Weak State, Strongman
How the GOP created the conditions for Trump’s illiberalism
For a while there, it seemed like the only kind of movie that Hollywood wanted to make — and maybe the only kind of movie Americans wanted to watch — featured muscled crusaders in tight costumes battling evil.
The superhero movie — which wasn’t much of a thing a couple of decades ago — came to dominate entertainment in the last 20 years. In 2001, superhero movies made only .06% of Hollywood’s total box office revenues. By 2021, the men in capes and tights brought in 32% of the industry’s money. The list of history’s biggest opening weekends is filled with names like Spider-Man, Black Panther, and the Avengers. The superheroes have branched out to TV, as well — Disney seems determined to turn every minor character that ever appeared in a comic book into the star of a streaming show.
Why did Americans become so enamored with superhero movies over the last 20 years? There are probably a lot of reasons. They feature attractive actors in skintight costumes fighting and blowing stuff up. They don’t require a lot of thought from the audience and encourage us to sit back and enjoy the chaotic spectacle. Comic books provide movie studios with a giant reserve of intellectual property that they can mine, recycling characters and plots until the cows come home.
