The Marvel (MCU) Fatal Flaw

[Dr. Narcisse]

Did @Yo Yo Ma or @Dominic Brehetto write this

But I have to talk about the problem instead.

The problem, and this is always the problem for the recent MCU, is that movies have to rely on dramatic catharsis to tell us what they're really about. Because messaging comes not from how ideas are verbalized on screen with lip service, but how they are expressed in the action and consequence of the story, and how they shift psychologies of the characters through lessons learned (or not learned) all en route to a larger context that creates THE MEANING! of the film. That's ultimately how narratives are about what they're about. It's why we can walk out of a masterpiece like No Country For Old Men and not only say "it's about greed, death and the horrors of the world making you want to leave it behind," but also articulate the ways each scene backs up that message through the "what" that happens. Which brings us back to these later MCU movies...

They're not actually about what they say they're about.

Because here's what (almost) every single post-phase one Marvel movie is "about" on the dramatic level of the storytelling: "I'm awesome and/or right! But everyone around me is telling me to wait, be humble, or that I'm wrong! But I wanna go nuts and get ahead of myself! Oh, I got ahead of myself and there was a surprisingly mild consequence to this dangerous thing and I feel bad, so here's a brief moment of humility that doesn't actually stick. Now I'll just wait run around, not actually change, and then just do the same exact thing I was doing before to prove that I'm awesome/right/or learned some lesson I didn't actually learn... Yay, I did it! I win!"

Seriously, that's the dramatic track of these movies now. There's Tony Stark inAvengers 2 (Trust me this time! Even though literally nothing is different about what I'm doing!) There's Dr. Strange, the egomaniac who blows through life, gets hurt, then proceeds to behave the same reckless way in the spiritual world. There's Tony and Cap not learning any actual lessons from each other, nor learning anything in Civil-War. I, uh, pretty much have no idea what Thor: The Dark World is trying to say on any level. And Scott Lang already begins Ant-Man as the reformed criminal everyone tells him he has to grow out of being (while simultaneously asking him to be a criminal again). And now it's Peter Parker's "journey" to adulthood in Homecoming. Yes, these films have lots of things theywant to be about (and what it wants to be often has valid aims) but the dramatic story level "about" of these films are often a contridictory mess. The characters talk about change, but they don't actually change their behavior (which is as useless as when real human beings do the same things). And as a result, it's why so many of these damn movies can be charming, but feel empty. It all ignores the most fundamental and important part of stories like these...

Meanwhile if you ask me what Wonder Woman's about, I can tell you. It's about love in the face of cynicism. It's about women's capacity for strength, empathy, joy, sadness, sex, and entire personhood. It's about men's capacity for those same things against the toxic pressures of the world around them. It is about not staying put, not out of juvenile frustration, but out of the living heart of empathy and taking responsibility. And it backs up these ideas so concretely through dramatization that, despite every narrative fumble, despite all the things the MCU does better, by the time she leaps into the horizon my heart swells with my belief in her. And it's the reason I think a lot of people felt the same way. You read the stories everywhere of so many young girls and boys taking the lessons of the film into life with passion and fortitude. To that, it's safe to say that Wonder Woman nails the single most important thing.

Similarly, I asked Twitter last week about the cavernous gulf between how I saw Sam Raimi's Spider-man 2 and the people who did not like it. The discussion mostly focused on the tangibles of the actors, the textures of cinematography, the feelings of what we liked and didn't like. But me? I kept talking about what the film is about. Because it's about the genuine cost of heroism and responsibility. It's about the way adults come together to support each other in the nobler pursuits. It's about establishing all the reasons that the world is worth fighting for (while the MCU keeps forgetting to establish why the world is worth fighting for. Perhaps they've done it so many times they think it's a given?). And in its pursuit of this theme, Sam Raimi did not make me feel empowered, he made me feel human.

Film Crit Hulk SMASH: Spider-Man & The Marvel Fatal Flaw

 

[Breh Obama]

The problem is people looking for deep meaning in a fukking COMIC BOOK MOVIE

 

[Iris32]

only flaw i see is that there's too many of them... might give folks fatigue

 

[MartyMcFly]

I like Hulk's stuff and his screenwriting book is a lifesaver at times. I read this last week and I didn't agree with every point he made, I do see the argument and why he'd feel that way as a writer and it's hard to argue against.

 

[Fillerguy]

The fatal flaw in these movies are that they aren't masterpieces. Okay

 

[Disgustya Stallone]

well, you can boil that entire article down to this:

mahv-L has been feeding the same formulaic spoonfed drivel to its simple minded audience, and they are finally sick of it

same sh*t we dc stans have been saying all along

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

Most of the movies are very well made but entirely forgettable. Only ones I care to rewatch is guardians, and I'll probably be rewatching the new spidey because I really enjoyed it.

 

[AnonymityX1000]

That WW description sounds a lot like Captain America: The First Avenger to me.

lol at 'fatal' again look at the scoreboard.

 

[Rhapscallion Démone]

DC forces us to find the humanity in their hero's

Marvel forces us to find the heros in their humanity.....if that makes sense

 

[FlyRy]

Most of the movies are very well made but entirely forgettable. Only ones I care to rewatch is guardians, and I'll probably be rewatching the new spidey because I really enjoyed it.

I already forgot Guardians 2 came out and I LOVED the first one.

 

[Emoryal]

That WW description sounds a lot like Captain America: The First Avenger to me.

lol at 'fatal' again look at the scoreboard.

That's the same thing I said while watching it

 

[Mortal1]

Film Critic Hulk always makes good points in his arguments I read this a while back and can agree with a lot of points made in it.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

I already forgot Guardians 2 came out and I LOVED the first one.

Yeah. I fukking LOVE GOTG 1. I think I still really enjoyed GOTG 2 but I need to rewatch it to see what that second viewing is like. I did kind of forget about it though to be honest. But yeah, most marvel flicks are really well made but there's no passion behind it, there's no deeper reasoning for creating the film other than to work towards a bigger ensemble film where the storylines come together. But yeah, GOTG 1 had a lot of passion behind it and is a classic flick in my opinion. Pretty much the only marvel film I'd call a classic thus far. I really did enjoy the new spidey quite a bit tho.

 

[Alpha Male]

well, you can boil that entire article down to this:

mahv-L has been feeding the same formulaic spoonfed drivel to its simple minded audience, and they are finally sick of it

same sh*t we dc stans have been saying all along

MOS and BVS are about nothing.

You couldn't even pretend to explain what those movies are about.

If the MCU movies are guilty of not following through on their themes then the DCEU movies are outright ignorant to them.

 

[Alpha Male]

There's Tony and Cap not learning any actual lessons from each other, nor learning anything in Civil-War.

@jayshiggs this is what i was talking about in the other thread.