(no subject)
Also on the subject of my insanity, I have become obsessed with Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook, which is basically a cross between Farmville and Pokemon, only with superheros. (In this analogy, Iron Man is Pikachu. Just so you know.) I have roped 
lofro into playing this. I have given money to this game because I instantly recognized its hold on me, which just totally lost me any street cred I might've had in the free culture wars.
What I'm saying is, if you are also playing this game, we should be friends. I need more of the things.
E was texting me from the midnight premier yesterday, and also the ridiculous number of films leading up to it, because he got in on the deal where he could watch both Iron Mans (Men?), Thor, Hulk and Captain America before the main even. That's like 14 hours of movie, counting the breaks in between. I stand in awe of his ass (as usual) ;-).
One of the things we discussed via text was my evaluation of Hulk versus Thor (as opposed to Hulk Versus Thor, which is not available from Redbox anymore) has to do with larger issues of how superhero movies--and a lot of other action films--work. The critical moment in a superhero story is the call to adventure--the moment when the hero makes the decision to step up and start fighting crime. Structurally this varies from story to story--for instance, Captain America starts out wanting to fight the good fight and that's how he gets his powers, whereas Spiderman wasn't planning on getting bit, and his Plan A wasn't "vigilante," it was "luchadore." In Hulk, that moment doesn't really come until almost the end of the film, and then only in attenuated form--Bruce only embraces the Hulk reluctantly, because Blomsky is a bigger threat, and he goes back into his hermitage once he's done. And this makes perfect sense for Bruce, who didn't ask for these powers (like Steve) and who cannot live a normal life with them (like Peter Parker) and who can't walk away from it (like Tony). Bruce can't chose the White Man's Burden* and take up the hero mantel because his ability to choose freely is already so very compromised.
(In fact, Bruce's dilemma reminds me of Ben Grimm from the first Fantastic Four movie--yes, I know, it was bad, I was at a drug study and couldn't leave my table. Ben is the Thing, meaning he is huge and orange and has granite for skin; so while the other three are able to view their superpowers with curiosity or amusement, because they can still pass in the outside world, Ben makes babies cry and breaks furniture on accident. But Ben is still rational, and he does end up making the choice to stay mutated even when the possibility exists to turn back. It's very much debatable to what extent Hulk is a rational actor--and, just going by the solo film, to what extent Bruce and Hulk are the same actor--which means Bruce is losing agency left, right and center on this.)
*And yeah, even though not all superheros are white men--in fact, another conversation with E involved how Thor even fits into contemporary US notions of race, since he's an alien, and whether he'd like hip-hop music. But it's still very much a white guy act, to unilaterally choose to save the world, and to construct worlds in need of individual saviors. Just saying.
So it makes sense that the Hulk movie should all be set-up for getting Bruce into a place where he can make that choice to use his circumstances for the general welfare--it makes perfect sense even though that's probably why it tanked at the box office. And in theory, that kind of structure would've made sense for Thor as well. His issues are different--he's coming from a big stinkin' pile of privilege, and that plus his natural badassitude (even for an Asgardian) has made him impatient and reckless. So what he was supposed to learn on Earth was humility and prudence, but instead the process seemed to be:
1. Existential crisis over the hammer-in-the-stone
2. Make eggs
3. Become Christ metaphor
Aka "Hey guys, guess what? I'm not actually a douchebag after all! I just noticed!"
But, and
lofro agrees with me, that's not what we got--the Earthside scenes were the weakest in the movie, while Loki stole all the screen time. Thor didn't have to be completely redeemed by the end of the story, but it should've been believable that he'd sacrifice himself for a bunch of aliens when just a few hours before he'd been barking orders at them all and throwing the china around.
Iiiii should go to sleep now. In a bit. ::yawns::
lofro into playing this. I have given money to this game because I instantly recognized its hold on me, which just totally lost me any street cred I might've had in the free culture wars.
What I'm saying is, if you are also playing this game, we should be friends. I need more of the things.
E was texting me from the midnight premier yesterday, and also the ridiculous number of films leading up to it, because he got in on the deal where he could watch both Iron Mans (Men?), Thor, Hulk and Captain America before the main even. That's like 14 hours of movie, counting the breaks in between. I stand in awe of his ass (as usual) ;-).
One of the things we discussed via text was my evaluation of Hulk versus Thor (as opposed to Hulk Versus Thor, which is not available from Redbox anymore) has to do with larger issues of how superhero movies--and a lot of other action films--work. The critical moment in a superhero story is the call to adventure--the moment when the hero makes the decision to step up and start fighting crime. Structurally this varies from story to story--for instance, Captain America starts out wanting to fight the good fight and that's how he gets his powers, whereas Spiderman wasn't planning on getting bit, and his Plan A wasn't "vigilante," it was "luchadore." In Hulk, that moment doesn't really come until almost the end of the film, and then only in attenuated form--Bruce only embraces the Hulk reluctantly, because Blomsky is a bigger threat, and he goes back into his hermitage once he's done. And this makes perfect sense for Bruce, who didn't ask for these powers (like Steve) and who cannot live a normal life with them (like Peter Parker) and who can't walk away from it (like Tony). Bruce can't chose the White Man's Burden* and take up the hero mantel because his ability to choose freely is already so very compromised.
(In fact, Bruce's dilemma reminds me of Ben Grimm from the first Fantastic Four movie--yes, I know, it was bad, I was at a drug study and couldn't leave my table. Ben is the Thing, meaning he is huge and orange and has granite for skin; so while the other three are able to view their superpowers with curiosity or amusement, because they can still pass in the outside world, Ben makes babies cry and breaks furniture on accident. But Ben is still rational, and he does end up making the choice to stay mutated even when the possibility exists to turn back. It's very much debatable to what extent Hulk is a rational actor--and, just going by the solo film, to what extent Bruce and Hulk are the same actor--which means Bruce is losing agency left, right and center on this.)
*And yeah, even though not all superheros are white men--in fact, another conversation with E involved how Thor even fits into contemporary US notions of race, since he's an alien, and whether he'd like hip-hop music. But it's still very much a white guy act, to unilaterally choose to save the world, and to construct worlds in need of individual saviors. Just saying.
So it makes sense that the Hulk movie should all be set-up for getting Bruce into a place where he can make that choice to use his circumstances for the general welfare--it makes perfect sense even though that's probably why it tanked at the box office. And in theory, that kind of structure would've made sense for Thor as well. His issues are different--he's coming from a big stinkin' pile of privilege, and that plus his natural badassitude (even for an Asgardian) has made him impatient and reckless. So what he was supposed to learn on Earth was humility and prudence, but instead the process seemed to be:
1. Existential crisis over the hammer-in-the-stone
2. Make eggs
3. Become Christ metaphor
Aka "Hey guys, guess what? I'm not actually a douchebag after all! I just noticed!"
But, and
lofro agrees with me, that's not what we got--the Earthside scenes were the weakest in the movie, while Loki stole all the screen time. Thor didn't have to be completely redeemed by the end of the story, but it should've been believable that he'd sacrifice himself for a bunch of aliens when just a few hours before he'd been barking orders at them all and throwing the china around.
Iiiii should go to sleep now. In a bit. ::yawns::