Why Zack Snyder Movies Don’t Slap
You can say a lot about Zack Snyder’s films. But you can’t say that they’re a straight bop.
I rewatched the 2013 film Man of Steel last week hoping I might glean some new sense of appreciation for it following the Snyder Cut of Justice League being released on HBO Max. I kinda hate this movie and have for many years despite claiming Superman to be one of my favorite characters of all time. I still say that Batman v Superman is one of the sloppiest, dreadful, bad films I’ve ever seen and yes I still think that after seeing the director's cut of it.
But I did kinda like the Snyder Cut in all of its drawn-out, pretentious, desaturated glory.
It’s kinda fun and at least the characters act more like they’re supposed to. It’s also much better-paced, there are not nearly as many scenes in it that drag as much as Snyder’s past films. I still think you can edit that sucker down to a great 2 and a half hour movie. But that’s besides the point.
I don’t like Snyder films. And despite enjoying the embellishments of the Snyder Cut I still don’t. After watching Man of Steel I was expecting to come away with something that makes me appreciate it more. I didn’t. Like at all. I still kinda hate it while loving individual scenes in the movie, the casting, and the Dragon Ball Z references. But even while sitting through the movie reminding myself, “stop comparing this to Superman, this isn’t Superman, this is Zack Snyder’s Kal-El, the alien Jesus” I still couldn’t find myself to get behind this beautiful looking but messy, confused, and conflicted film.
Instead, I only got a deeper understanding of Zack Snyder as a filmmaker.
Also, it reminded me of the fetus aquarium. Did you guys remember how much of the movie revolved around a fetus aquarium? Russell Crowe goes swimming in it to get a magic skull. It’s disgusting.
I’m going to be real with y’all. I write here on Medium for money, that is my greatest factor for the topics I cover. Medium is a platform I find to be occasionally problematic by the algorithm highlighting bad faith hot takes that were written for nothing more than to get clicks and to get people riled up.
I don’t like giving in to that, which I know I’m super hypocritical for saying this due to the intentionally antagonistic headline. But at least my headline is also intentionally goofy instead of making myself sound like some authority on the subject.
Despite all of this, this website has also provided me with a better audience and monetary reward compared to when I was just freelancing. I watched Man of Steel, and am currently writing about it because my written review of the Justice League Snyder Cut performed well so I figured another Snyder piece would as well. This is pure clickbait because I need more money and viral pieces to look better on my portfolio/resume. Thanks for clicking, I greatly appreciate the fraction of a cent that your click has given me to fund my rampant fast food eating and impulse Amazon purchases.
And while that might sound like a completely random anecdote, it really isn’t.
Because this post, and every other piece of writing, or art, or whatever you want to call it, it all has value.
Despite my intentions of writing this because I wish to have some income coming my way during this weird period of being in between jobs, that doesn’t make this piece shallow. I have just as much to say about Snyder’s films as he has to say in his films.
I can talk about the surface-level observations that are talked about so much to the point of it being over-played, like how his Superman doesn’t act like Superman. Or how his storytelling is greatly influenced by Ayn Rand like some kind of problematic Brad Bird.
I could go into how much of a bad faith criticism I think it is to dismiss his work as Style Over Substance.
I could do the boring YouTuber thing of boiling down logic inconsistencies in his films that don’t really mean anything besides making fun of the film.
I could talk about much more ingrained problems with his filmography like his blatant Xenophobia and Islamophobia in 300 or his fetishizing of the Amazonians in Justice League.
But I’m not. Not to say those criticisms are invalid, they are valid as hell. But people much smarter than me have discussed these issues before so for me to repeat them would be nothing more than redundant and self-congratulatory. A quick Google or YouTube search will lead you to a bunch of well-written and better-researched explanations of these criticisms than this op-ed.
Instead, I wish to leave you with this thought: Why are Snyder movies never a straight-up banger?
It’s obviously a deep philosophical question. But seriously, why are his movies always so divisive? Why do I hate them, but someone else doesn’t? You can even use other divisive movies as a fill-in for this if you find the Snyder conversation to be too specific. Iron Man 3, The Last Jedi, WW84, the list goes on of these highly divisive blockbuster movies so pick your poison.
Because I firmly believe that dismissing an entire group of people based on the worst sections of their fanbase is toxic as hell. You shouldn’t sincerely hate someone just because they like something you don’t when that thing in question is something as trivial as a genre movie.
Because while I look at something like Zack Snyder films and see pretty much the movie embodiment of toxic masculinity, plenty of people watch it and get something that is the complete opposite. They see vulnerability and love in his versions of these DC heroes. And neither takeaways have to devalue the other.
I watch Snyder movies and mostly interpret them as toxic, xenophobic, homophobic, and sexist depending on which movie we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean I think Zack Snyder hates any of these groups. I can still find his representation troubling without making any harsh judgments on the man. Because I really don’t know much about him besides rumblings that he’s a great boss and fun to work with. In the case of 300, I blame Frank Miller more than anyone as the creator of the text the film was based on. But I still don’t know him, it would be unfair and uninformed to make some broad statement about his personal beliefs unless he’s done some interview I haven’t come across where he directly states his beliefs. But if that exists I just haven’t seen it, and my opinion would change.
The same goes for his fanbase, the only ones whom I judge harshly are the people who actually harass others, which is immature and wrong. But I don’t assume everyone who likes his movies are like that either because that would also be uninformed and unfair.
Before I go I want to mention a conversation I had with my friend recently. While talking about a recent episode of Falcon and Winter Soldier we ended up talking more broadly about people’s interpretation of TV and movies. It was an interesting conversation because I still don’t think any one of us was right or wrong, which are often some of the most enlightening conversations anyone can have on any subject.
Basically, we were discussing when it hits a point of someone reading too much into something. Both of us were in agreement that pretty much any person's interpretation doesn’t actually matter or is wrong unless they use that as an excuse to hurt another group of people or person. But in the grand scheme of things, when considering how much people consume media (and how much media is consumed in general) those are the more rare occasions. Most people just watch, play, listen, or read a thing and then move on with their lives.
I bring this conversation up to remind whoever is reading this, just like everyone else in the world, you bring your own baggage into anything you watch. Everything about yourself and everything that has happened to you will inform what you take away from a piece of art whether you like it or not.
Or in the immortal words of Mr. Plinkett, “you may have not noticed it… but your brain did.”
So acknowledging that. Acknowledging that everyone views things differently, doesn’t make anyone wrong. I can greatly identify with Guardians of the Galaxy 2 due to its themes and story of overcoming abuse. While someone else can hate it because all they saw was a goofy alien movie with poop jokes. Neither of us is wrong there and to pretend like either one is the authority or the “correct” interpretation of the movie is just silly and childish.
Maybe if we weren’t so quick to antagonize people over liking something they didn’t, or vice versa, or antagonize some artist for making something you didn’t like, maybe these toxic fanbases wouldn’t be as loud as they are. Because it seems to happen to every fanbase at this point.
Like or don’t like whatever you want. Just don’t be a jerk about it. Superman wouldn’t like that.
