The obsession that Hollywood has with capes and how they’ve been used has changed over the years. To be understood first and foremost capes do have a different effect with men and women. Typically a cape on a man will signify some semblance of authority, of power, and even strength in some cases. In women it’s more about style, elegance, and displaying a regal bearing that tells a story of riches, power, and an air of superiority that is displayed with a definite sense of flair. Capes are for the most part all about aesthetic when it comes to Hollywood, though there have been moments when they’ve been used as a functional tool as well.
Capes are really more of a burden than a boon to many characters. Unlike a cloak or a sweater they aren’t that great for keeping out the cold, and to be honest they don’t keep out a lot of weather conditions. To be honest they’re kind of useless except for flash and pomp. But throughout the history of the movies things have been changing as the cape continues to be a fashion accessory that is used to create a bit more drama within films so as to make the character wearing them appear more regal and even threatening in some cases.
For instance, Batman is one of the best examples since in the beginning his cape was essentially useless. It could be used as a distraction but was for the most part kind of a hindrance. Any villain that was skilled in combat and could maneuver his way around Batman could possibly use the cape to truly mess up the dark knight’s day. But by the time Batman Begins came along with Christian Bale assuming the role the cape had finally taken on some purpose. Instead of just simple fabric it had become memory cloth, which essentially allowed the cape to turn itself into a wearable glider that allowed Batman to glide from impossible vertical distances and coast along until he reached the ground. That was perhaps one of the most practical capes to ever appear in a movie.
Of course let’s not forget the fantastical. Most people would probably love to forget that Spawn became a movie that was, in a word, terrible. The only fun thing to watch about the film was when Spawn’s sentient cape took on a life of it’s own and continually saved him by turning into one thing or another, proving that it was far more adept at survival than Spawn was at that point.
And let’s not forget the recent Dr. Strange movie, in which the cloak of levitation, a fancy cape to be honest, wound up saving the good doctor’s life and augmenting his power. Capes have been seen to have a profound effect upon those that wear them, but these of course are just a few positive examples amidst a slew of useless and essentially bad ones. While capes are great for women, they give them the air of being someone important after all, the effect is mostly lost upon men unless the cape can provide a useful function of some sort.
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