SCENE #1

CHARLES MAYNES (CM) : All stories have a beginning. And this one starts in New York City. 1977.

CM: The Yankees (baseball team) were World Series champions…

SFX: Reggie Jackson World Series Homerun…crowd roars…

CM: ...punk rock was just beginning

SFX: Ramones of “Rocket to Russia”

CM: …and none of it even remotely mattered. Not to me.

SFX: (cut guitar/cut crowd noise)

CM: I was five years old and what mattered most in the world were superheroes.

SFX: whispered reading: “Spiderman swept down from the rootop to the Sandman’s surprise….”

CM: Once a week, my parents would give me 25 cents to buy a comic book on my way home from school…
And I would lay in bed at night reading about the adventures of Spiderman, Superman, Batman and the others…dreaming that one I might join them. I , too, wanted to feel that sense of courage, to fight for justice, and….I suppose…I wanted a costume.

SFX: pages flipping faster.

CM: But when my parents moved our family to Washington later that year…the comics were lost.

Sfx: page flip – add echo/reverb.

CM: Gone! It was my first true taste of bitterness. I told myself I was done with superheroes. Only I wasn’t. Not exactly.

SCENE #2

TAPE ATHERTON: “Hi. I’m Mathew Atherton. And before I tell you who I am…Well, you have to know who I’ve been…..”

(MUSIC START)

ATHERTON: “Some people were born to play music….others were born to dance…I was born to be a superhero….”

SFX: Fade in Music/Fade out Narrated Film

SONG: Tomoyasu Hotei, "Battle Without Honor"

CM: When I was 18, I went off to study at a college in Iowa called Grinnell. It was a small place – less than 1500 students – and, among them, there was a guy named Mathew Atherton. I didn’t really know him, but I knew well OF him. For Halloween our 1st year, he’d made a Spiderman costume…and, then, more or less after that, never took it off. For four years, this ‘Spiderman’ would make appearances at campus parties, scale walls and stage mock rescues, deliver candy during finals, and publicly battle his nemesis – another student dressed in a Gorilla suit. I didn’t know why Atherton did it…and, to be honest, I didn’t much care.

CM: I was a serious. I’d moved on.

CM: At my graduation, Spiderman descended from the rooftop to claim his diploma.

CM: And I thought that's the last I would ever see of him. Only it wasn’t. Not exactly.

SCENE #3

TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: Somewhere inside all of us lives a hero…

I…!
I…!
I..!
want to be a superhero.
“I want to be a superhero”

TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: Announcer: In a contest unlike any other…one winner will have their character immortalized in an original comic book by Stan Lee, the mastermind behind the greatest superheroes in history.

Girl: “To be immortalized by this master of all superheroes would be a dream come true…”

Announcer: “The winning character will also be featured in a Saturday night feature movie…”

Male Voice: “I feel like I have died and this is my own personal heaven….”

TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: “Who will be world’s next great superhero?”

CM: This spring, announcements appeared on American television for a new reality show called ‘Who Wants to be a Superhero?’ Stan Lee…the man who created Spiderman, X-Men, the Hulk, and other classic comic books…would choose the world’s next great superhero. And, if you’re wondering what exactly it takes to be a superhero? Well, you tell them Stan…

STAN LEE: “The qualities are courage, loyalty, integrity, a desire for justice, and the ability not to look foolish in a brightly colored spandex costume…”

CM: You can probably guess where this is going…..Among the hundreds of people who showed up for the audition in Hollywood that day, Mathew Atherton, this Spiderman from my college, was chosen as a contestant. He would have his chance to be a real superhero. To live his dream…the one I’d left behind. And I wanted to know how it felt.

CM: ....So I called him.

SCENE #4

SFX: TELEPHONE: RING…RING
“Hello?”
“Yes, I’m trying to reach Matthew Atherton?”
“hello?”
“Hi is Mathew Atherton there?
“Hello…?”
“Is Mathew Atherton there..?”
“Oh…I’m sorry…

SONG: Loop from Calexico, "Whipping the Horse"

CM: I tracked Atherton down in Kentucky where he was visiting with his grandmother.

This is Matthew…
Hi Matthew..It’s Charles…

CM: It’s a strange thing talking to people you only kind of know…and here I think the telephone helps. There’s something about the hiss and distance that makes easier to just...talk. At least for longer than you might otherwise.

“Oh hey Charles…how long we were supposed to be on the phone for?”
“How does half an hour sound..ok?”
“sure, that’s fine..”

SFX: RUN TAPED CONVERSATION UNDER NEXT SECTION)

CM: We caught up on life in the ten years since we’ve graduated from college. How I’d gone on into radio, how he’d moved around a bit, married, and eventually become a computer programmer in California.

CM: He also told me about his father’s death when he was a boy, about how he and his father never really connected; and about how, with his father gone, he turned to superheroes for his role models.

CM: He knew some people couldn’t understand this.

CM: And I suspected he knew that I might be one of those people.

SONG: Segments from Calexico "Pepita"

ATHERTON: I remember in Grinnell, you know, a lot of people thought that I was dressing up as Spiderman and jumping across rooftops because I wanted attention…they didn’t realize that it was just a manifestation of my personality and it was just something that I LOVED to do.

So when I was growing up I remember distinctly lying in my bed at night…couldn’t get to sleep…staring at the ceiling…imaging how I would reveal to my girlfriend that I was Spiderman. I knew exactly how I’d do it. I’d do a standing flip up onto the ceiling and my feet would lock onto the ceiling and I would just say…’See? I’m not lying to you.’…I never dreamed that a show like this would come around. And when it did, I thought ‘if I don’t get to participate in this show then why am I even on this planet?’

SCENE #5

CM: For the show, Atherton had to come up with a new character….and so he invented “Feedback”…or ”Obratnie Syaz’ in Russian.

SONG: Primary backing track from Calexico, "Attack El Robot! Attack!"

CM: Of course, Feedback was a fictional superhero, a creation of the real Mathew Atherton. But the strange was this Feedback had a fictional alter ego: a guy named…Mathew Atherton.

ATHERTON: Because for me the character was always me. The back story was always a façade of my life. And that’s how it turned out on the show. The secret identity of the superhero was actually the person playing it.

CM: So Feedback in his alter ego is a computer programmer. And Mathew Atherton in his life is a computer programmer. Got it?

ATHERTON: But the original background was that he was working on a method by which he could save memory…computer data memory…and a wearable fabric..,.a flexible wearable fabric. And he was doing this not through conventional means but through an experiment that involved organic computing.

CM: Only something went terribly wrong! An explosion!
ATHERTON: …And cellular shrapnel, this smart cloth that he invented…this shrapnel kind of imbedded itself in his body and created this disruption field which would disrupt technology whenever he was near it.

CM: In an attempt to shield that from technology, he created a suit to put the effect in check.

ATHERTON: …And when he did that he found that, yes, he could interact with technological devices without disrupting them…and one of the things he did was play video games as a test to make sure it would work. And low and behold, he found he could absorb the powers of the video game through some conspiracy of circumstance through this disruption field and the suit made to put in check.

CM: And with that, a new superhero was born onto the world…with a black shiny costume and a catch phrase:

ATHERTON: “Lecture’s Over! Time for some Feedback! (English)

SONG: loops taken from Calexico, "No Doze"

RUSSIAN OVERDUB; Lecture’s Over! Time for some Feedback! (Russian).

CM: With those words, Feedback was ready to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers everywhere....if, Atherton says, he could learn to control his powers.

ATHERTON: I grew up with Spiderman and I wanted to create a character that had a lot of the same qualities as Spidey…especially the weaknesses and disadvantages…so I had to use my mind and my resourcefulness to accomplish things...and that’s the way my life has always been…so…You know, that’s one of the reasons why I made that feedback field kind of like a curse…I mean, if he goes near someone with a pacemaker, he could endanger their life; or he gets near someone with a cell phone…you know, not gonna work.

ATHERTON: The character, like all heroes, has to really find out where he fits in. What it is that he can do with his power. It’s…trying to get a handle on his world and how the powers will help him help other people.

SCENE #6

SONG: Tomoyasu Hotei "Battle Without Honor"

CM: Only Feedback wasn’t alone.

START MUSIC, SOUND OF CROWDS

CM: Eleven other Superheroes were ready to challenge him for the title:

CM: …There was Fat Mama,
SFX: typing on computer

From the dossier:

Fat Mama gets her powers from eating donuts and grows to five times her normal size when she’s angry.
Weakness: Diet Foods
Catch Phrase: Saving the World One Donut at a Time

CM: …There was Major Victory:
SFX: typing on computer
From the dossier: Major Victory can jump 200 meters in the air, levitate, has superstrength and supervision
Weaknesses: deaf in one ear, lactose intolerant.
Catch phrase: be a winner, not a weiner.

CM: …Monkey Woman...
SFX: typing on computer
From the Dossier: Monkey Woman carries high-tech weaposn disguised as bananas..but her powers are weakened by organs and music boxes.
Catch Phrase: None.

CM: Lemura
SFX: typing on computer
Lemura can hurl fireballs and channel solar energy…
Weakness: vulnerable to darkness and the night.
Catch phrase: Hello Sunshine!

CM: Cell phone girl
SFX: typing on computer

From the Dossier: Cell Phone Girl....teleport from one active cell phone to....eyes can take digital photos, she can download information from any computer.
Catch Phrase: Listen to this!

CM: There was Nitro G…and there were others.

CM: All ready to fight for justice and -- if we're being honest -- all resembling patients from a psychward. That was something that worried Atherton when he first arrived on the set. His lifelong dream might actually turn out a laughingstock.

ATHERTON: I was really on the fence at the beginning of the show because I knew that the executive producer of the show was the man who did ‘American’s Funniest Moments,’ which is a show where you’re laughing all the time. And I thought ‘Oh boy’ this really means a lot to me. I hope this show doesn’t turn into something that is laughing at the people who are really into superheroes.

ATHERTON: Even when I walked in on the first day and everyone was dancing around and having a good time…I was totally thrown off guard….totally thrown off guard. I knew that some people were there to be goofy…and joke around and that the show needed that. But I wanted to be there as a representative of the die-hard fans of superheroes who would have given their left arm to be there…to be on the show having that experience. And so I thought ‘hey, I’m here for me and I’m here for them…to represent those people who would take it seriously.

SONG: Backing track from Calexico "Attack El Robot! Attack!"

MAYNES: If you’ve ever watched reality TV…the rules for the show probably sound familiar. Each episode, Atherton and the other contestants were given challenges. They rescued children, tested their bravery, and proved their worthiness in battle.

MAYNES: And at the end of each episode, Stan Lee would appear on a television screen to remind them of the qualities of a superhero...

ACT: Stan Lee: The qualities are…

MAYNES: ....And pick one contestant who had to turn in his or her costume. That person would go home.

End clip: Blink!

SCENE #7

SONG: LOOP: Da..da..da…da…da…da..

CM: After six weeks, only two heroes remained: Feedback and Fat Mama…the donut lover. It was the day of the big finale, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Who would be the world’s next great superhero? Atherton was pretty sure…it wasn’t him.

ATHERTON: You know we had been told to write two speeches that day. A speech about you basically winning…and another speech that congratulates the other hero. And there was only one speech I could write which was congratulating Fat Mama. I couldn’t write anything that was even close to me winning because I felt like Fat Mama had it. She deserved it. She was the hero and I was routing for her. And so when Stan made the announcement that she needed to turn in her costume…it was just shock and disbelief. It just seemed just so unbelievable. So all those thoughts were swirling in my head. Why would he tell her to turn..in..her…costume? What…does…that…mean? Wait a minute….does….that…mean…..I won?

STAN LEE: Ladies and Gentleman. Boys and Girls. It is now time to meet the world’s next great superhero…. True Believers, I present to you…FEEDBACK!!!!

ATHERTON: And then it was just this euphoria that kind of exploded. And I didn’t know what to do, what to say, how to react, other than to just kind of…yell. (laughs….)

“Ahh………!!!! ...My dream!!!! …My wife!!!! …My friends!! ….Ahhhhh!!!!”

ATHERTON: I mean how do you process that? When this goal that you’ve been working towards for so long and so hard actually comes true? How do you process that…when your dream comes true? I just tired to be real present at that moment and take it all in. Because I knew that some people never get that moment in their lives. And if this is the only moment I ever have of feeling that success and euphoria of accomplishing this great goal I’ve had…for my whole life … then I just wanted to take it all in…and be present…and enjoy it.

SONG: Loops and samples from Calexico, "No Doze"

SFX: ROOM NOISE. CLICKING AROUND

I mean how do you process that..? How do you come to terms…ff sfx…dreams come true…
I mean how do you processs that? ….sfx. I still haven’t processed that. (with Echo/tape manipulations)

SFX: TRAIN/SUBWAY RUNS UNDERNEATH

CM: On the train home from work that night, I kept going over the interview in my head. Trying to make sense of what I was feeling. Why was I so…happy for him? What was it about him that I found myself admiring? A lack of cynicism? His lack of irony? The fact that this was no joke…and with no joke, there was no punch line?

CM: Atherton had held onto his childhood dream – really, when you think about it, an impossible dream. And yet he’d lived to see it through at the age of 34, when too many of us have given up. And, even more unusual, he was a gracious winner who wanted to share his dream with others.

ATHERTON: You know, this idea you could do something great. That you could be something great, is something I think a lot of us carry with us. When dream upon dream happens and now everything you think you ever wanted is now in your lap, then the question is ……is this what you really wanted?’ and how do you deal with the consequences of it. ….Any day I can put on a superhero costume is a great day for me. I know it might seem like I’m not saving the world or stopping trains from going off a cliff. But I feel like if you can positively influence kids and let them know that if they walk the path of the straight and narrow, the world can be wide open to them. And I’d like to pass that message on to as many people as I can.

CM: And there was I wondering if -- somehow, without my expecting it -- he’d passed that message on to me…

STAN LEE: “The qualities are courage, loyalty, integrity, a desire for justice, AND the ability not to look foolish in a brightly colored spandex costume…” (WITH ECHO EFFECT)

Stan Lee had been right. Atherton had all those qualities. He really was, in his own way, a Superhero.
And that would have been the end of the story. Only it’s not. Not exactly.

SCENE #8

SONG: Loops from Calexico "Whipping the Horse" "No Doze" and "Pepita"

CM: That night I fell into what must have been a dream. It…it…it could only have been a dream.

CM: I was flying. Below me passed oceans, cities, fields, forests, mountains…one after the other -- they all flashed by in seconds! I could feel…or maybe the better word is ‘hear’…the whole world -- everything and everyone – pulsing through me. I was as if I was a human transmitter. Everywhere and nowhere at once…

CM: Mother to son. Father to daughter. Ship to shore. I could make the earth’s creatures communicate! I even found that when I concentrated, I could turn enemies into friends. It was a remarkable feeling.

CM: Racing through the sky enthralled by this new-found power…I look over and saw Feedback perched on a cloud. Superman and Spiderman hovered near by. Hanging from swing set on a frozen lightning bolt, the Hulk sat eating a…carrot.

GROUP: “Greetings! Are you ready?”
CM: “…Ready…? Ready for what?”

GROUP: “With great power comes great responsibility. Are you ready to…change…your…ways?”

CM: “Was I really that…bad?”
GROUP: “You could have been better”

CM: And then, I know it sounds crazy but I could feel a pencil drawing the very words that came from my mouth:

CM: “Yes,” ….“I can be better. I’m ready to change.”

CM: The Superheroes all smiled…and Feedback gave me an approving nod.

CM: And you know what happened next…?

GROUP: “Lecture’s over! Time for some.....”

SONG: CALEXICO "Close Behind"

THE END

Program Links

Who Wants to be a Superhero? (Official Site)

Feedback Comic (Dark Horse Comics)

Feedback/Atherton (Home Page)

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Ссылки по ДОК, которые могут вам пригодиться:

• International Feature Conference
• Фестиваль "Третий Берег" (США)
• Страница семинара конкурса "DOC"
• 6 позиций Автора документальной программы
• transom.org
• Советы от Вольфганга Бауернфайнда 
• Страница семинара DOKi 07, в том числе лекция Йенса Яриша "Почему именно документальная программа?"
•  Google-поэмы - изобретение Пайка Малиновского
• Мастер-класс от Айры Гласса "Новый способ делать радио"