lydamorehouse (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lydamorehouse) wrote2019-04-30 11:57 am
lydamorehouse) wrote2019-04-30 11:57 am
Entry tags:
Tonight: End Game (And I Already Hate It)
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.