What Was That All About — Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
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Some movies may seem like a lot to take in. A mass of plotting and several characters that need to be tracked can make fully digesting a film appear a very daunting task. In truth, what you take from a film is only ever as complicated as you choose to make it. So while asking what a big, epic film is, “about” can seem like an exercise in abject intellectual terror, the truth of the task is always going to be dependent on what, “about” means to you. Is a film about its plot or themes? Is it about a metaphor or allegory it might communicate? Is it about some esoteric idea the filmmakers may have been exploring in its making? Is what the film about dependent on what the filmmaker says it means or, more importantly, what it means to you? The size of a film might make penetrating its inner world seem less possible, but any film from Clueless to Cleopatra can be broken down into the same basic elements of filmmaking and storytelling. But not every interpretation is a product of careful examination, and what you get out of a film is often entirely dependent on what you’re looking for.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the directors 2021 release of his bastardized 2017 film Justice League, is a 4 hour behemoth of a movie that finally brings his image of the DC comics super-team to the screen. With 7 main characters, including the films spike covered baddie, and a dozen or so secondary characters, the film covers a lot of ground introducing and giving them story arcs to follow, while unspooling a plot that sees the team foil a diabolical attempt to remake the world by returning a fallen hero to the fight. While less thematically dense than the directors previous DC film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and certainly an order of magnitude less emotionally oppressive, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (ZSJL) contains a number of themes that run through the DC films the director has been at least somewhat involved with — Man of Steel (MoS), Batman v Superman (BvS), Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, ZSJL and Aquaman. As some see themes as the window to assessing what a film is about, a look at some of the major themes pervading these works might help illuminate our interpretation.
Noticeably prevalent through these works, and no less in ZSJL, is a theme of the relationships between parents and children. That isn’t to say that the stories strictly revolve around those relationships, but the nature of themes is to support a story, not necessarily to be its subject. Clark Kent’s journey to becoming Superman in MoS is rooted in what he receives from both his Kryptonian and human parents. Bruce Wayne’s path is set by both the loss of his parents and his relationship to that trauma, specifically focused on his mother, while Lex Luthors relationship to his father had a strong hand in shaping who he became. Diana’s strong relationship with her mother and the values she unwittingly instilled in her give her the courage to leave her island home knowing she may never return, while the gifts she receives from her, “father” allow her to save the day. Even the seemingly heartless assassin Deadshot is drawn through Suicide Squad by his desire to do right by his young daughter. While Victor Stone’s relationship with his father Silas most visibly drives Cyborgs arc through ZSJL, we get more than a glimpse at how Barry Allen and Arthur Curry’s characters are fundamentally formed by their relationships with their parents both in both positive and negative ways.
These works also look at the responsibility of power and the subjective perception of good and bad actions. Both BvSand ZSJL bring up the idea that actions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences, even in service of what we think is good, need to be considered, such as when Silas Stone tells his son the challenge of his vast powers will be in understanding when not to act. They ask us to face actions from Batman, Wonder Woman and even Superman that, while being questionably violent, still accomplish heroic goals. In this narrative world violent acts have violent ends, and we are being asked to accept that heroic violence is not immune to that. BvS also asks who it is that gives these characters the right to act as they do, and who assumes responsibility for the fallout of their actions.
The films also ask us to empathize with their villains or perceived villains. In MoS, Zod’s actions will result in the destruction of the human race, but his goal is to try and ensure that his own race and culture are not lost to history. Noble purpose — terrible actions. In BvS, Batman’s plan to destroy Superman may be motivated by a projection of his own fears, but his perspective of the potential danger Superman poses to the planet isn’t impossible to understand. And even in ZSJL, while we know that Steppenwolf’s destruction of countless worlds is incomprehensibly terrible by our human standards, we can still understand that this is the way of his culture and that, ultimately, he just wants to make penance for his past betrayal and be allowed to come home. Empathy is not endorsement, so we are allowed to understand these characters actions as the product of their perspective without having to agree with them.
These themes help to support their films stories, but it’s arguable whether any of them are what their respective films are, “about”. When we look to define, “about” as a word, in this context the most applicable definition might be, “of or concerning”. While everyone who deals with this has their own method for discerning what a film is, “about”, we at Opinion HQ operate under the perspective that a film is ultimately about its characters and their stories, defined as the emotional journey they take during the films events. When your film features a singular lead it’s easier to track their story across the film. But when you have an ensemble film like ZSJL, it often becomes difficult to determine which, if any, of the characters arcs you are meant to focus on. While any individual characters story arc can be looked at and examined, it is our belief that finding the overall story of this kind of film involves stepping back and looking at what all those arcs have in common, as well as what the movie does to resolve the plot. Once you recognize that and track how the emotional arc of the film concludes, you can ask whether or not that forms a metaphor. And once you determine that, you may have found one potential answer to what the film is, “about”.
Many commenters agree that the most easily recognizable character arc in ZSJL belongs to Victor Stone, aka Cyborg. When we first meet the young human/machine hybrid he is angry at his father and hiding from a world he no longer feels a part of. The root of this is a trauma that has caused a great change in how he sees himself influencing how he approaches the rest of the world. The challenge Victor will face is finding a way to overcome this trauma, reconnect with the world and define his place in it. This is accomplished by becoming part of a group that understands him, accepts him as he is and sees his value. Through their acceptance he learns to accept himself, and in that, finds a purpose and a place to belong. So in effect, Cyborgs story is about a person coming to accept the changes to them and realizing they don’t remove them from the world, summed up by the characters show stopping line, “I’m not broken. And I’m not alone.” When director Snyder stated that Cyborg was the, “heart” of the film this appears to not have been hyperbole as, like Batman in BvS, this characters story is easily the most present and robust of them all. If we use this as our anchor we can ask: is there is enough overlap in the other storylines to say we have an idea of what the overall story of the film, “is” and, in that, find what the film is about?
In looking at the main characters individual storylines we can see there are a lot of areas where they intersect with elements of Cyborgs emotional journey as each of the characters faces a sort of isolation and don’t feel they have a place in the world. Diana’s coworkers say she may as well cease to exist when she leaves the museum while she continues to mourn the loss of her home and her love. Arthur never sleeps in the same place twice and feels great enmity towards the mother he believes abandoned him while sharing Victor’s attitude that he, “doesn’t owe anyone anything”. Barry has no permanent address, full time job or friends and spends his time working towards a criminal justice degree he hopes will allow him to free his father from prison after the elder Allen was found guilty of murdering his mother. And following on from his previous portrayal, Alfred accuses the famously anti-social Bruce of being someone who, “broods in a cave for a living”. More importantly though, Bruce understands that if he wants to protect the planet from a coming threat he’s going to need others, something that had not previously been in his modus operandi. Steppenwolf has been exiled from his home world for betraying his family and has been forced to wander the stars conquering worlds as penance. These areas of overlap are central to each character emotional journey even as the details of their stories differ. And while the franchise nature of the film means the characters are not made whole by the end, they are seen taking significant steps towards overcoming their issues as a result of their shared experience. Hell, even Steppenwolf gets to go home — at least in part.
Again, determining what a film is, “about” is not an exact science. It’s heavily dependent on what it is you’re looking for. In this case, we’re trying to determine what the films story (emotional journey) is and, through that, if there is a metaphor present in the text. While the film is very plot heavy, meaning there is a lot of ground covered in its run time, it is still a character driven piece. So the experiences of the characters is where we target out analysis, again anchored by the very visible Cyborg arc. Interpreting metaphor is a whole art in and of itself but, if we look at the lessons Victor takes from his experience by comparing where he is early in the film (calling himself a monster and saying, “Fuck the world”) to where he is by the end, there is a message that accepting that you are not, “broken or alone” will have a positive effect on your life. If we take that idea and couple it to what the characters need to do to overcome the issue of the films plot (teaming up to defeat an enemy none of them can tackle alone), one can interpret a metaphor from the films totality that says, essentially, we are stronger tother. One can see this bolstered in the concept of The Unity, the combination of forces which allows the bad guys to take over a world, as well as how the villains failure can be traced back to ultimate baddie Darkseid leaving Steppenwolf to fend for himself instead of bringing a larger force to bear; not that we want him to. Of course there are other things the film could potentially be about like heroism, sacrifice, the power of love and the importance of a good network firewall. But for the purpose of trying to find a comprehensive communication from the film, the concept of strength in unity appears to ring more true, at least in this analysis.
This metaphor doesn’t fall out of the ether as the seeds had been planted in BvS, as planning for BvS and what would become ZSJL actually began soon after the end of MoS’s production. Superman initially coming to Batman to ask for his help in stopping Lex Luthor’s scheme and unquestioningly teaming up with Wonder Woman to take on the monster in the finale, inspires Bruce to seek out those who would go on to form the League. He even says as much to Diana at the end of that film, a statement he reiterates to Arthur. So unsurprising, the true key to unlocking this films metaphor lay in the previous movie, a technique known colloquially as, “setting up” in the same way MoS, “sets up” the conditions which result in BvS’s plot. The topic itself isn’t new to Snyder, whose films like 300, Dawn of the Dead and Sucker Punch all feature individuals pooling their talents and resources to form a stronger unit, much to the continued consternation of those that would call the director an, “Ayn Rand objectivist”. When you look over the directors body of work you can see this as part of his auteur approach, a continued exploration of themes that are apparently meaningful to him on some level.
This analysis reaffirms the position we took back in 2017 with the release of the studio version of the film.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League may look like a lot of material to work through to form an interpretation, but that impression may only reflect an attempt at analysis in real time. In many ways, a film like this might not work to communicate a metaphor if the material is difficult to interpret; Batman v Superman is an example of that in action. Doubtlessly, what the film is, “about” is going to be largely up to interpretation, as cliche as that may sound, and everyone is free to take from it what they feel is most valuable. As Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor once said, “Some people can read War and Peace and and come away thinking its a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe”. How long, dense or overwhelming a film might seem should never be a deterrent to an attempt to glean some meaning from it. Asking what something is about is one of the most important question we can put to any piece of art. But like a pot luck dinner, in the end what you take away is largely dependent on what you bring. What makes it easier is, also like a pot luck, you don’t have to be the only cook in the kitchen. It might take some time, and the answers may not always be satisfying but, if you’re honestly engaged, and with the help of some friends, you might just come out the other side better for it.
Clever endings aren’t my bag.
Laterz
Please consider donating to the Autumn Snyder Tribute Fund, sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. www.AFSP.org