Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
But they don't have the same meaning. In a superhero movie, it's usually because the characters have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. In a spy movie, they ARE mortal men, and their abilities are understood to be no more than what mortal man can achieve with training and practice—but when it helps the narrative, the extent of those abilities is understood optimistically.
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To be fair, the superhero genre is typically
both fantastic and cinematic. Exceptions are rare, but do exist - Wildbow's
Worm and sequel
Ward are fantastic and mostly realistic rather than cinematic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
Goliath is fantastic: He's something like nine feet tall, he's incredibly strong, he wields a spear that no normal man could lift. But David is not fantastic. He's a normal human being, not some sort of weird hybrid. He's just really, really good with his sling, perhaps cinematically good.
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I'd say it's the other way around, honestly. In the Bible, Goliath is a cinematic interpretation of a human with gigantism*, while David is fantastic as he is divinely empowered. Narratively, the contrast between the two - Goliath the incredibly strong giant, David the small shepherd boy - is purposeful, and meant to show that even someone who should be at a massive disadvantage can have an overwhelming victory with the assistance of God.
*There's some possibility Goliath was meant to be a descendant of the nephilim, which arguably would have made him fantastic as well.