There's been a rise the last decade in what I call shallow pretentiousness - where people are so insecure about "snobs" and their validation that they act like being shallow and having childish, simple taste in shyt actually makes them deeper because they "see the forest for the trees" and are "comfortable with themselves" or some other fake-deep bullshyt. And I think nerd culture with the obsession towards children's media becoming the dominant force for media has played a massive part of that.
That's how you get shyt like "The Winter Soldier is a 1970s political thriller" takes
What's funny is the movie stands on its own without that. I watched three days of the condor, which is one movie winter solider is thought to be in the vein of, and its nothing like three days of the condor. making larger connections to flicks like that just makes your movie look weaker in comparison. And Winter Soldier is very dope as is and doesn't even need those type of comparisons.
But like you said, in an effort to elevate it above comic book movie, the press and fellow nerds ran with the narrative.
If you want to elevate something like Winter Soldier or Dark Knight, that's great. but rarely are comic book flicks as complex as movies like Day of the Jackal or Three Days of the Condor.
One reason it's easy to embrace Thor Ragnarok is it hides its more political ambitions under the guise of being a bigger and better produced version of the 80s Flash Gordon flick. There's no pretentiousness in how its made, nor how it's marketed. It just is what it is, proudly wears its influences on its sleeve, and tells anyone who isn't with it to kick rocks.
