Antithesis of An Analyst — Lessons from Ant-man & the Wasp (but mostly Ant-man)
Episode VIII — Superhero Lessons In Analytics, Season 2
The Ant-man sequel which was released last year has plenty to inspire an episode of this series. We could talk about phase shifts and perspectives. We could dig into sizes and relativity. Perhaps we will revisit them?
Ant-man has something quite special, relative to other Marvel titles. It has Paul Rudd and Michael Pena, two guys who are arguably anti-analysts and immensely human. All puns intended, the movie demands it.
Having authored this series for years, I am always on the look out for analytic material in any Superhero movie, series, or title. Typically, titles either deliver or avoid the subject entirely. Ant-man daringly breaks that wall, with two actors who have a genius knack for being a little bit stupid in a very human way.
Luis and the Anti-truth
Michael Pena’s character Luis is the faithful sidekick of Ant-man. He is known in the movie for his comic flashback accounts and backstories. He is also the antidote (yeah, these will keep happening) for the proverb — you can never have too much context.
Luis manages to deliver massive amounts of “truth” with almost no meaningful value because they are layered in endless context. He does warn us that his answer is complicated. He then rambles on a metaphorical journey with endless context. Call it an anthology.
Truth is — I have never known an analyst like this. I have meant more than a handful of overzealous clients capable of rambling on with endless context however. Like Luis, it comes with the best of intentions. Unlike Luis, it never seems quite so entertaining.
Scott and the Anti-plan
Scott is a hero. He is creative. He is crafty. He might even be smart. He is woefully disorganized. His playful personality might initially lead you to believe these are just antics, but when Scott gets serious — there is no hiding it.
You know, my Pap-pap always said, if you wanna do something right, you make a list.
So we should do that.
One, we have to break into the lab.
Second, we have to kick out Foster and Ghost.
Three, we have to fight Ghost. That seems like it should part of 2.
2-A. Right? Let’s call it 2-A.
I have known more than my share of disorganized analysts. Well at least on the surface… The reality is most are just operating across a different dimension, from a different perspective. So maybe we can draw a little on that “out of phase” theme that ran through this movie. These folks had order. They had a plan. They just didn’t always connect well with their audience.
To that, Scott is the antithesis. He connects, quite well. He just can’t create a plan to save… well anyone. At least, not yet… Perhaps that makes him more exceptional? Clearly he saves a lot of people. Perhaps his plan is simply to surround himself with others who can make a plan? Perhaps he is just operating from another perspective? Dimension? Quantum realm? But let’s not get entangled…
Scott and Luis are not analysts. But they are great models for analyst to learn from. They provide a very real, very human perspective on behavior that exists in some level… everywhere. They just bottle it up in a little microcosm. They put it under a microscope. Maybe they actually enlarge it? Make it bigger than life? Boy this is tiring… thanks for reading!
