Showing posts 1 - 1 of 1 matching: characterization
Monday, June 24, 2024
Respect the Material
There's been a lot of talk online lately about who will act as or write for Booster Gold in James Gunn's proposed television show. Those choices will certainly be important to the show we ultimately get (assuming that we actually do get a show; remember that credible announcements by credible producers have been made periodically since 2011 with nothing yet having reached your television set), but the central question remains: What kind of Booster Gold will we see?
James Gunn has called Booster Gold a hero with “Imposter Syndrome,” and to a degree that's always been true. Booster's single greatest driving personality trait, his Shakespearean tragic flaw, has always been his unfulfillable desire to be loved. Abandoned by his (no-good) father as a child, most of Booster's greatest tragedies have resulted from his quest for external validation. It doesn’t matter how much good Booster does, nothing can fill the bottomless hole in his psyche's metaphorical heart.
Booster's successes, on the other hand, have generally been selfless acts. For example, very few inhabitants of the DCU are aware that he has saved the universe multiple times for no publicity or personal gain. Granted, he is often reluctant to get involved, and his solutions are not always perfect, but unlike his idol Superman, Booster is only a human doing the best he can to make difficult situations better. Obviously, his need to do the right thing supersedes his craving for recognition.
The biggest pitfall when characterizing Booster is to portray him as an idiot. It's not lack of intelligence but poor judgment, usually driven by youthful brash arrogance, that leads to most of Booster's trademark misadventures (like establishing a casino on a living island or sponsoring a mind-influencing music app). Booster's need for the limelight makes his missteps extra visible compared to the likes of Batman, who operates in the shadows where no one ever sees him trip over his own cape, but Booster's intelligence and dedication to righteousness always see him through to saving the day.
To respect the character of Booster Gold, it will be important that any television series portray all sides of the hero who is, yes, cocky, impatient, and in need of constant adoration, but also intelligent, hard-working, and always well-intentioned.
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