This week Neil Calloway unexpectedly finds himself in agreement with the guy from Tenacious D…
It pains me to say it, but Jack Black had a point.
During his interjection into the opening song of last week’s Oscars, Black jokingly bemoaned the current state of cinema, complaining about sequels, prequels and comic book movies. It’s a familiar argument, and one that has been made before – one that I make regularly myself, to be honest. Given that it was a funny, but throwaway line during an award ceremony, you’d expect it to be forgotten quite quickly. Not so, it seems. James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy, wrote on Facebook that he didn’t find it offensive, before devoting 300 words as to why it was wrong.
This puzzled me. If I had just directed a film that was nudging close to $800 million at the box office, I wouldn’t really care what the star of Kung Fu Panda said in the middle of a song with Doogie Howser and the woman from Pitch Perfect.
Gunn’s defence, when no attack was directed at him, seems to me to be because perhaps Black’s lines struck a nerve with Gunn. I feel like it shows a lack of confidence; a glimpse that perhaps Gunn knows Black had a point so needs to defend himself.
Even the biggest fan of comic book adaptations and sequels, prequels and reboots has to admit that there has been a glut of non original movies recently, possibly to the detriment of other films. I like a nice burger and fries as mush as the next man, but I don’t eat them every night of the week. We’re about to have our third Spider Man of the century. I defy anyone not to feel a little depressed about that. I can’t keep up with what film is part of which franchise. Are the new Star Wars films part of the Marvel Universe? They publish the Star Wars comics. Is Han Solo going to turn up in the post credits scene from Age of Ultron?
Gunn closed his defence of himself and his peers with this line “But if you, as an independent film-maker or a “serious” film-maker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken.” A good point, I feel, but has anybody suggested they don’t put more love into the characters? I don’t think they have. Less thought maybe; they have just taken a character from another medium, rather than agonised over their creation for years. The line about “serious” film-makers just remind me of the late John Peel’s observation about the term “intelligent drum ‘n’ bass”, which implied that stupid drum ‘n’ bass existed as a musical genre. Flickering Myth’s own star ratings divide things into movie or film, and you know broadly what each one is.
Personally, I would not lay the blame at the door of the film makers themselves; I’d blame the studio executives who look at balance sheets and say “What’s wrong with another comic book movie? They’re hot right now. Character recognition is good; it will save on marketing.” If I was a director given the chance to bring to life characters I’d loved since I was a child, I’d jump at it, but I also hope I’d realise that we need a bit of variety in our cinemas, and I don’t just mean the choice between Marvel and DC.
I worry about what effect we’re having on the future generations of film makers. I have have fond memories of watching Tim Burton’s Batman when I was slightly too young (thanks, Dad), but are any of your favourite movies from your childhood comic book films? I doubt it. We gravitate towards original stories, and it feels like they aren’t getting made anymore.
So Jack Black was right, and James Gunn had a point. The people who make comic book movies put as much love as anyone into them, I’m sure, but when you next go to the multiplex wanting an original, well made studio film, and all they are offering is sequels, prequels, reboots and adaptations, well what then?
Neil Calloway is a pub quiz extraordinaire and Top Gun obsessive. Check back here every Sunday for future installments.
Originally published March 1, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
