20 Buckets of Narrativium

[Chaz1]

I saw Brazil when it first came out with my parents as a teenager. We then went out to dinner at a cafeteria and stared at our plates saying nothing.

[Chaz1]

OK, of all the superhero films you’ve seen, which one affected you deeply, on an emotional level?

The Spirit by Frank Miller because it completely screwed over Will Eisner. I hated that film on a deeply emotional level.

[AndyHilmer]

That’s more of a business decision, right? Artistically, there were many, many reasons to simply ignore that movie’s existence and not hold onto it.

“Some creepy old man cut it off”, was, in some ways, the perfect comment on Stan Lee.

In other ways, every comic book movie is a little bit of an indie mockumentary about the comics industry, fandom, etcetera.

[smulder]

I saw Brazil when it first came out with my parents as a teenager. We then went out to dinner at a cafeteria and stared at our plates saying nothing.

Somebody I knew from high school and I happened to walk into our neighborhood second-run theater for a screening of Jacob’s Ladder the year it came out. We’d never heard of it. It was just what was playing that night.

We didn’t know what the FUCK we were getting into

[gadgetgirl]

We didn’t know what the FUCK we were getting into

That’s like the 18yos who sat in front of me when Naked Lunch came out. “It’s like, about this writer, and he takes drugs?” one of them said while we waited for the film to start. They were giggling and horsing around. It was clear none of them had read the book – or if they even knew there was a book.

Afterwards they were very, very quiet.

[TobinL]

What non -superhero films affected you deeply on an emotional level

The Killing Fields.
Phar Lap.
City Lights.
The Kid.

[jerwin]

[LearnedCoward]

I have read that book. It was really eye opening, but at the same time I wish I hadn’t read it.

Saying it’s about “taking drugs” is a gross oversimplification. Smoking pot once at a party in college is taking drugs. This is a rabbit hole few of any wish to go down.

[LearnedCoward]

City Lights.

This is probably my favorite movie of all time. Chaplin was a genius.

[gadgetgirl]

I read it when I was an undergrad, and had more of a tolerance built up for that sort of thing. I’d have a harder time reading it now.

The parts I liked best were the notes about different kinds of bargain-basement recreational drugs (nutmeg! who knew?). The parts that haunted me were about “Little Willy” – can’t imagine having a father going through what Burroughs did as he wrote that.

[jerwin]

interesting trailer

[LearnedCoward]

I read it when I was an undergrad, and had more of a tolerance built up for that sort of thing.

Yep. I’d read all sorts of crap because it was “transgressive”. I was such a little edgelord back then. I think it says a lot that I was looking for something gritty and “real” because I didn’t want to be sheltered anymore. Now that I’m older and no stranger to shit piling up everywhere, I just want escapism and fun.

[smulder]

of all the superhero films you’ve seen, which one affected you

Unbreakable? X-Men 2? The Dark Knight? I’m probably forgetting something.

[Daveb]

Logan.

[mindysan33]

Logan was an excellent film. Easily the best of the X-Men franchise, if not the best superhero film of all time. Sir Pat Stew especially turned in a excellent performance (as he almost always does). It’s a pretty stark meditation on aging and how that impacts, not just the individual who is aging, but those around them.

[ETA] @Daveb, Jinx!

[smulder]

All the superhero movies about regret and survivor guilt, basically?

[Nonentity]

In comic book movies, villains just want to conquer and kill. They are not looking to slake their lust, amass great riches, build monuments to themselves, create utopian societies or engage in sadistic torments. They just want to win…

Infinity War kinda breaks that criticism. Actually, a lot of the Marvel movie villains have had more to them than just wanting to “conquer and kill”. There’s been (spoiler alert) Loki’s envy, Ultron’s desire to “protect” humanity, Obadiah’s desire to protect the bottom line, etc.

For that matter, we’ve had comic book movies based around the villains having a plan to sell beach-front property and get rich (with the incidental deaths of millions, who they just didn’t care about). Is that not enough human greed for this author?

[AndyHilmer]

My eyes were rolling plenty at that point so I didn’t catch that element. Thor 3, specifically, had a villain who wanted to make Asgard great again, to “rule the cosmos” and manifest that destiny. The other villain was a smarmy “I got here first” oligarch. What non-superhero blockbusters have been so honest about wealth, power, and villainy?

[gadgetgirl]

Man of Steel’s villain explicitly wanted to convert Earth to a copy of his home planet, which he views as a utopia. He has more than one scene where he argues with the good guys, claiming Kryptonian society was perfect.

[AndyHilmer]

The characters of myth illustrate very human appetites, weaknesses and strengths…

So yes, this person knows that there’s a thing called myth. Too bad he doesn’t seem to have watched the movies that, themselves, also display some little (actually not so little) knowledge of myth.

Here’s the thing about this critic’s experience of movies: the only movies he’s going to pay enough attention to (to catch what’s under the surface) are those movies that use no conventions whatsoever… and might take him out of his blinkered inability to see what’s clearly projected on the screen.

So when it comes to these movies, he just does not pay attention. So he cannot speak about this aspect of his job without immediately demonstrating how he is incapable of doing his job well and honestly.