American Splendor's Modern Media

Imagining one's future being confined to filing medical reports in a local veteran's hospital is not discouraging; but disturbing. Furthermore, would one be interested in reading a comic book about such a nightmare? Or even watching a movie? American Splendor adapts to screen the life of a man who walks down the path no one else would dare to tread. Harvey Pekar, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, is the creator of the comic and the subject of the film. Far from the Hollywood limelight, Pekar is a "genuine jerk" who "refuses to play it for laughs or sympathy" (Arnold 1). Nevertheless, the working class life he led as a file clerk became the subject of a praised comic and eventually worthy of an adapted screenplay. "American Splendor's
With seemingly never-ending advancements in technology, permanent standards cannot be set for what can be loved, created, or blown up in a film. Yet the most popular examples of modern media are ones to which audiences can relate; not films with the most explosions or high-tech graphics. For example, The Passion directed by Mel Gibson is raking in hundreds of millions at the box office. Regardless of the sensitive subject matter, the film draws large crowds because a large demographic of audience members can relate to and understand the topic at hand. On the contrary, Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy, another comic book adaptation to film, has done only a fraction of The Passion's sales. However, in either example of film, the viewer would like to remain just that; a viewer. It is highly doubtful that anybody would want to either suffer in Jerusalem or encounter "Hellboy" in a dark alley. The same can be said for the viewer of American Splendor. Pekar, although a successful underground comic writer, does not possess the qualities that any audience member would want to have. However, while critics may not care to trade lives with Pekar, they will certainly give credit where credit is earned. The film has been highly praised for its presentation as well as for its casting. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have been honored many times for their adaptation of Harvey Pekar's life to
As far as David Letterman is concerned, "‘[he] is not going to have [me] back,' Pekar [says]. ‘I think he just wants me to go away like a bad dream'" (Elliot 2). In 2001, Harvey Pekar retired from his job at the hospital ending his thirty-six year career as a file clerk. After the fact, Pekar reflects that ‘"the greatest artists are the innovators'" (2). American Splendor is the brainchild of a great artist. The film's revolutionary aspects provide an edge that in comparison to other films is second to none. The raw emotion poured into the comic overflow into the movie, and the effect is received with great admiration. After all, "when [Pekar] did [his] comics [he] always wanted people to look at [him] as some kind of an everyman, but [his] stuff didn't sell good. Here it seems like [people] get it. [Viewers] see themselves in [Pekar], and [Pekar] in themselves" (Pekar). He succeeded in reaching an audience, a large audience in fact; yet at the end of the day, "The only way a screwed-up guy like [Pekar] can take it is one day at a