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The Passive Consumption of Marvel Movies

June 25, 2019

Movies have always been one of the biggest reflections on culture. Characters, setting, dialogue, and other components of movies can represent cultural beliefs and norms. Some recent films that have received attention for their cultural references are Get Out, Nightcrawler, and Zootopia. Since we know movies are huge aspect of the entertainment culture, we should be thoroughly evaluating films for cultural correlation through active consumption.

There’s no question that we are in a superhero movie era. Seven of the 20 highest-grossing movies are a Marvel superhero film. According to Atom Tickets, Marvel’s Avengers Endgame has generated over $2 billion and is on track to reach $3 billion in the box office before it exits theaters. These numbers would make it the highest-grossing movie of all time. Marvel has seen unprecedented success with 20 movies coming out in the past 11 years. With all this success it makes me wonder, why are these fairly average films so successful?

I enjoyed watching Avengers: Endgame; it was packed with action and humor, and it was the ending to a story I started watching when I was just ten years old. But after I left the theater and had time to process the movie, I realized there wasn’t much to evaluate. The film did well on the action scenes, using all the heroes in an epic fight scene at the end, but the film was filled massive plot holes and poor dialogue. These mistakes were seemingly overlooked or forgiven. The movie received incredible ratings, and the directors have been giving countless interviews since Endgame’s release where they give impromptu, on the spot answers to fill plot holes.

This is the same sequence of events that has followed many of the other Marvel movies. The Atlantic addressed the issue of average superhero movies back in 2014 and stated, “Hollywood has become sensational at predicting what its audiences want to see. And, ironically, for that very reason, it’s become better at making relentlessly average movies.” It almost seems that superhero movies, specifically Marvel, have used a formula to create their movies. Action scene + witty humor = Profit. A great example of a character morphed to fit the formula is Thor. When Marvel movie directors realized Thor could be more popular if they made him less serious and more satirical and humorous like the other characters, they did just that. In the first two Thor movies, we see a very serious, brooding Thor, but in the third movie Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is no longer serious and is acting like the other superhero characters, consequentially, causing box office numbers to rise. Marvel practically changed a character’s entire personality to fit what audiences preferences are. Slash Film stated you could “barely recognize Thor” when looking at the change in the movies. After evaluating these issues with superhero films and seeing the mediocre level these movies sit on, we still have to figure out how these films have been some of the most successful.

Film Ink, one of the leading sources in film industry media, is able to give a couple reasons for people to discuss. One of the reasons discussed is escapism. These superhero movies provide a temporary escape from the evil in the world. It can be relieving to watch a movie where the superhero always wins and is taking care of threats around the world. It can even give people hope. Mark Millar, a famous comic book author, said, “Good economic times usually signal the death of superheroes, and bad economic times see a surge in their popularity.” Superhero films are feel-good stories that can take away some of the stress of having to deal with our real-world issues. Superhero movies service as a passive, easy watch because the viewer knows that the hero will still come out on top.

As Film Ink also points out, superhero movies and TV shows have taken over the entertainment industry. There are countless shows being created and Marvel alone has made twenty movies in just over ten years with no end in sight. Nightcrawler director, Dan Gilroy, called it a “tsunami of superhero movies.” It’s difficult for independent filmmakers and smaller film companies to be successful during a time where Disney owns Marvel and is able to provide all the resources necessary to keep these films at the top. We have to figure out a way to balance out this massive wave of superhero galore. More is needed in the entertainment culture than just superheroes. There has to be entertainment that viewers can actively engage with – entertainment that makes the audience think and challenges their perspectives. Alejandro Gonzalez, director of The Revenant, calls this superhero wave “cultural genocide” and says that audiences are being exposed to things “that don’t say anything about the experience of being human.” We need multiple movie genres to explore, not just one.

My point is not to rip apart superhero movies and tell you to never watch them again. My point is to challenge us all. Next time you are watching a movie or TV show, superhero or not, make sure you are actively engaged. Don’t let the easiness of passively looking at a screen and digesting what’s being shown to you overtake your ability to critically think about what you are watching. Challenge yourself to look for cultural references, philosophical viewpoints, and underlying messages. It is our responsibility as the audience to make sure we actively engage with these superhero movies. We have to be the ones to watch these films and critically assess them. We need to challenge superhero filmmakers to do better and to give us a film that will challenge us and cause us to think critically. There has been an abundance of superhero movies made for passive consumption but not many for viewers to actively watch. So, let’s turn off auto pilot and take control of the content we view for entertainment.

Sources

https://www.atomtickets.com/movie-news/avengers-endgame-box-office-countdown/

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/11/the-highest-grossing-movies-of-all-time.html

https://www.slashfilm.com/the-evolution-of-thor/

https://www.filmink.com.au/the-age-of-heroes-why-are-superhero-movies-so-popular/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/01/19/are-superhero-movies-ruining-our-viewing-habits/#38237a333e6a

https://www.indiewire.com/2016/05/is-the-superhero-craze-destroying-the-movies-291157/


Written by: Andrew Reynolds

Andrew is a Junior Project Management Major, and enjoys writing for the blog because of the opportunity it gives him to grow as a writer and to challenge himself to see current topics and discussions from a view point he may not have otherwise thought about.