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Why Super Heroes dominate modern popular culture
- Thread starter RexNovis
- Start date
Because we're at a point where movie productions and budgets can do justice to comic book adventures that were once thought impossible to film and thus locked forever within inked paper.
Oh wait, you wanted some theological answer....
Oh wait, you wanted some theological answer....
(Super)hero stories have always been extremely popular, since the dawn of storytelling. Look at the old mythologies, sagas or stuff like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Those are some of the oldest stories known to man and they are pretty much all superhero stories. Heroes like Achilles and Hercules are for instance blatant superhumans, with them being demigods and only having one certain weak spot.
It's not a coincidence that a lot of the ancient Gods and heroes have been repurposed by DC and Marvel into comic book heroes, because they essentially always were.
Core to the popularity is IMO that these superheroes provide easily digestible solutions to problems people might have with society. Older hero stories were very specifically made and written in such a way that they taught people core tenets of life. They are never just cool stories, they were meant to entertain but also educate.
Modern comic book movies fulfill (or try to fulfill) the same function. Aside from being fun stories for people to be entertained by, they also serve a higher function. The X-Men are incredibly obvious about discrimination, xenophobia and homophobia (the movies even more so than the comics), the Dark Knight trilogy had each movie specifically focus on a certain part of the US zeitgeist of the moment, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies were as much about a Spider-Man as about common people doing the right thing and Spider-Man 2 specifically delved into the choice between doing the right thing and doing the thing that feels right for you, the MCU movies also often try to broach deeper topics than good guy vs. bad guy.
In the current production-led movie business it's however worth it to critically look at the exact messaging of these modern superhero films. Especially Disney with the MCU is very suspect with the way they water down arguments and problems in favour for the bigger corporate entities Disney needs to remain friends with.
- The Winter Soldier could've been a biting criticism on US foreign policy and the dark side of government. Instead, it turns out the government is inherently good, it's just been infiltrated by a malicious foreign element (super Nazi's).
- Spider-Man Far From Home frames an extremely dangerous Weapon of Mass Destruction and a blatant invasion of personal privacy as a good and necessary thing. Sure it briefly falls in the wrong hands, but the problem of EDITH is solved by Parker just reversing the control back to him instead of, I don't know, destroying the entire project because it's clearly morally wrong.
- Black Panther trivialises the deeper philosophical subtext behind Killmonger's actions by making him a cackling bad guy in the end. Black Panther also has a troubling view on Afrofuturism by showing a highly advanced African society that's somehow still hamstrung by ancient and outdated practices and rituals. Instead of actually showing Wakanda as a society that's far advanced in comparison to the Western world, it's a country that's still basically a pre-Medieval tribal warrior society that just happens to have spaceships.
- A lot of the MCU movies are very explicitly pro-military, even if they pretend they're not. The most recent example of this is Captain Marvel. Sure, it briefly flirts with the idea that Rambeau and Danvers got some discrimination, but still they were women that made it in the army! And all of that is in the past, the army is cool now! And look how cool that scene looks where they walk out of the hangar bay!
It's not a coincidence that a lot of the ancient Gods and heroes have been repurposed by DC and Marvel into comic book heroes, because they essentially always were.
Core to the popularity is IMO that these superheroes provide easily digestible solutions to problems people might have with society. Older hero stories were very specifically made and written in such a way that they taught people core tenets of life. They are never just cool stories, they were meant to entertain but also educate.
Modern comic book movies fulfill (or try to fulfill) the same function. Aside from being fun stories for people to be entertained by, they also serve a higher function. The X-Men are incredibly obvious about discrimination, xenophobia and homophobia (the movies even more so than the comics), the Dark Knight trilogy had each movie specifically focus on a certain part of the US zeitgeist of the moment, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies were as much about a Spider-Man as about common people doing the right thing and Spider-Man 2 specifically delved into the choice between doing the right thing and doing the thing that feels right for you, the MCU movies also often try to broach deeper topics than good guy vs. bad guy.
In the current production-led movie business it's however worth it to critically look at the exact messaging of these modern superhero films. Especially Disney with the MCU is very suspect with the way they water down arguments and problems in favour for the bigger corporate entities Disney needs to remain friends with.
- The Winter Soldier could've been a biting criticism on US foreign policy and the dark side of government. Instead, it turns out the government is inherently good, it's just been infiltrated by a malicious foreign element (super Nazi's).
- Spider-Man Far From Home frames an extremely dangerous Weapon of Mass Destruction and a blatant invasion of personal privacy as a good and necessary thing. Sure it briefly falls in the wrong hands, but the problem of EDITH is solved by Parker just reversing the control back to him instead of, I don't know, destroying the entire project because it's clearly morally wrong.
- Black Panther trivialises the deeper philosophical subtext behind Killmonger's actions by making him a cackling bad guy in the end. Black Panther also has a troubling view on Afrofuturism by showing a highly advanced African society that's somehow still hamstrung by ancient and outdated practices and rituals. Instead of actually showing Wakanda as a society that's far advanced in comparison to the Western world, it's a country that's still basically a pre-Medieval tribal warrior society that just happens to have spaceships.
- A lot of the MCU movies are very explicitly pro-military, even if they pretend they're not. The most recent example of this is Captain Marvel. Sure, it briefly flirts with the idea that Rambeau and Danvers got some discrimination, but still they were women that made it in the army! And all of that is in the past, the army is cool now! And look how cool that scene looks where they walk out of the hangar bay!
Wonder Woman & Aquaman made as much as most Marvel movies do and Joker was nominated for fucking Oscars lol.
Lots of interesting takes in this thread. I just want to add that no, Disney superheroes are only superficially related to ancient mythology, which was used to "teach" lessons about life. We're in the age of "themes are for school reports", hell Gilgamesh was about the meaning of life.
After 2001 events Superhero comics were also affected with the pessimism and anti-terror panic and this also affected superhero movies. Eg removing the twin tower scene in 2002 Spiderman movie. Of course many other movies were affected, edited or delayed or skipped straight to tv/video.
Also exceptions like Watchmen did not become as popular in sales,while the popular comic adaptation of 300 left a lot to be desired in the messages it tried to convey
What's missing is a highly artistic vision like in the movie The Crow which was also R-rated. Comic source material in general offers limitless options for an adaptation, with countless different artists and for an adult audience. Yet they go for the pg audience like cgi cartoon movies.
Also exceptions like Watchmen did not become as popular in sales,while the popular comic adaptation of 300 left a lot to be desired in the messages it tried to convey
What's missing is a highly artistic vision like in the movie The Crow which was also R-rated. Comic source material in general offers limitless options for an adaptation, with countless different artists and for an adult audience. Yet they go for the pg audience like cgi cartoon movies.
Chadwick Boseman puts its best,
"It's modern mythology".
Superheroes are cool, they're fantastical yet so technologically progressive. And with Fandoms no longer being shamed for being "geeky", superheroes are mainstream.
"It's modern mythology".
Superheroes are cool, they're fantastical yet so technologically progressive. And with Fandoms no longer being shamed for being "geeky", superheroes are mainstream.
