Deadpool is not the first comic book related movie to earn an R-Rating but it might be the first to attract attention for it. This is due in large part the belief by many people that Deadpool’s colorful persona seems to appeal greatly to children. After all the character is part of Marvel’s mainstream of titles. He’s been associated with the famed X-Men and was at one time Peter Parker aka Spider-Man’s roommate. Many people have lobbied prior to the film’s release to have FOX studio consider reducing the R-Rating to at least a PG-13. This rating would make it appealing to a more family-friendly audience. The studio and filmmakers didn’t comply and I for one am glad they didn’t because it would have significantly changed who the character of Deadpool is.
Here’s a brief history of the character that was created by the team of Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld in 1991. Deadpool’s real name is Wade Wilson, a Special Forces Operative turned Mercenary. He gets involved in the Weapon X program that would enable him to regenerate damaged tissue. In the film version, as portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, he was willing to get involved in an experiment that would cure his cancer. Something goes awry and Wade becomes terribly disfigured but still with his regenerative powers. Known as the Merc with the mouth, Wade takes on the persona of Deadpool and seeks revenge on those responsible for his current situation. Along the way, he leaves a carnage of dead bodies in his wake. By no means of the imagination is this character meant for children. He is crass, rash and profane. But to be fair, he is also quite likeable with his immature and childlike charm. I think it’s the latter that makes him so appealing to young people. Regardless of that he is still more for the adult audience than anything else.
This isn’t the first time the character has appeared on film. Back in 2009, X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured ironically enough Ryan Reynolds as the infamous Deadpool. The film was rated PG-13 and fans heavily criticized the depiction of the character. Everything that made the character special to them was all but absent in this reimagined version. He even had his mouth-sewn shut. Not exactly what people were hoping or expecting to see when they found out Deadpool will appear in the movie. It was a complete disaster. So much so, fans demanded a solo film be done in the spirit of how the character is depicted in the comics. It would take seven years for it to come to fruition.
Part of the problem or disconnect I believe is two-fold. The first is the association of Deadpool and it being the property of Marvel and Marvel being the property of the Walt Disney Company. While this is true, and they are the ones responsible for the mega-popular Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Avengers, they do not however have the filming rights to Deadpool nor the X-Men or The Fantastic Four for that matter. Up until recently, neither did they have the rights to Spider-Man. Thankfully Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios worked out an agreement to bring Spidey back into the Marvel fold. Incidentally, Spider-Man’s first appearance will be in Captain America: Civil War this May.
The other issue and perhaps the more important one is the association of what it means to be a film based on a comic book and how it should be marketed. The general belief is if the source material is based on a comic, it must be family-friendly. But that could not be further from the truth. We’ve seen in recent years with films like The Watchmen, Kick-Ass, The Punisher andSin City that comic book related source material can very much be geared towards adults and not children. Even something as widely popular as The Walking Dead is rated TV14 for AMC. The point is, as parents we should always take the time and effort to read up on what’s out there and never assume that because something is based on a medium that has its roots on entertaining young people, it doesn’t mean that they are all meant for them. And nor should they. The medium of comics is just that, a medium of storytelling expressed both visually and with the written word. With that said, the production studio still has the responsibility to make sure their target audience and whom the movie is meant for, is one of the same. We see these same types of arguments when it comes to something like pro wrestling. So much of it is geared towards children with the selling of action figures and cartoon DVDs. Yet the storylines and sexual innuendo is very much adult in content.
The bottom line is, we as parents or guardians need to take a more active role in what our children watch or listen to. Too many times we plop our children in front of the TV and hand them the remote to entertain themselves. All it takes is a moment of our time to make sure what they are watching is age appropriate. Respectfully, that to is going to vary from household to household.
One final note, as of this writing, Deadpool has already earned over 135 million through its first weekend. That is a box office record for any R-Rated film coming out in February surpassing Fifty Shades of Grey from a year ago. As Deadpool would say, chimichanga. And for FOX studios it’s cha-ching.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
