The new light, bright, poppy Fantastic Four movie directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision) is a big hit just two weeks after James Gunn’s light, bright, poppy Superman was a big hit, which seems to indicate a new path to success for superhero movies after a dip in popularity had suggested that maybe audience interest internationally was waning at last.
No such luck! For those of us not particularly into this genre, it seems incredible that we’ll never get past its dominance over mainstream moviemaking in our lifetimes. Whether dark and doomy or colorful and full of laughs, we will always have the superhero movie with us.
If there were to be future generations far enough forward in time to look back at the United States, the center of superhero movie production, with some measure of calm, as well as a thriving cinema still ongoing a hundred years hence — both pretty dubious prospects — what would our descendants think of us based on this endless cycle of zillion-dollar fantasies of unitard-wearing saviors with godlike superpowers saving the world over and over again? Meanwhile nobody in power saved the world in reality — hardly made a move to save it, ignored the dire consequences of climate change, did fuck all to stop supporting genocide, waged war relentlessly for the profit of a few oligarchs, let our horribly corrupted democracy collapse into authoritarianism, watched an education system fall apart with no sane replacement system, allowed the entire working class to sink into economic precarity with no way out…
When you think of it that way — and I’m sure many have — it really becomes sickening to watch these films full of overblown heroics: such obvious compensation for the lack of courage, integrity, and willpower displayed in real life.
I had plenty of time to ponder this galling point while watching The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which sets a leisurely pace. You’re encouraged to drink in the cheery retro sets,…
Auteur: Eileen Jones
