A half-satirical, half-true hot take by yours truly (imagine that the me from another multiverse wrote it):
Marvel films are largely morality plays punctuated by explosions and contrived witticisms in service of a secular, polytheistic religion for the postmodern age. Everything is a weird cultural buffet of pastiche, relentlessly-punchy dialog, and formulaic storytelling designed to tug on the audience's heartstrings while allowing them to say "I know that thing!" They're a cultural soma for the post-Cold War generation raised on Pokemon that will never know the happiness of the Clinton years again. The studios that make them are more like pharmaceutical companies hocking a hot-selling miracle drug than filmmakers. Everybody else is trying to replicate their financial success by way of "cinematic universes" comprising visual roller coasters disguised as motion pictures and is therefore failing at making actual _movies_.
- A filthy, no-good hipster that dislikes things other people enjoy and likes things that other people hate just because
(I thought "Doctor Strange" was great fun in a trippy way. The multi-verse "Spiderman" was OK. Hated "Guardians". I wouldn't go out of my way to see either again and only see these films in theaters with friends. And yes, I liked "Back to the Future" before it was cool and was born in le wrong generation for it).
I greatly enjoyed the first Iron Man movie which got me to look at the really affordable black and white editions of the Kirby/Ditko/Lee age. I watched a lot of them, bookended by Guardians of the Galaxy which I also greatly enjoyed. Somehow I fell out of the Marvel habit and didn't see any more after that though there wasn't any moment where I felt that I fell out of love.
I love Cinema... but I'd never invest my money in an independent film. I'd take stock in a Marvel film. Actually, this might actually be a place where Kalshi might be legitimate. Take a position, and the information lets cinemas decide whether to run the film... (I have no idea how modern cinemas are run).
...is the text AI generated? I feel like it doesn't actually say anything. Like, the light-sabre analogy is interesting. But it's inchoate–we're never shown examples of hollow Marvel symbols.
I just watched the video essay. The text of this article is composed of cherry picked statements from the longer form video.
This is actually one of the few times I recommend watching the video over reading the article. It’s 30 minutes long, introduces some new ideas, and supports it all with many examples.
The entire article reads like the introduction to a real essay. I scrolled past the related comments thinking the real meat would be below, only to find the comments. Marvelization of criticism, anyone?
Article is based on "The Marvelization of Cinema" which is a quality content worth looking at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tmxfVWDgMM&t=2109s
A half-satirical, half-true hot take by yours truly (imagine that the me from another multiverse wrote it):
(I thought "Doctor Strange" was great fun in a trippy way. The multi-verse "Spiderman" was OK. Hated "Guardians". I wouldn't go out of my way to see either again and only see these films in theaters with friends. And yes, I liked "Back to the Future" before it was cool and was born in le wrong generation for it).I greatly enjoyed the first Iron Man movie which got me to look at the really affordable black and white editions of the Kirby/Ditko/Lee age. I watched a lot of them, bookended by Guardians of the Galaxy which I also greatly enjoyed. Somehow I fell out of the Marvel habit and didn't see any more after that though there wasn't any moment where I felt that I fell out of love.
I love Cinema... but I'd never invest my money in an independent film. I'd take stock in a Marvel film. Actually, this might actually be a place where Kalshi might be legitimate. Take a position, and the information lets cinemas decide whether to run the film... (I have no idea how modern cinemas are run).
...is the text AI generated? I feel like it doesn't actually say anything. Like, the light-sabre analogy is interesting. But it's inchoate–we're never shown examples of hollow Marvel symbols.
I just watched the video essay. The text of this article is composed of cherry picked statements from the longer form video.
This is actually one of the few times I recommend watching the video over reading the article. It’s 30 minutes long, introduces some new ideas, and supports it all with many examples.
The entire article reads like the introduction to a real essay. I scrolled past the related comments thinking the real meat would be below, only to find the comments. Marvelization of criticism, anyone?
> I feel like it doesn't actually say anything.
It doesn't.
I haven't seen a Marvel movie since before COVID.