I’ve talked before about my love of Superheroes and
the fact that I truly believe that a lot of modern Superhero stories have their
roots in tales handed down from our past.
Last
night I went to see a midnight showing of a movie I have been looking forward
to for about four years now: The Avengers.
It is, at its core, a timeless story of four men overcoming their differences
to work together in battle, and using that newfound camaraderie to take down a
giant metal snake monster and aliens coming through a wormhole created by a
glowing cube. Yes, it is a timeless tail. If you don’t see evidence of giant
metal snakes and glowing wormhole cubes in Shakespearian works, you’re not
reading it close enough. I think a glowing wormhole cube is how Hamlet gets
around so quickly. Don’t quote me on that.
What
is it about the Superhero that continues to amaze us? The current gripe is that
there are too many “Superhero” movies coming out now. But the Superhero story
is older than time itself: Tales of people who could do miraculous things have
always fascinated humanity. From back when Homer (the blind poet, not the
cartoon character) first told his story of a man defying the gods themselves to
get home, to Hercules, to Alexander Dumas’ swashbuckling heroes (that spawned
several sequels, thank you very much) to Edgar Rice Burrows’ interpretation of
a man-ape, to today. The difference between then and now is that rather than
keeping these stories in a book, we splash it up on the big screen and follow
it up with explosions and twenty minutes of commercials. (This last sentence is
brought to you by Hardees.)
The
movie itself was spectacular. I would highly recommend that you share this blog
with your friends, go see the movie, and then share this blog again. (The blog
sharing has nothing to do with the movie, I just want more people to read it.)
Joss Whedon manages to fit together a ton of personalities into a giant big
screen epic that would make Homer himself “whoo-hoo” with joy. (The cartoon
character. Although the blind poet might not find it too shabby, either.) The special
effects are awesome, the dialogue is great, the actors all hit their marks, and
there is one sequence that would qualify Joss Whedon for an Academy Award
should they not be deathly afraid of the most timeless of stories: The
Superhero story.
The
perfect Superhero story to me is one that captures that feeling you had when
you were younger. That feeling when you tie a blanket or towel around your
shoulders then run around the house with your arms raised making whooshing
noises, pretending to save the Earth from monsters or aliens, and always having
the perfect powers to stop them. We’ve all done it. Some of us as recently as
last week. (whistle nonchalantly.) The
Avengers captures this feeling. It is a reminder that no matter how old we
get, we can all remember that first time we all saw a story about someone who
could do something amazing.
I bring
this up in a teaching/Shakespeare/literature blog because these stories, while
often overlooked, are an important part of our heritage. We can try to forget
it, or bury a perfectly good story underneath layers of pretending it’s NOT a
Superhero’s story or a fantastical tale that stokes our imagination, but that
doesn’t change the fact that all of us in the audience are wishing we are able
to fly, lift a car, or rush in to save the day. This is all stuff I have said
before, but I feel it is important enough to reiterate, especially this weekend
when America will be firmly divided between those going to see the Avengers, those who got to the
theater too late and are stuck seeing Five
Year Engagement, and those who are too “high above” such silly
entertainment to give it a fair viewing.
As
for a review of the movie itself… I give it 10 Yorick Skulls out of a possible
10.
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