Dredd

This week’s topic stems from months back when I kept stumbling onto short videos and articles about the ‘Halo’ TV series.  First, I had no idea there was a series based on the ‘Halo’ games.  Second, the whole thing was about how they removed Master Chief’s helmet, which was never done in the games.  It created a big uproar among fans and that’s as far as I went with my exploration.  Mostly because it reminded me of my generation’s ‘helmet removal’ moment.

Long ago, there was a comic character named Judge Dredd.  He was judge, jury, and executioner in a dystopian city.  It was a dark science-fiction series with a hero whose face was never seen.  The helmet was always on and that was one of the reasons so many people enjoyed him.  A sense of mystery was added to the character as well as a subconscious urge to put yourself in the his place.  Without a face, a reader might be more likely to picture him as a version of themselves.  Stan Lee mentioned something like this when asked why Spider-Man had a full body costume and mask.  He said it was so that people would never know what he looked like, so people in his world could all connect to him.  Not the same as Dredd though since he was more of a vehicle for the reader to plaster themselves onto.

This kind of came crashing down when the first ‘Judge Dredd’ movie came out in the 90’s with Sylvester Stallone.  It was campy and goofier than the dark source material, which could have been handled on some level.  The biggest issue was that they had Stallone and decided that you needed to see his face.  Now, Dredd was Rocky/Rambo/John Spartan instead of a faceless anti-hero.  The mystery was gone, which added to the changes of tone and general atmosphere of the world.  I believe the argument for this was the same I heard for Master Chief:

‘The audience will have trouble connecting to a hero if they cannot see their face.  So, the helmet had to go.’

Forget that both characters existed in a visual medium of comics and video games, so people were already connecting to them when they had helmets.  Forget that you already had Boba Fett with a fan following before the first ‘Judge Dredd’ movie and ‘The Mandalorian in recent history.  Basically, a decision was made to capitalize on an actor’s face instead of doing it for the story.  One could even argue that there wasn’t any faith in the writing to carry emotions without the actor’s face.  That’s a shame since helmeted heroes have been successful in the past.

Then again, maybe too many people have issues with a character whose face you can’t see or those who are listened to have issues.  You may have noticed that the picture on this post is ‘Dredd’, which was the 2012 ‘Judge Dredd’ movie starring Karl Urban.  He didn’t take his helmet off and it kept the dark, violent tone.  People who knew of the character beforehand praised it even if it had some flaws.  Those who didn’t know the character ended up complaining about various things, including that you never see his face.  It wasn’t even that they couldn’t get emotions or tone from Urban’s Dredd, but they were really upset that he kept the helmet on.  The movie didn’t do as good as it should have, but R-Rated action films usually have trouble.  Personally, I think TV stations suddenly showing the Stallone one drove some curious people away because they thought it would be the same thing.

There are difficulties with a helmeted character though.  At least in a visual medium like games, shows, movies, and comics.  Novels have an easier time because the author can reveal what a character is thinking or facial expressions beneath the mask.  The other mediums cut off either all or part of those expressions, so you lose an aspect of human communication.  It’s noted that 70-93% of how we communicate is connected to voice tone, facial expressions, and body language.  The words we use don’t matter as much as how we say them and act while speaking.  I mean, look at how the impact of an f-bomb can change depending on how you say it.

Personally, I think there are many ways you can communicate emotions with a character whose face you can’t see.  It can be a challenge, but there are other vehicles to use.  It would be like writing a character who is missing one of their senses.  You adapt your style and get them to interact with their surroundings in other ways.  I’ll be trying to explore this concept more during the week.

So, what do you think of helmeted heroes?