Tonight: End Game (And I Already Hate It)
Apr. 30th, 2019 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse I'm going to put down money right now that I'm going to be awfully grouchy when I leave the theater tonight. I suppose I ought to put my speculation as to why I think so under a cut, as I did INTENTIONALLY spoil myself a little.
Thing is, I know that the MCU is basically Hollywood and Hollywood does not actually understand at _all_ why comic book fans are fans of the genre. They FINALLY figured out that a large portion of it is NOT the special effects or cool powers, but the characters, their heart. That's why the first several MCU movies have been awesome and why the fandom exploded they way it did. But, now Hollywood is going in for the finale.
And I just don't trust like that.
Hollywood has always assumed that there is no winning without dying. I can not tell you how utterly shocked I was, AS AN ADULT, when Batman killed The Joker in that first awful Batman movie with Jack Nicolson as The Joker. I never much cared for DC, but the idea that a hero--even a vigilante like Batman--would kill... anyone, rather than bringing them to justice, violated everything I have ever considered a comic book superhero, or, for that matter, a hero in general.
First time, I thought, "Eh, I never much liked Batman, and it's not like it's completely out of character..."
I started to realize that Hollywood was short on the concept when Toby McGuire's Spider-Man ended up killing the Green Goblin. That was when it hit me that Hollywood can not CONCEIVE of the basic premise of comic books: people don't die. They just don't. The drama, the melodrama, all of it, depends on something OTHER THAN the ultimate sacrifice. The resolution to the villain storyline has to come without the death of the villain, and the satisfaction of success has to come without a single loss of life. This requires CLEVER storytelling. This requires care. You can't waste a character just because you want a "Big Finish." The big finish has to, honestly, be BIGGER than that.
And Hollywood doesn't trust like that.
They don't believe we'll be satisfied until we're sobbing in the aisles.
I literally do not read comic books to watch ANYONE, not even the villains, die.
EVER.
I expect to leave the theater tonight really, really ANGRY. Frankly, I would have been angry if the only person who dies is Thanos. But, I already know that's not going to be our only casualty.
You can tell me how well it was done, but i'm never going to believe it was necessary. Because you know what didn't happen in the comic book version?
My other problem, of course, is that I'm not normal. I remember the first time I wondered if there was something wrong with me because I got far too attached to people in a story. I no longer remember what show had been on the TV. It was science fiction, I know that much, but everything else is a blur. Honestly, I think I forgot the details out of trauma and embarrassment. I have a vague memory of my parents saying something to the effect (probably trying to comfort me) of, "You don't need to be this upset. It's not REAL." I knew the show wasn't "real." I have always played a lot of pretend, but I never had any trouble separating fantasy from reality.
Vividly, I remember lying in bed that night wondering if there was something ACTUALLY wrong with me for feeling so strongly about something that was entirely imaginary, in its own way. I lie there, awake, trying to figure out WHY I cared so much.
I still don't know.
It still makes me stand out, even among fans. I'm still that one person, giving f*cks about Bleach, when everyone else has managed to find a way to shrug their shoulders and move on. Hell, I'm still spitting mad about Phantom Menace. (All these people who whine about their childhoods being ruined because suddenly there are girls and PoCs in their sandbox, and I think WHERE WAS YOUR OUTRAGE OVER MIDI-F*CKING-CLORIANS!!??? You want to talk about a ruined childhood! The movie wrecked everything. Suddenly, I couldn't study hard and become a Jedi. I had to be BORN to it. ALL THOSE CLASS PERIODS TRYING TO MOVE A PENCIL WITH THE FORCE WERE WASTED. If you weren't devastated about that, let's talk about who is a True Fan, my friend!!.)
Anyway.
Speaking of True Believers, as the late, great Stan Lee used to call us, the only comfort I have is that I have long had to mentally assign the MCU "alternate universe" status. In the comic books, Tony Stark didn't create Ultron, Henry Pym did. Yet, when the MCU made that change, I thought, "Sure, why not? Close enough," which is how I have reconciled all of the disparities. Marvel comics has a long history of changing authors, riviving old titles, changing leads (Beta Ray Bill, anybody?), and literally writing their own alternate universe and "What If?" comics. So, whatever happens on the screen tonight is just one version of the story.
Not that it's going to help. I'm still going to be mad.
Thing is, I know that the MCU is basically Hollywood and Hollywood does not actually understand at _all_ why comic book fans are fans of the genre. They FINALLY figured out that a large portion of it is NOT the special effects or cool powers, but the characters, their heart. That's why the first several MCU movies have been awesome and why the fandom exploded they way it did. But, now Hollywood is going in for the finale.
And I just don't trust like that.
Hollywood has always assumed that there is no winning without dying. I can not tell you how utterly shocked I was, AS AN ADULT, when Batman killed The Joker in that first awful Batman movie with Jack Nicolson as The Joker. I never much cared for DC, but the idea that a hero--even a vigilante like Batman--would kill... anyone, rather than bringing them to justice, violated everything I have ever considered a comic book superhero, or, for that matter, a hero in general.
First time, I thought, "Eh, I never much liked Batman, and it's not like it's completely out of character..."
I started to realize that Hollywood was short on the concept when Toby McGuire's Spider-Man ended up killing the Green Goblin. That was when it hit me that Hollywood can not CONCEIVE of the basic premise of comic books: people don't die. They just don't. The drama, the melodrama, all of it, depends on something OTHER THAN the ultimate sacrifice. The resolution to the villain storyline has to come without the death of the villain, and the satisfaction of success has to come without a single loss of life. This requires CLEVER storytelling. This requires care. You can't waste a character just because you want a "Big Finish." The big finish has to, honestly, be BIGGER than that.
And Hollywood doesn't trust like that.
They don't believe we'll be satisfied until we're sobbing in the aisles.
I literally do not read comic books to watch ANYONE, not even the villains, die.
EVER.
I expect to leave the theater tonight really, really ANGRY. Frankly, I would have been angry if the only person who dies is Thanos. But, I already know that's not going to be our only casualty.
You can tell me how well it was done, but i'm never going to believe it was necessary. Because you know what didn't happen in the comic book version?
My other problem, of course, is that I'm not normal. I remember the first time I wondered if there was something wrong with me because I got far too attached to people in a story. I no longer remember what show had been on the TV. It was science fiction, I know that much, but everything else is a blur. Honestly, I think I forgot the details out of trauma and embarrassment. I have a vague memory of my parents saying something to the effect (probably trying to comfort me) of, "You don't need to be this upset. It's not REAL." I knew the show wasn't "real." I have always played a lot of pretend, but I never had any trouble separating fantasy from reality.
Vividly, I remember lying in bed that night wondering if there was something ACTUALLY wrong with me for feeling so strongly about something that was entirely imaginary, in its own way. I lie there, awake, trying to figure out WHY I cared so much.
I still don't know.
It still makes me stand out, even among fans. I'm still that one person, giving f*cks about Bleach, when everyone else has managed to find a way to shrug their shoulders and move on. Hell, I'm still spitting mad about Phantom Menace. (All these people who whine about their childhoods being ruined because suddenly there are girls and PoCs in their sandbox, and I think WHERE WAS YOUR OUTRAGE OVER MIDI-F*CKING-CLORIANS!!??? You want to talk about a ruined childhood! The movie wrecked everything. Suddenly, I couldn't study hard and become a Jedi. I had to be BORN to it. ALL THOSE CLASS PERIODS TRYING TO MOVE A PENCIL WITH THE FORCE WERE WASTED. If you weren't devastated about that, let's talk about who is a True Fan, my friend!!.)
Anyway.
Speaking of True Believers, as the late, great Stan Lee used to call us, the only comfort I have is that I have long had to mentally assign the MCU "alternate universe" status. In the comic books, Tony Stark didn't create Ultron, Henry Pym did. Yet, when the MCU made that change, I thought, "Sure, why not? Close enough," which is how I have reconciled all of the disparities. Marvel comics has a long history of changing authors, riviving old titles, changing leads (Beta Ray Bill, anybody?), and literally writing their own alternate universe and "What If?" comics. So, whatever happens on the screen tonight is just one version of the story.
Not that it's going to help. I'm still going to be mad.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 08:22 pm (UTC)P.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 10:53 am (UTC)I think part of the problem is the people who run Hollywood often equate "not really real" (PDQ Bach: "not really real reality"....) with "unimportant," and that clearly is not true. I'm already truly tired of people telling me a certain character in Endgame COULD come back in any number of ways because comics!, so I shouldn't get worked up about it.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 02:43 pm (UTC)Though I am totally one of those people who goes home and tries to do a fix-it "because: comic books," so I will try to resist doing that in front of you.
And, I totally agree with both of you about books versus movies/TV. I was talking to another friend about "The Hollywood v. Marvel comics" problem and I think what Pamela says about "committee" is really, really true. There's a tendency to ask, "How will this play in Preoria (or, these days, China)?" that is, frankly, cowardly and an excuse to hand us pat, cookie-cutter (and deeply heteronormative) endings.
Commercial novels also have to get past the editorial/marketing committee, but there's not quite as much money at stake (if my advances are any indication, at any rate,) and so... yeah, you can do things a big Hollywood movie would never consider. You are also pressured for sequels so killing people off for no good reason is a quick way NOT to be able to write those, you know (and potentially lose your reader's trust/sales.)
no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 10:51 am (UTC)You can tell me how well it was done, but i'm never going to believe it was necessary.
*APPLAUDS*
The same thing happens to me, I get wayyy too attached to stuff I love and have often heard the "well it's not like it's REAL" criticism. Well, it is real, it's just a different kind of reality. And yeah it's not like thinking books are "real," or having difficulty telling fantasy from IRL.
(OMG I WAS SO ANNOYED AT THE MIDOCHLORIDIANS, SAY WHAT)
no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 02:48 pm (UTC)Also, having now SEEN End Game, it was so, so unnecessary. You can't tell me that Tony, who can build a working time machine ON A DUMB IDEA FROM ANT-MAN, can't design a glove that can counteract/mitigate the power of the stones. Also, Wakanda was on site. The greatest, most technological advanced society in the world, and you think they didn't bring medical emergency kits to a battle they already lost once???
MAKES. NO. SENSE.
Oh, I hope that didn't violate your "don't try to fix it because: comic books" thing? I meant this just as speculation and why I found it frustrating. The ending, AS WRITTEN, is still 100% broken and YOU. ARE. RIGHT about that.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 06:35 pm (UTC)And why the hell didn't Nat get a funeral too?
Eh, I liked so much of this, but those two things...
no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 01:10 am (UTC)Grr.
And, you're right. I didn't even notice that no one threw Black Widow a funeral. JFC. Now I'm even madder about that.
Agreed about the things to love, though. I mean, there was a LOT to love. The way Cap ends up in possession of the scepter? What an amazing F YOU to the whole Hydra comic book story line (did you hear about this, Frank?), while also being brilliant and a lovely call back to the Steve Rogers who thinks to snap the flag pole's line rather than shimmy up it to capture the flag. If you can do it without a fight, do it. That's my Captain America.
So much to love.
And yet....
no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 03:01 am (UTC)