Why All the Superhero Movie Hate?
Can we PLEASE call it antithisestablismentarianism?
Some people hate superhero films. The storylines that seem to repeat like a mother asking you to take out the trash. The vapid characters that fanfolk defend harder than their country’s honor. The fact that 80% of the acting takes place in front of a screen that’s greener than the bucketloads of money the movies make. Heck, the fact that they are even called films is upsetting to some. Of course, like those born with a silver spoon in their mouth, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the superhero subject here in the US of A.
Now read on as I go over why the opinion that superhero movies are bad is bad and why anyone who has that opinion should feel bad.
They AREN’T all the Same
Iron Man is about a billionaire-playboy-philanthropist who is now an orphan who must fight his warmongering former mentor. Batman Begins is about a billionaire-playboy-philanthropist who has been an orphan for longer and must now fight his warmongering former mentor. See? Different. I mean, there are the points of Iron Man being about a man’s struggle against his heretofore wanton and indolent nature and Batman Begins being about a man’s struggle with the dichotomy of vengeance and justice, but Tony and Bruce wear masks. And we hates those nasty, smelly maskses, my precious.
There are other franchises other than Marvel and DC, too. Before RDJ stepped into the shoes of “The Da Vinci of Our Time” and Christian Bale gave up the Dark Knight’s cape to the actually quite good Batffleck, Image comics gave us Spawn in 1997, and Dark Horse comics gave us Hellboy in 2004. Was anyone whining about superhero films being in theaters back then? No, and for my sake, I hope you weren’t really making me feel old by not knowing that. Of course, superhero films weren’t making billions back then, so that kind of gives you an idea of what the real concern is.
Get Outsold, Nubs!
Theater, like overseas scam calls, is both an art form and an industry. If you see yourself as an artist, either primarily or exclusively, you probably don’t care too much for the industry aspect of theater. Needless to say, studio execs love them some industry, and they probably don’t give a rat’s rear about negative space and line symmetry. Effectively, directors and actors want to make a joyful noise, and studio execs want to make expensive toys. Everyone wins, right? Not so fast. When you reach a certain level of artistry—I’m looking at you, Snorsese, Didley Scott, and probably every other director aged from 70 to grave — you get to push the studio execs around a bit. The deal is, you make them some money, but you do it your way. That model was suitable, too, while those big directors were the only one’s pulling in the monies. When Iron Man knocked the ball out of the park, however, studio execs saw an opportunity. “We can make movies that make people cheer and make more money than those long, artsy things! And the merch. Dear God Almighty in Heaven, the MERCH MONEY!”
I paraphrased a bit, but you get the idea. Arsty directors lost a bit of their standing when “genre” (if you’ve taken a writing class in college, you know this is a dirty word to teachers) directors come out of the woodwork to make films that grab more money and live in the hearts and minds of the masses rent-free.
That’s the real rub. It’s not the storytelling. Snorsese is a master, but Oops! All Gangsters gets so stale that I don’t even take it out of the box sometimes. It’s not the characterization. Didley Scott has remade Ellen Ripley more times than he’s been nominated for Best Director and killed Ripley at least as many times as he’s won. And it’s definitely not the green screen, because nobody is talking about James Cameraangle’s Abadah films, excepting the governator — the only person who pronounces Avatar that way.
It’s the changing of the guard. It’s the dilution of art with whimsy and the fact that the masses can’t get enough of the new product. Imagine pouring sparkling water over a mixed drink and loving that more than the bartender’s concoction. They’d be enraged, even though they’re still getting paid.
If Loving Iron Man isn’t Right…
And maybe the old folks are right about things changing for the worst. Most new music sounds like foolishness to me the older I get, and I understand that I’m not alone in experiencing this phenomenon. The difference is, I recognize that most things are cyclical. My favorite superhero went from being the best character in the Captain America and the Avengers video game (and later Marvel vs. Capcom 2) to the world’s most loved/recognized, and that’s enough for me to side with the superheroes. Who knows, maybe the next cycle will see a New York gangster fighting off aliens on a planet with rich resources as the most prevalent genre of a generation.
