- Themes in Aquaman
- Character development
- Connections to other DCEU Films
Contributors: @ottensam @raveryn @derbykid @wondersyd
Bonus Content and forthcoming Man of Steel analysis: https://www.patreon.com/JLUpodcast
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2018/12/11/review-aquaman-is-thrilling-new-addition-to-superhero-cinema/#74cccae332f7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
https://twitter.com/nexuspong/status/1076565909064437760
<Transcript below>
Welcome, fans of the Justice League Universe. My name is
Sam. This podcast delves deep into the DC Films from Warner Brothers studios.
We have fully analyzed the masterpiece that is Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice and it was through an appreciation of that movie that we came together
as a podcast team -- myself, Alessandro Maniscalco, Rebecca Johnson, Sydney,
and Nick Begovich. You can find us all on Twitter -- @ottensam, @raveryn,
@derbykid, @wondersyd, and @JLUPodN -- and you can follow the show at @JLUPodcast.
Since BvS, we have also completed a scene-by-scene breakdown of Suicide Squad
as well as Wonder Woman. We are still in the midst of our Justice League
analysis and we are also circling back to cover Man of Steel, but in this
episode, we are going to take our first in-depth look at Aquaman, directed by
James Wan from a story by James Wan, Geoff Johns, and Will Beall, and a
screenplay by David Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall.
So in this episode, we are going to dive into Aquaman by
looking across the film for themes, for character development, and for
connections to prior films in the Justice League Universe, aka the DCEU.
And if you haven’t listened to our podcast before, our style
is to try to break away from the fan wars and the online drama that can often
surround superhero movies. Instead, we like to take a close work at the
creative efforts and artistic substance of these films. We enjoy tracing
thematic threads throughout the stories and we like to break down, as best we
can, the directing choices, the cinematography, and the production design in
terms of how they contribute to deeper meanings in film. Sometimes, there is a
lot of rich content along these lines, like in the aforementioned Batman v
Superman, and sometimes this in-depth analysis reveals possible incoherence in
the meanings being construed, like in Suicide Squad, but in either case, it can
be a very rewarding way to process these movies and spend time with the
characters.
Themes
So let’s get started with our initial analysis of Aquaman.
We like to begin with broader themes -- what messages are embedded in the story
or brought to life by the characters? Before we actually saw the movie, we
already had some guesses about potential themes, based on knowledge of the
characters, content from the trailers, and also interviews with the actors and
director. Here was where our attention was focused as went into the movie, and
we talked about these ideas in our Aquaman Preparations episode. I’m just going
to run through them quickly, because these were from before we actually saw the
movie.
● Being of two
worlds
● Finding
acceptance
● Relationships
with parents
● Destiny or
choice as a path to leadership
● Kings versus
heroes
Now, these were really just topics, not theses. But now that
we’ve seen the movie, we can try to draw some more meaning out of them. Here
are the themes that are on our mind thus far, and of course we withhold the
right to modify and add to this list as our analysis continues:
For the topic of being of two worlds, we have the following
theme - It is false to separate the world into two parts when we are actually
all here together. We’ll say more about this in a moment.
Next, on the idea of Arthur finding acceptance, it was
definitely a part of the context of his character, but upon first viewing it
doesn’t seem to be an essential theme of the movie. He was not, for example,
striving to be socially accepted by the Atlantean population, nor was he really
trying to make inroads more thoroughly with the surface dwellers. He did win
over some public acceptance, but it was because of his arrival into battle with
Atlan’s trident -- not because of some emotional acceptance from the people. He
also didn’t really come to accept or forgive the Atlanteans for punishing his
mother. Sure, she turned out to still be alive, but that doesn’t change the
fact that they sent her into the trench to die. So the film wasn’t really about
Arthur coming to accept Atlantis, nor them accepting him, because they don’t
really know him yet, except Vulko and Mera. But Arthur does at least find a
clear role to play in Atlantis as their new leader, along with Mera and
Atlanna, so in that sense, he can go from a sort of aimless roamer to a king.
We’ll talk about that more in the character section later.
Next up, the idea of parents is certainly a big part of this
movie. We weren’t sure what the thematic undertones were going to be with
regard to the parents, but upon our initial viewings, we are sensing a theme
that has to do with feeling anger at the loss of a parent. In particular, the
word mercy clearly became a keyword in this film and it was often tied to
parents. The overarching theme that we took away can be phrased like this -- we
should show mercy to others, even more than we have perhaps received ourselves.
Let’s trace it through the film quickly.
● At the
beginning -- Atlantis does not show mercy to Atlanna, and because she knows
this, she has to leave her family on shore. Then, Arthur does not show mercy to
David Kane’s father, Jesse Kane. This is somewhat understandable because the
Kanes were guilty of killing innocent people and they tried to kill Arthur.
David says, “You can’t leave him like this.” And Arthur tells them to (quote)
“ask the sea for mercy.” So Arthur is
choosing not to show mercy, and although Arthur didn’t directly kill Jesse
Kane, he could’ve saved him and didn’t. In terms of the balance of mercy, Kane
didn’t show mercy to the submarine crew, so Arthur applied the same amount of
mercy back to him and left him to die.
● Next, Mera
comes and asks Arthur to help her prevent war. Arthur pledges to Mera that if
Atlantis rises and attacks the surface world, Arthur will fight to protect the
land. He’ll show them (quote) “the same mercy they showed my mother.” So again,
Arthur is operating under a model of equal exchange of mercy. And the writers
explicitly put the word “mercy” into the dialogue. However, even though Arthur
is showing a lack of mercy toward Atlantis, what does Mera do a few minutes
later? She shows mercy by saving Tom Curry. In showing this mercy – which was
more mercy than Arthur was offering – Mera gained allies.
● Then, in Act
2, Black Manta comes to Italy, seeking vengeance, and says he’ll show Arthur
the same mercy Arthur showed his father. So at this point in the film, the good
guy and the bad guy are actually on the same moral page -- they’re both just
returning the amount of mercy that they’ve received. But of course, a world
where neither side is increasing the amount of mercy will just entail more and
more pain and sorrow. So a lesson needs to be learned.
● Arthur learns
this exact lesson, as expressed on the boat with Mera. He realizes that by
failing to show mercy, he is just causing more pain and creating new enemies.
That leads us to the end where the theme is concluded.
● In the final
battle with Orm, Orm explicitly uses the word mercy and says that Atlantis does
not believe in mercy. But Arthur rejects that tradition and chooses to show
mercy, sparing Orm’s life.
So again, we see a coherent theme here, with the movie
sending the message that we should show even more mercy than we have received.
And Arthur is a good character with which to bring forward that message,
because he is not wholly Atlantean, and so he can break free from Atlantis’s
restrictive ideas about mercy. And he also lived for years with the pain of
thinking that his mother had been sacrificed, but now he has her back, and so
he can push for a more merciful example.
Now, in a well-drawn theme, it’s not just that the main
character should embody the message, it’s also that you should have an
antagonist who illustrates the antithesis. And we find that antithesis in Orm.
He is not showing any mercy to the surface world, and in fact he murders the
fisherman king for even suggesting some sort of forgiveness and moving beyond
the destruction caused by the surface dwellers.
Alright, next up is the idea of destiny versus choice. We
are still working on this one, and we’ll follow it forward into our
scene-by-scene analysis, but a case could be made that a theme of the movie is
that People should choose their own future. This may seem counterintuitive at
first, because there’s all the talk of Arthur being the “one true king” and the
heir of King Atlan. So in that sense, Arthur seems destined to be king. Also,
the opening narration, from Jules Verne, seems to appeal to destiny. “Put two
ships in the open sea, without wind or tide, they will come together.” So in
one sense, this might be about the idea of certain people being destined to
meet one another. But when we look throughout the entirety of events in the
film, it seems as though destiny is not the driving force, but rather, that
people choose their own future. Atlanna right at the start chose to flee an
arranged marriage, and that choice led to love. Then she chose to leave the
love of her family in order to protect them. Later, Mera also flees an arranged
marriage, and in doing so she helps to save the world (and she also finds love,
by the way). With regard to Arthur being predestined to wield the trident, we
can see that just because he is able to wield the trident does not mean he had
to. It was his choice to join Mera’s cause in the first place, and Arthur made
choices to go forward every step of the way that eventually did lead to the
trident.
So I guess you could look at this in at least two ways – you
could see this as people making their own choices and thus forging their own
destiny. Or you could see this as just the way that destiny operates, through
people’s choices. We’ll have to think more about this one. But speaking of
arranged marriages – it is certainly noteworthy that both of the major women
characters rejected an arranged marriage within a patriarchal society. But in
past films, it’s sort of a trope that women reject the arranged marriage
because they instead want to seek their “true love.” Women are often positioned
as being at the mercy of love or the pursuit of love. But in Aquaman, Atlanna
actually went back to the arranged marriage to save those she loved. And Mera
does not break with her arranged marriage because of love, she breaks with it
because she is trying to save her people and prevent war. It seems as though
Mera would actually be willing to adhere to the arranged marriage if it would
mean saving others. So in both of these cases, the women are thinking about
others, not themselves, as they make decisions about the arranged marriages.
To me, I like the idea of honoring those choices and thus
framing the theme around choice and forging your own future rather than being
swept up in the currents of destiny. Also, taking this perspective has the
advantage of Orm again offering a coherent antithesis. If the theme is that
people should be free to choose their own futures, then Orm is doing the
opposite of that by manipulating and ultimately forcing other kingdoms to bend
to his will.
Alright, now let’s return to the idea of two worlds and also
the comparison between kings and heroes. It seems as though one theme from the
film might be that it is false to separate the world into two parts when we are
actually all here together. This theme is an important message for us in the
real world. In highly partisan times, it is important to remember that we
actually share society with people from other political parties. We are more of
a family that has to live together than we are competing sports teams or
warring factions, even though we tend to fall into contentious dialogue based
on the idea of competition. The idea of us all in this world together is also
relevant in the context of the rise of nationalism in the United States and in
certain parts of Europe. Rather than highlighting national boundaries, we can
recognize the deep connections that we all have, and we can recognize the world
and the environment that we all share. It reminds me of one of the seven
guiding principles of Unitarian Universalism, which is that we should all have
respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
So this theme connects to the eco-warrior aspects of Orm’s
motivation, but Orm is seeing the pollution and environmental degradation
through the lens of us and them – them, the surface dwellers, are to blame, and
they should be subjugated to us, the Atlanteans. This is not a productive
mindset for actually solving the problem. It would be more productive to look
for common interests and to recognize that it is one planet, unifying above and
below the water.
This theme about not being two separate things but actually
one unified body also provides a nice resolution for Arthur’s character. Arthur
has felt like he is split between two worlds, and he has been labeled a half
breed, half in one world and half in the other. But if we realize the split is
false, then this unifies both parts of himself. We can see early on in the
movie that Arthur is still viewing the world in a separated fashion. When Mera
mentions Steppenwolf and how Aquaman helped protect Atlantis in the events of
Justice League, Arthur responds that that had nothing to do with Atlantis.
Arthur is harboring some deep anger at Atlantis and so his actions in Justice
League were basically to save the surface world. He is viewing them as
separate, and his feelings toward them are separated. But Mera brings forward
the idea that their fates are tied together, and she says that a war will
results in death and destruction for both Atlantis and the surface world alike.
This provides some opportunities for Arthur to grow in his perspective, and of
course Atlanna provides the culmination at the very end when she explicitly
states that it is misleading to think of the two as separate.
This theme also ties into the idea of Kings versus Heroes
--- I was originally thinking of kings as being defined by birth and heroes by
choice and action. That idea would connect a little bit with the theme of
destiny, but the movie took the King / Hero distinction in a slightly different
direction. They explicitly said that a King is more focused nationalistically,
whereas a Hero protects the world, regardless of nationality. So king can
operate within a world of divisions, and indeed thrives on those divisions,
serving only those under his dominion, as Orm tries to, but a hero would be one
that breaks down divisions and defends the world more broadly, as both Arthur
and Mera do. In other words, if you separate things into two worlds, into us
and them, then a King is responsible just for us, not for them. But a true hero
would be working to save us and them, together as one, breaking down any
barriers or walls that might be erected between the two.
So we’ve got some working themes, and they all seem fairly
coherent as far as we can tell upon first viewings, and they hang together as a
nice set. We should show mercy to others, even more mercy than we may have
received. This will help us break down barriers between people, and instead of
making enemies we can make new allies, and thus we can break down the false
separation between us and them and realize we are all in this world together.
And all of these actions can take place because of our own choices, as we forge
our own destiny – are not just at the mercy of the ocean’s tides.
We will continue to trace those themes throughout our
scene-by-scene analysis, and possibly revise them, or look for disconfirming
evidence. There are also two other potential themes that we noticed but we
haven’t really been able to follow through on them yet. One other possible
theme comes from Arthur and Mera’s conversation in the Sahara desert. They talk
about not judging something before you’ve seen its full range of
characteristics. This is a fine sentiment, but I’m not sure it resonates all
the way through the film. For example, Arthur wasn’t just judging Atlantis
based on first impressions, he was judging them based on the fact that they
attacked his family and then caused his mother to leave and ultimately be
sacrificed. I personally think it is fair to judge a civilization based on how
they treat and attempt to execute your mother. Sure, there are other sides to
the story and other aspects of Atlantis, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to
tell Arthur he shouldn’t have judged Atlantis before then. Similarly, Mera does
have a basis for her judgment of the surface world. She has seen how they treat
the oceans and she also saw the part that they played in Steppenwolf’s
invasion. It’s true that she shouldn’t judge the surface dwellers just based on
the Sahara desert, but the Atlanteans do have legitimate gripes against the
surface world.
Another reason I’m not sure the theme works especially well
is that the film is not really the story of Arthur coming to fully understand
Atlantean civilization and customs. Nor does Mera get to know the surface world
beyond Arthur and a little bit of time in Sicily. So this theme may at best be
ancillary, but it’s not fully developed through all aspects of the film.
The other possible theme, based on explicit dialogue, is
what Mera says in the plane ride. She’s talking about how she has lost her home
because she betrayed them to side with Arthur. She says that her obligation
isn’t to love but to her family and her nation, to do the right thing. Then she
says, “Sometimes you have to do what’s right, even if your heart aches against
it.” This could be taken as a thesis statement. But I’m not sure if it’s really
fully developed throughout the remainder of the movie. It may be more of just
an encapsulation of Mera’s character, but we’ll have to think about that some
more.
The last thing we want to say about the thematic content of
the movie is that we are happy to see that it is consistent with all the movies
in the Justice League Universe thus far. As we’ve covered several times before,
they all address a larger question of whether humanity is worth saving. And
they all answer this question in the positive – even though humanity has its
problems, it is still worth saving. Every film in the JLU has something
important and insightful to say on this point.
Man of Steel shows
a world that can be full of bullies and fearful of those who are different, but
they can come around and grow to be more understanding. Clark sees that
potential and decides that they are worth saving, that humanity still deserves
its chance to develop.
In BvS, humanity
can be quick to judge, before all the facts are in, and they can be misled by
false information and a billionaire who is manipulating the public narrative,
but Superman again decides that they are still worth saving. Bruce comes to
understand that men are still good and that they can do better.
In Suicide Squad
we see people who have committed horrific acts, but they can still be redeemed,
they are still worth saving, and they are willing to save each other and the
world that punished them in the past.
In Wonder Woman,
Diana sees the ugliness and the brutality of mankind, but she also sees the
good sides and the love that is possible, even in death. So she rises to their
defense.
In Justice League,
we see a population that is starting to give in to despair and we see people
from many different backgrounds who could very easily remain isolated, but
instead they join together to form a new unity and they rekindle hope as they
save the world again.
And now, with
Aquaman, we see that humanity pollutes the waters and degrades the environment,
but this shouldn’t condemn them to death. There is still beauty in the world,
and we should all realize that we are in this together so we can break down our
barriers and save the planet.
So those are our initial thoughts on themes in the film. And
actually one final theme that we’ll mention is something that comes up at least
4 times in the movie, and it really offers some guidance in terms of how to
live your life – and that is, always be ready for a surprise attack from your
enemies.
Okay, let’s move on into some characters.
Characters
Arthur Curry / Aquaman (Jason Momoa)
Arthur Curry, also known as the Aquaman, is of course the
main character in the film, with Mera a very close second -- almost an equal
co-star until the ending when Arthur takes center stage. As people are
responding to movies in general, a lot of attention tends to go to the
personality or characterization of a movie’s lead, and in this case, Jason
Momoa does a fine job of carrying the movie with great physicality, an
intriguing devil-may-care sort of attitude and toughness, a
rough-around-the-edges presentation, and of course the word that is probably
used most often in relation to this movie, “badass”. All of that is good and a
compelling take on the character, reclaiming Aquaman from the joke bin where he
had been relegated in the past and instantly setting forth a new cultural
touchstone for the character.
But as a podcast team, we are most interested in the main
character arc for Arthur. The primary growth that we see, based on our initial
viewings, is twofold. First, and this connects back to Justice League even, he
goes from being a sort of aimless loner -- a good guy, but one without a clear
direction to his life or a clear home. He has his father, but that’s his
parents’ home, he hasn’t really found his own place in the world at the start
of Aquaman. Then, by the end of the film, he has found a purpose, not just as
the king of Atlantis but as a new sort of king who might be able to usher in a
new era of relationship between those in the sea and those on the surface. He
has also gone from a loner to someone who is building meaningful relationships
with Mera and with his mother; he is even leaving the door open to reconciling
with his half brother, though we’ll have to see how that goes.
But anyway, this arc of him finding his place and his
purpose is one of the main elements of the film. Another main character arc is
one that relates to the theme of mercy. Arthur Curry goes from leaving Jesse
Kane to die, and from trying to rush in and kill Orm in the ring of fire, to a
very different place at the end of the film -- he spares Orm’s life and offers
to talk once he’s ready. How did he learn this lesson of showing mercy? Well,
it was largely from being with Mera. He observed Mera saving his own father,
which contrasted early on with Arthur leaving Jesse Kane to die. And he also
talked it through with Mera, realizing that in failing to show mercy, he
created a new enemy for himself in Black Manta, whereas if he was a more
merciful type of hero, maybe he would make new allies, or at least minimize the
number of enemies. This is a nice arc for the character and it culminates
really well in the climax of the film, with the plot and the themes
interlocking coherently with the character development.
There was also a bit of a minor sub-arc that we detected,
too, which is that Arthur went from someone who busts in and just uses his
brute strength to power through situations, and someone who tends to ignore
plans, like he did with the ring of fire, to someone who realizes that plans
are important and that maybe he should listen to people who are wiser than
himself, such as Mera or his mother. These ability to take good advice rather
than always operating on impulse is a key skill for a leader and so it’s good
that he learned this lesson on his way to becoming king. This sub-arc was
accentuated near the end after his kiss with Mera, when he joked that he had
forgotten the plan, but he asked for a reminder about it, which was very
different from earlier when he just basically ignored the plan, or earlier when
he slapped the location device out of Mera’s hands.
Mark Hughes, who writes about film at Forbes.com, also
complimented Arthur’s character arc. He viewed him as having a sort of cocky
exterior but harboring some deeper-seated doubts about whether he can live up
to his destined role as king of Atlantis or hero bridging two worlds. He views
Arthur as initially having a barrier up, insulating himself from deep
relationships, but eventually he comes around and forms those relationships and
steps forward to meet that destiny. We’ll put a link to Hughes’ full review in
the show notes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2018/12/11/review-aquaman-is-thrilling-new-addition-to-superhero-cinema/#74cccae332f7
Mera (Amber Heard)
Next, let’s take a look at Mera, played by Amber Heard. For
me, she was really one of the highlights of the film. I appreciated how she was
written and portrayed. As Amber Heard said when Zack Snyder convinced her to
take the part, she didn’t want to play a subordinate sort of female character
who would constantly need rescuing, but Snyder assured her that Mera was a
complete hero in her own right. Heard described Mera in a behind-the-scenes
video, saying “she’s no damsel in distress. She’s this strong, badass,
empowered superhero.” And that certainly comes through in the film. For the
majority of the film, she is on equal footing with Aquaman, and at times she is
actually in quite a better position than him as she is wiser and more cognizant
of the full situation they are dealing with. At the very end of the film, she
takes a bit of a back seat to Arthur’s full emergence as Aquaman, but that
doesn’t take away from the very strong characterization throughout the bulk of
the movie.
In many films in the action or superhero genres, women
characters are often at the mercy of villains or they are just there as the
love interest of the male leads. This is not the case with Mera, however. She
is very proactive throughout the movie. Right from the start, she is the one
who decides to come ashore and recruit Arthur as a means to stop Orm’s march to
war. She is the one who brings him down for the clandestine meeting with Vulko.
She also makes the decision to break from her Atlantean ties and save Arthur
from the ring of fire. She leads him in finding the kingdom of the deserters
and retrieving the trident -- don’t get me wrong, Arthur helps, and he’s the
heir who has to retrieve the trident at the end, but it’s basically Mera’s show
along the way.
She is incredibly selfless as a character. She is never
thinking about what this will mean for herself or about her own comfort or
desires -- she is willing to completely devote herself to what is best for the
people of Atlantis and to prevent war. She risks being outcast and separated
from her own people, but she’s willing to do it if it will save lives. She is
actually a true hero long before Aquaman is. And this selflessness even extends
to the end of the film, when she graciously steps aside and let’s Aquaman have
his moment. She doesn’t seek credit, even though she deserves a lot of it.
Mera also has some character growth in terms of getting to
know the surface world a little bit more than she did before, and she also gets
to know Arthur. She is instrumental in supporting his growth that we talked
about before. But she also does assert herself when needed. The plane ride is
an especially important scene for Mera. Arthur is complaining that he doesn’t
have a home, and Mera reminds him that she has completely given up her home by
choosing to come with him. Arthur also tries to point out that at least she
avoided being married to Orm, whom she didn’t love, but she has a great
response. She says that her duty isn’t to love, as is often the case with women
characters in past fairy tales, but rather her duty is to saving her people and
trying to do her best to help the world avoid tragedy.
On a more surface level, it was also just very cool to see
Mera’s aqua-kinetic powers. She has a very visual power set, which works
amazingly well on screen, and the filmmakers came up with some creative ways to
deploy her powers in different situations. Her rescue of Tom Curry near the
beginning was a great way to give her an action-rich, heroic entry. And her
entire sequence in Sicily was very memorable.
Orm / Oceanmaster (Patrick Wilson)
The third major character of course was Orm, played by
Patrick Wilson, who has worked in the past with James Wan and Zack Snyder.
Comic book movies often rise or fall with the quality of their villain, and
Aquaman benefits from having a good one. First of all, Orm has a unique look
and a recognizable silhouette, with his slicked-back blonde hair and then with
his full Oceanmaster costume and helmet. Second, he has a clear motivation that
drives the plot of the film -- he wants to lead the various kingdoms of
Atlantis in rising against the surface dwellers. This is something that any
general audience member can follow along with, it poses a clear, high-stakes
threat, and it ties in with real-world concerns as we actually do have a lot of
pollution to be concerned about, and there’s a lot we don’t know about life in
the sea. James Wan on Twitter pointed out that Orm is an eco-warrior at heart,
so this gives us an impetus to take care of the oceans! And Patrick Wilson also
talked on DC Daily about how the crux of Orm’s whole position is how the
surface is polluting the oceans. This is more than just the massive oil spills,
although those are terrible. If you haven’t heard of the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch, you should really look it up. In short, it’s a floating pile of plastic
in the Pacific Ocean that’s more than twice as big as Texas. There’s also a
garbage patch growing in the Atlantic Ocean. Thankfully, the United Nations
started to make some progress in ocean clean-up in 2018, but we have a really
long way to go.
But Orm’s characterization goes well beyond those two main
elements of character design and obvious motivation. He also has some complex
emotional dilemmas that undergird his primary motivation. He is not just mad at
the surface world because of pollution, he also harbors resentment because his
mother loved someone on the surface world more than she did his own father, and
that love of surface dwellers led to her supposed death. So this animosity toward
the surface is also very personal for Orm. He is also not just trying to invade
the surface world, he is also power hungry for its own sake in terms of trying
to become the Oceanmaster over all the kingdoms of Atlantis. There’s this
interesting complexity, because on one level, he wants to become Oceanmaster to
lead the invasion of the surface, but on another level, he seems to just want
to become Oceanmaster to become Oceanmaster and claim this ultimate power. It
might even be that he wants this title of power because he actually feels a bit
inadequate, being the second-favorite son and the younger brother of a would-be
crown prince. So he’s trying to fill that void or that self-doubt by conquering
and crushing others.
It’s also especially tragic if you view Orm and think about
the fact that both of the most important women in his life -- his mother and
his fiancee -- both basically rejected him in favor of his older brother, an
outsider who eventually overthrows him. That is almost enough to make you feel
bad for the guy, especially when he realizes that his mother is still alive but
then he tragically says, “You’re with him?”.
And speaking of Arthur, Orm works well as a villain in this
first film because Orm is tied directly to Aquaman’s origin story, and he is
also a strong contrast to Arthur. As Patrick Wilson explained on DC Daily, he
tried to play Orm as the opposite of Arthur. Wilson said, quote, “I tried to be
as opposite from him as I could. He [Arthur] has such a swagger… the loose
cannon aspect of it. So I wanted Orm to be very precise, very skilled, very
technical, very stern.”
Another thing I like about Orm in this movie is how his
story is resolved. He doesn’t get killed, but rather, he gets spared and he has
to be led off in defeat. This is fitting because, as Brent and Ray from the
podcast Fans Without Borders explained, Orm spent the entire film waging war
amongst the kingdoms of Atlantis and trying to wage a war on the surface world,
so it is poetic justice that he is defeated peacefully. It’s basically Arthur
and Mera’s ultimate triumph, because the two heros were striving for peace, and
so Orm is defeated peacefully, which is a true victory.
I also really liked how they plotted out the film and gave
Arthur an opportunity to have two showdowns with each of the villains -- the
ring of fire with Orm, and then the final battle with Orm. And there was also
the submarine battle with David Kane and then the Italy battle with Black
Manta. This gave us a chance to see Arthur’s growth as we compare and contrast
the first showdowns with the later showdowns, and it also gives us a chance to
soak in Orm as the antithesis to Aquaman.
We will have to look at the film in more detail, but I will
say that one drawback to Orm as a comic book villain is that he doesn’t have
one of those jaw-dropping, instant-classic villain scenes. Or at least for me
he didn’t, but he is a very good villain overall and works well in the broader
context of what this story was doing.
Secondary Characters
Alright, now we’re just going to very briefly run through a
few of the secondary characters. We just mentioned David Kane, aka Black Manta.
And we do want to say that the actor, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, gave a very intense
and strong performance as Black Manta. They also built in a good explanation
for the tech suit and the classic Black Manta helmet, and it worked well how
they tied him into the main plot. He also had a strong personal motivation
related to vengeance -- it is somewhat one-dimensional, but that’s okay for a
secondary character. And his revenge over the death of a parent serves to
contrast well with Arthur, also angered by the apparent death of his mother.
The fact that Arthur actually gets his mother back, whereas Black Manta will
not get his father back, may add fuel to the fire in the future.
And by the way, I liked it that David Kane and Orm were both
introduced very strongly, with a close up of them pulling off their helmets. A
nice visual motif there.
Stephen Shin was a nice addition to the movie, representing
some surface-dweller interest in the societies under the water and showing that
the surface world really would be caught off guard if Atlantis did invade. The
possibility of him collaborating with Black Manta going forward is a very
interesting prospect.
Part of the real heart of the movie was Nicole Kidman as
Atlanna and Temuera Morrison as Thomas Curry. They both put in really good
performances and the love story between them was very efficiently pulled off.
And the idea of having Tom walk out on the Maine dock every morning was a
stroke of genius -- possibly inspired by Futurama and the episode “Jurassic
Bark,” but I’m not sure. Either way, it worked really well. And the parents
were effective in terms of Arthur’s story, with Tom representing Arthur’s
down-to-earth side and Atlanna representing his royal potential.
Vulko, played by Willem Dafoe, was a nice mentor character,
serving as Arthur’s only connection to Atlantis as a young person, and also as
a collaborator with Mera. I was personally glad that they deviated a bit from
the Throne of Atlantis storyline in terms of Vulko’s character. This film
didn’t need the extra twists and turns, because there was already the twist
with Atlanna still being alive.
Nereus was also an effective secondary character, played
surprisingly well by Dolph Lundgren. He is somewhat of a barometer in the film,
because he is initially reluctant to start a war but he shares Orm’s distaste
for the surface world, so it doesn’t take much for him to join the cause. But
then he can be convinced by the end to abandon Orm’s side and support his
daughter and Aquaman. It could be that he saw the magic trident and adhered to
ancient Atlantean law, accepting the trident-wielder as the true king. Or it
could be that he simply likes to side with a winner, so as Orm was on his way
to being Oceanmaster, Nereus sided up to him, but when Orm was on his way to
being defeated, Nereus switched and sided with Aquaman and Mera. Either way, I
will be very interested in seeing him in an Aquaman sequel.
Music as a character in the film
The last character we want to mention is the musical score,
by Rupert Gregson-Williams, which is sort of a character in any film. We have
seen quite a bit of praise for the score, especially for the use of
synthesizers as a way to bring to life the underwater, bioluminescent scenes in
Atlantis. We agree with those assessments, as the mix of orchestral and
synthesized instruments gave a nice audio language to go with the visual world
they created underwater.
At times the score was a bit overly melodramatic, but I
would say it was very strong on the whole. And it was especially nice to hear
some distinct musical themes for each of the main characters. Aquaman has a
good little motif that starts with rising intervals that are perfect fourths
and perfect fifths -- very heroic sounding intervals and ones that work well
with the perfect fifth and perfect fourth of Clark’s theme in Man of Steel.
On the villain side, Orm and Black Manta both had descending
low notes as their themes -- and by the way, all three of the main themes --
Aquaman’s, Orm’s, and Black Manta’s -- are in the key of C. That might’ve been
a cute choice by Gregson-Williams, since the movie also takes place in the sea.
Anyway, Orm’s theme is very ominous and it reminded me
immediately of the Right of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. It’s not a direct
replication, but there is a similarity in rhythm and articulation from the low
brass. We can play them for you. First you’ll hear the Rite of Spring, as it
appears in the Fantasia film from 1940, and then you’ll hear the main theme for
Orm by Rupert Gregson-Williams.
<audio sample>
I think this is a nice way to tap into the cultural
zeitgeist and bring those complex and dangerous notions and apply them to Orm.
And then there’s Black Manta’s theme, which is very similar
to Orm’s -- making them a good pair as two villains who do work together in the
same film -- but the feel and instrumentation is different. Whereas Orm has the
metallic brass sound, which is more regal and matches his shimmering costume,
Manta instead has a synthesized bass slide that kind of has a plasma feel to
it, which is fitting. So I’m going to play those main three Orm notes again,
and then go right into Black Manta’s theme.
<audio sample>
For the remaining portion of the episode, see the blog post on Connections to Prior DCEU Films.
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