the most heartfelt and sincere lines spoken in this episode.

This is going to be a fun series, but I anticipate maybe not for the hardcore superhero fanboys. Is it a documentary? A mockumentary? A superhero schlockumentary? I don't know yet, but this series so far pings big on my metafiction radar.

Portrait de ma famille sur la porte*

Ma famille, rendered as cartoon caricatures and proudly displayed on my front door. They represent traditional Chinese couplets the wife decorates our entrance with annually, welcoming blessings into our home. Each panel bears the character "fu", meaning "fortune", and each family member wears a horse hat for the Horse Year ahead. CNY is still officially a few weeks ahead, but taobao has been expeditious with its deliveries so we're celebrating early.

*The title wordplays on "port", so literally, pardon my French. Credit: Google Translate.

New job title

In the swirl of events of yesterday, I did not recognise the significance of the above email. I thought there were still one or two more steps to go, but technically I can now claim the job title of Published Author! 

Yes, my book is no longer merely conceptual -- it actually exists in the real world! It'll be a few more days before I can hold it in my hands via snail mail but it is done! The culmination of fragments of work spread over the last 5 or so years is a destination I did not anticipate when I started this personal project, yet here we are.

I still need to proof the first printed copy to ensure there are no mistakes in the printing process, and then I'll release it into the market when I'm satisfied it's all good. Hopefully, a few weeks from now. In the meantime, preview People, Peace and Power-ups on thegprebel.sg, where this whole idea started as just a thing to do on the side.

Going to sit down and take a breath now...