Your Geek Culture Update: Iron Man vs. Speed Racer
First of all, let me state that both the Iron Man and Speed Racer movies receive the Geek King Seal of Approval. Both are wonderfully geeky films. But after having seen both of them I wonder, which is geekier? Speed Racer or Iron Man? and how would I quantify that? I will attempt to do that right now. Feel free to apply your own metrics.
| Geek Points | Iron Man | Speed Racer | Geek Points |
| + 1 | Tony Stark is an inventor and an engineering genius. | Speed Racer is a race car driver. | - 1 |
| + 1 | Tony Stark lives in a tasteful and immaculate, high tech bachelor pad with a secret laboratory in the basement. | Speed Racer lives with his parents. | + 2 |
| - 1 | Tony Stark is a playboy bachelor. | Speed Racer has had the same girlfriend since grade school and they sometimes hold hands. | + 1 |
| + 2 | Tony Stark's dad worked on the Manhattan Project. | Speed Racer's dad is a genius engineer who designs and builds racing cars. | + 1 |
| + 2 | Tony Stark fights crime from within his high tech battlesuit. | Speed Racer battles the bad guys from within his high tech car. | + 1 |
| + 1 | Tony Stark has robots and beautiful personal assistant. | Speed Racer has his mom and dad, his girlfriend, and a chimpanzee named "Chim-Chim". | + 2 |
| - 1 | Tony Stark goes to swanky cocktail parties with fashion models and celebrities on a night out. | Speed Racer takes Trixie parking on a night out, but apparently never makes out. | + 1 |
| + 1 | Tony Stark was top of his class. | Speed Racer barely made it out of high school. | - 1 |
| Total 6 | Iron Man | Speed Racer | Total 6 |
You see my problem? Someone needs to break this tie.
Please feel free to send me nominees for the Geek King Seal of Approval. This concludes this royal announcement.
Posted by
ironic1 on May 14, 2008 01:40 PM | Permalink
Comments
Wait... why is "playboy bachelor" a bad thing? Also, Iron Man - NO MONKEYS! Furthermore - per anthems (official or otherwise): "Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, Go!" vs. "I am Iron Man."
A tie? This tantamount to a slap in the face.
Posted by: Green Lable | May 14, 2008 01:51 PM
A playboy bachelor is NOT geeky. Virgin bachelor idly masturbating to a scantly clad Princess Leia, very geeky.
How was Speed Racer? The reviews for it are horrible.
I made a modification of Tribes 2 that was very Iron Man like. I think Marvel should rip-off my game. http://zoyx.livejournal.com/310669.html
Posted by: Zoyx | May 14, 2008 02:20 PM
from the Lit Geek point of view, and this is based only on the trailers mind you, there's another splitting of hairs in that both are heroes, Iron Man cut from the Nietschean superman of might=right and breaking apart from society to do what must be done. Perhaps Ayn Randian might be equally appropriate.
With his family, steed, squire and princess, Speed Racer is well within the more classic Knight hero. So, which is geekier: Fountainheaders or RenFesters? (I know that they're not mutually exclusive).
Posted by: jmcc | May 14, 2008 03:07 PM
Why is Danny from Danny does Duluth banned?
Posted by: Craig | May 14, 2008 03:50 PM
GL - Speedy has a chimp. Shellhead has robots. I think that's a tie.
Posted by: ironic1 | May 14, 2008 05:13 PM
So... Speed Racer, then?
(Seriously, how adept at moral equivalence must you be to think that there is even a comparison to be made)
Also... really... "a" monkey (or ape, or primate, or humanzee, or etc.) vs. "stuff Stark built." I suppose that if you're on the intelligent design bandwagon... then, yes, I totally see your point.
Finally, I can see how this comparative exercise may seem charming... but... man... even the effort to attempt legitimizing gives me the shimmies AND the shakes.
Really?
Really??
Though, for what it's worth, I hope and pray that the new Indy flick doesn't suck. Note to Cate Blanchette: Please be as awesome as the brief previews are leading us to believe. Puh. Leese.
Posted by: Green Lable | May 14, 2008 09:29 PM
Addendum:
Yes there are grammatical errors in my previous post...
live by the screen name, type by the screen name.
Posted by: Green Lable | May 14, 2008 09:34 PM
Help me here, folks. Is Green Lable arguing for Speedy or Shellhead as being geekier? I can't figure out which side he's arguing. He seems to be adamant about something, but I'm not getting it.
Posted by: ironic1 | May 14, 2008 09:44 PM
First... there's no one coming to help.
Second; if "geek" is the standard, history must de-consider Tony Stark/Iron Man. If - however - If - mind you - If - keeping in mind what a geek would (demographically ages 12-52) prefer to be: Iron Man.
And, bearing in mind that Iron Man is a uniquely male phenomenon, it is imperative to illuminate Spider-Woman and her presence in the histories of Mr. Stark. He ain't nowhere without her.
And to settle this... the debate isn't a matter of "geek" in so much as it is a matter of Iron Man (*awesome*) versus Speed Racer (Ugh... not *awesome* unless the depths of irony are mined [and that's a scientific fact... no one actually enjoys Speed Racer... holy hell, that weird cartoon where when the dude got wet and turned into a girl {and his dad turned into a panda} is verifiably better than Speed Racer.] If this is the case, there is no questioning... dependent on the original premise offered.
Also: [SPOILER ALERT!!!] Really? Alien skeletons? There'd better be some incredibly incredible storytelling Messrs Lucas and Spielberg... or it's free hats for everybody.
Posted by: Green Lable | May 15, 2008 04:13 AM
Ohhhhh... I get it! You aren't actually answering the question. You are simply asserting that Iron Man is a good movie/franchise and that Speed Racer is a bad movie/franchise. Okay. But that wasn't the question.
jmcc - I think that's an insightful consideration. Which character's narrative is geekier? And I like your analysis. The Will to Power vs. the Knight Errant. I think the jury is still out as to which is geekier.
Oh, and GL, of the two themes, I'm pretty sure "Go Speed Racer" is the geekier of the two, but I'd be open to other interpretations.
Posted by: ironic1 | May 15, 2008 07:48 AM
Iron Man is way geekier than Speed Racer. Without the chimp, Speed has nothing on the comic geek.
Though I do find myself torn. Iron Man's support of the Superhuman Registration Act = not very geeky.
Posted by: Bad Cat! | May 15, 2008 09:44 AM
Ranma ½ is decidedly better than Speed Racer—though it's no Dragon Half.
Posted by: adam | May 15, 2008 12:00 PM