good god capeshit sucks
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35521540-national-security-cinema
https://www.spyculture.com/the-us-air-force-and-the-great-entertainment-liaison-office-cover-up/
Not that the country wasn't embroiled in a massive war a couple of movies later. But it had to be against evil monster foreigners, not normal looking white settle colonialists.
Hot take:
The movie is an indictment of the 80s culture of excess and the belief that we could continue to have more and more and never see any consequences. It's the society of the self that Chris Hedges taks about. How we retreat into dreams and positive thinking in a inoculating culture of optimism that isn't equiped to deal with the real issues we face, and how we continue to make ourselves and the world worse by not addressing reality.
Hotter take: Superhero Movies like wonder woman 84 are basically designed so you can read whatever side of the political messaging you want....so don't give it more credit then it deserves as a corporate product.
I think your hot take opinion is fair and basically what I got out of it.
My hot take on the post credit scene:
WTF says it's from my cultural about their name like that? EGOT Cringe Award right there.
Also it just takes a little practice and weight control, not these magic bracers or my Amazonian DNA or anything.
The movie is an indictment of the 80s culture of excess
More an embodiment than an indictment.
Superhero Movies like wonder woman 84 are basically designed so you can read whatever side of the political messaging you want
Eh. It's vague to the point of being inoffensive, but there's definitely a message the movie tries to sell. The theory that you can't "cheat" to win and have it mean something is established at the start.
But the message gets lost in all the nostalgia and pablum. In the end, all I real know is that using a magic wishing rock to get things is bad.
More an embodiment than an indictment.
Eh...only in the sense that there is an unavoidable Irony in attempting to critique the culture of self and excess in something as loud, bombastic, and inflated as an American Superhero tentpole film. I think that criticism is unfair but it certainly shows the limitations of the medium.
Eh. It’s vague to the point of being inoffensive, but there’s definitely a message the movie tries to sell. The theory that you can’t “cheat” to win and have it mean something is established at the start.
But the message gets lost in all the nostalgia and pablum. In the end, all I real know is that using a magic wishing rock to get things is bad.
Sure, but that's the point: the messaging for these movies is kept just vague and universal enough that you can kinda read whatever you want into it. Remember: every ideology that's ever existed fights for "freedom". Defining "freedom" is the tricky part.
"A world built on lies cannot last" is a decent theme/moral for a movie...and it gives you a wide berth on how to define truth and lies.
Sidenote: there's a lot to criticize this movie for but I fucking love that the villain in this movie is a magic rock because it ties into the idea of crystals, faith healing, and self help culture.
Sidenote: there’s a lot to criticize this movie for but I fucking love that the villain in this movie is a magic rock because it ties into the idea of crystals, faith healing, and self help culture.
I'd missed that reference. Definitely an 80s vibe, though.
This is the message of almost every movie. Its always the heores who are trying to restore the status quo, and the bad the guys - the ones that are trying to change the world.
No. Were the loser extras that run around and scream when the baddies show up or are there to show the protagonists how shitty reality is ...
https://thenewinquiry.com/super-position/
want to make sure you saw this article that TankieTanuki linked upthread
Also, the movie was just horrible. Bad looking cgi, unnecessary cgi, worthless plot, no reason for it to be set in the 80s beyond aesthetic, no real character development. There's probably more I didn't like but I'm just waking up.
i mean the message of the first one was that America is cool and good and anyone saying World War 1 shouldn't be fought is actually a secret demon
-you can fix the world if you individually stop being greedy. you dont even have to put any work afterwards to fix all that you damaged, just stop being greedy!
-the bad guy is a co-op
-too long
-little girls, little girls everywhere! the empowerment didnt feel cynical at all.
-shy girl life and coworkers act like teenagers
-raping is ok if a magical wish takes over the body of the victim
overall it was messy and aimed at children, the later would be great if it wasnt so messy and cynical.
Maxwell Lord was marketing his ponzi scheme as an oil co-op
Hold up. The film portrays the villain as the leader of a coop business? Holy shit. The businesses are fighting back against their portrayal in films and going on the offensive. This sounds like truly bad movie politics.
Well, there's your problem.
Max was doing a Socialism.
No wonder it failed and nearly got everyone killed.
Add the death toll of this movie to the Black Book of Communism.
The plot is almost always some approximation of the following: a bad guy, maybe a crime boss, more often a powerful supervillain, embarks on a project of world conquest, destruction, theft, extortion, or revenge. The hero is alerted to the danger and figures out what’s happening. After trials and dilemmas, at the last possible minute the hero foils the villain’s plans. The world is returned to normal until the next episode when exactly the same thing happens once again.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on here. These “heroes” are purely reactionary, in the literal sense. They have no projects of their own, at least not in their role as heroes: as Clark Kent, Superman may be constantly trying, and failing, to get into Lois Lane’s pants, but as Superman, he is purely reactive. In fact, superheroes seem almost utterly lacking in imagination: like Bruce Wayne, who with all the money in the world can’t seem to think of anything to do with it other than to indulge in the occasional act of charity; it never seems to occur to Superman that he could easily carve free magic cities out of mountains.
Almost never do superheroes make, create, or build anything. The villains, in contrast, are endlessly creative. They are full of plans and projects and ideas. Clearly, we are supposed to first, without consciously realizing it, identify with the villains. After all, they’re having all the fun. Then of course we feel guilty for it, re-identify with the hero, and have even more fun watching the superego clubbing the errant Id back into submission.
https://thenewinquiry.com/super-position/
Kingdom Come was great, in party, because it showed capshits trying to execute on their projects and failing phenomenally. And it isn't afraid to write an epilogue that's hopeful.
One reason I tend to like Manga over American Supes is that the stories have a full narrative arc. Writers aren't constantly trying to reinvigorate stagnant franchises. You can do that in a limited run fast more easily than the DC model.
