i think saying “oh it could’ve been anything!” is reductive. like its not a coincidence these movies became insanely popular post-9/11, a lot of people suddenly became aware the world is uncomfortable and complicated and superhero shit is practically primed to take advantage of that because its all clear cut, simple narratives, simple problems, and simple resolutions.
theres something to be said about other childrens shit (liberals love harry potter for example) but superhero films definitely have the widest appeal
Disney would have desired domination with anything, yes. If they or someone else could’ve done it with John Carter or Independence Day, they would’ve done it, sure. But they didn’t. Marvel is what happened, and thus Marvel is what must be talked about, along with the entire specific MCU strategy. There are particular things in the films themselves and the franchise container that matter. The texts aren’t not part of this. Industry is bound up with the things it produces.
Which is to say it’s not just a slam on blockbuster filmmaking. The contemporary franchise film, and no one is doing it in quite the way Marvel has, has honed the comforting thrum of week-to-week television with hyper-expensive pyrotechnics and the world’s most fuckable people.
There’s no risk, no danger, no daring–which is exactly what Scorsese is on about. It’s not even an anti-blockbuster position and definitely not an anti-genre picture or anti-popularity stance, I don’t believe. He’s referring to developments over the last 20 years, specifically. As Scorsese points out, there are elements of what he recognizes as cinema within the contemporary franchise film, but they’ve eliminated, well, “revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger.”
At best they contain referential facsimiles of the movies that brought those things to the table in the first place. This is not at all unrelated to the rise of brilliant YouTube video “criticism” that is largely about explaining plot threads and identifying shots that look like references to other, better, actual films.
i actually think the current wave of super hero movies, esp. the marvel ones, are more like post- post-9/11. it’s like a reactionary snapping of the jaws at the idea that pop culture is supposed to make us think about the consequences of trauma.
i mean look at how mad people got at zack snyder when he made super man do 9/11. it’s a more exciting fantasy if our catastrophes come in the form of gigantic purple aliens doing magic tricks on the cosmos.
the climax of man of steel is all about superman destroying metropolis in order to catch the bad alien, then he snaps his neck in front of school children or something like this
then batman vs superman is all about how batman needs to kill superman before he he causes any more destruction
it’s like a godzilla movie where superman is godzilla
i mean, i still think they kind of suck, but … it’s very “post 9/11”
i know i’ve made this point before, but the sam raimi spider-man is the last ‘pre-9/11’ movie, and the villain of it is an evil industrial arms manufacturer
iron man is about the moral redemption of an evil industrial arms manufacturer
in retrospect i think the core concept of batman v superman is actually great
and yeah ben affleck is perfectly cast as bruce wayne
the problem is just that the movie gets so bogged down with unnecessary stuff (e.g. wonderwoman, this giant cgi troll thing?) that it distracts you from its great premise, and the resolution of the conflict between batman and superman is so ridiculous that it just deflates the whole thing
I used to be really big into watching most of the big Hollywood films, just to stay abreast of what was going on in film and pop culture. I’d see just about anything.
Without knowing anything about the plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was walking to the parking lot with my friends after Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008), and announced “I think I’m done with this whole watching movies just for cultural literacy thing.” I really didn’t like the movie, though it also wasn’t the worst thing ever, but I just decided that it was too bland to be wasting my time with.
It feels remarkably prescient. Maybe it was.
It’s bullshit that Jon Favreau gets to keep making movies. But also he’s the perfect bland visionless director who can run a shoot for Disney.
I don’t either, but I don’t want to watch these either. But apparently almost everyone on Earth wants to fuck Robert Downey Jr. or Mark Ruffalo or at least wants them to fuck each other. It’s not about what I want.
(okay, I’ve always had a crush on Natalie Portman)
