genre dissonance

[deird1]

Several years later, I've realised one of the reasons I grew tired of the MCU: because they're not superhero movies.

And yet they look like superhero movies at first glance, so it took me a long time to understand this.


What I Mean By "Superhero"

So, my go-to examples of superheroes are Superman, Spiderman, and Buffy.

Superman:
- has a secret identity
- has to conceal his secret identity
- has to occasionally screw up Clark Kent's life to be Superman (for instance, by standing Lois up on a date because he's busy rescuing a crashing plane)

Spiderman:
- has a secret identity
- has to conceal his secret identity
- is constantly screwing up Peter Parker's life to be Spiderman
- is hated by the popular press
- is dirt poor

Buffy:
- has a secret identity
- often has to screw up Buffy Summer's life to be the Slayer
- is hated by the popular kids at school (in the early seasons)
- is dirt poor (in the later seasons)

In my mind, your classic superhero story is the story of an Average Joe with a slightly crummy life, who also happens to be a super-powered protector of the innocent. And one of the major points in the story is the conflict between their ordinary life and their superhero life.



...and then there are the MCU movies.

The main characters:
- do not have secret identities
- have no conflict between their ordinary lives and their superhero lives, because everything they do is about their superheroing
- are super wealthy
- basically have no problems until we're in the middle of the movie plot*

* Not that they have no problems, but the movie arcs tend to be "Everything is fine and awesome... and now the bad guys have attacked... and now my life is back to being awesome in every way."

They're... not exactly standard superheroes – but more like the Gods of Mount Olympus. In that they are up there, having lives that we the audience simply do not have.



I'm sure that genre is still capable of producing good movies. But they're not so much superhero movies – and I miss those.

Comments

[deird1]

I'm... going to disagree with you about whether we're disagreeing. :)

I am quite familiar with the characters, and agree with your assessment of them. In this post, though, I'm not talking about the characters so much as the film plots.

The films are not films about everyman types struggling to reconcile their daily life with their superheroing – they're about the characters not having that struggle. I know they weren't rich, but right now they are all very well funded. They're all basically approved of by the establishment (with the exception of things like Tony Stark being asked to help the establishment more and the whole Hydra issue). And none of them have a secret identity (with the exception, in his first movie, of Thor... kinda).

The characters might qualify as superheroes, but the film plots are not the kind of plots I would expect to see in the superhero genre.

[shadowkat]

Again, I just re-watched several of the films -- Captain America - First Avenger -- and he wasn't well funded and really struggled. Hardly rich. In fact they treated him as a prop. He's bullied through the first thirty minutes of the film. Go re-watch it.

And Thor? That's a Shakespearean dram about hubris. His father takes away everything from him to teach him to value life.

Doctor Strange? He's dead broke by the time he seeks out mystic arts, has no money, no funding. And gives up his dream of regaining his hands to protect the mystic realm.

Iron Man -- he's captured by terrorists.

The problem is you're trying to watch the Avengers as a stand-a-lone and it's not. You really have to look at all the movies together as a whole. I was referencing the film plots not the comics. It would be like watching and judging Buffy as a hero based on well Chosen or one isolated episode.
Or Spiderman based on his role in the Avengers solely.

[deird1]

Captain America - First Avenger -- and he wasn't well funded and really struggled. Hardly rich. In fact they treated him as a prop. He's bullied through the first thirty minutes of the film.

At the start of his film. And by the end, he's not in that position.

Iron Man -- he's captured by terrorists.

At the start. But it's not a film about Tony Stark having to deal with the fact that he's regularly kidnapped by terrorists, and being a superhero while regularly struggling with his weekly kidnappings... It's something that happened to him – not his life that happens.



I'm not sure you understand what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying these characters don't struggle. I'm saying that they don't have to fight for a balance between superheroing and their daily lives. (Batman, for instance, is constantly trying to be Bruce Wayne and Batman, and having each one of those lives affect the other one.)



ETA:

You really have to look at all the movies together as a whole.

Which... is also something I dislike about the MCU. They should work as a whole, but that shouldn't be at the expense of the standalone films.

[shadowkat]

Then you just don't like ensemble superhero pictures? And only like superhero flicks that focus solely on one character?

Got it.