Yes. I've been a woeful blogger of late, but I have an excuse...I've been saving the world. Kind of.
Anyhoo, I thought I'd pop a trademarked 1truegl comic-related Random Research Question to the one or two UBER-PATIENT readers of this blog.
Question:
Was freerunning (which is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures, according to Wikipedia) inspired by what is sometimes known as roof-running (as practiced by Batman and the Bat family as well as several non-powered heroes across many comic book universes)?
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I had no idea what freeruning is so I had to look it up on Youtube.
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty cool video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KSr1pozm6Y
I didn't think anything like that was possible. I thought that whole roof-running thing wasn't plausible, but after seeing this video I think it could happen in real life. Though the guy in that video looks more like a criminal running than Batman running after a criminal. And I'm seeimg more shades of Spiderman than Batman. But it's very likely that whoever invented frerunning thought it would be cool to be like Batman. There's a little bit of breakdancing in there, too.
So...is the world safe or are we doomed? Keep us updated....
Ooooh--this one's even better!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8YJM7VVQA
About 1:30 in, there's a guy dressed as Batman leaping across rooftops. This is so much fun to watch...!
Hi
ReplyDeleteCool vids.
I should have noted that most roof-runners don’t sport flowing capes like Bats, but then I’d have to mention Nightwing as an example…ugh. Actually, Daredevil from Marvel would be as good an example as Dick.
I don’t really count Spider-man as a roof-runner, because (although he is extremely agile) he EXCLUSIVELY swings from building to building (where a roofrunner would leap across rooftops if they were close enough and swing across ONLY when the destination rooftop was too far to jump).
There is a really cool opening scene to one of the last two James Bond movies (either Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace – I don’t know which) where Bond is chasing a free runner (who runs up walls – yes, that’s also possible, dives through the narrow open windows (that are above door-level), and is basically more at home in environments such as building site than an extremely fit and skilful Bond).
The Roofrunner–freerunner connection just came to me when I wondered whether any hero had free-running as a specific skill.
So…is the world safe or are we doomed?
Reminds me of how I have often re-imagined the opening sequence to the Sam Raimi / Kevin Sorbo Hercules TV series intro:
“…wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be…Hercules” (…causing that suffering :)
Even back then (before I saw Superman’s true colours) I suspected that powerful heroes could be massive douchebags, if given the chance.