What's Wrong With Hollywood
There are two significant problems plaguing Hollywood right now. One is their dependence on intertextuality, which I will explain in the following paragraph. And the other is the constant social justice warriors sacrificing writing quality for identity politics. Hollywood writers aren’t brave for ‘smashing the patriarchy.’
Why Does Everything Feel So Familiar?
Intertextuality is the shaping of one media form by another media nostalgia, or as South Park says, Member Berries.
Avengers Endgame did this under the guise of “time travel” and as fun for the audience as it may be, it is ultimately lazy on the part of the creative writers.
Intertextuality works best in moderation. A callback. A subtle nod to fans. Now it has become half the movie, or with the Disney live action movies, the whole movie. Member Simba? Member Aladdin?
Remakes are intertextual by nature. These Disney live action films are playing up nostalgia to manipulate the audience’s emotions. Disney has always done that as even the Disney classics are all stories borrowed from the significantly darker Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It’s not just Disney however. Zombieland 2 was egregious with its intertextuality. Put simply, Zombieland 2 is a movie that does not need to exist.
These movies are playing it safe by repackaging time-tested lines, scenes and themes to a new audience for guaranteed success. There’s nothing significant pushing the artform forward. No ground-breaking ideas. Nothing challenges social norms when you shoehorn an extra song empowering Jasmine not to stay silent, when the movie is set in a male dominated society. It runs counter to the rest of the movie. It is ham-fisted and hypocritical to think the audience won’t notice this disconnect.
The latest Star Wars trilogy is guilty of this as well. Remember Millenium Falcon? Remember R2D2? Remember Vader? Well here’s Vader 2.0. We needed more fresh ideas like Matt the Radar Technician. At least George Lucas was honest with Star Wars the Original Trilogy Special Edition. He made plenty of money on remakes, but he sold them as just that, remakes. Han shot first.
Now, Star Wars is tone deaf as they blast old fans who can’t let go of the old movies and their characters. “Let the past die! Kill it, if you have to.” Kylo Ren says in the new trilogy.
But it’s the writers, not the audience, who can’t let the past go. Maybe the fans are ready to let the past die. But we, men especially, have grown tired of watching our childhood heroes get killed off, only to be replaced with generic person of color or flawless female protagonist X. It’s boring. This is why Rey and Captain Marvel are so hated. Where most of the older characters have flaws, these newer female characters lack enough depth to warrant their existence. It feels like a female power fantasy. Without character flaws, there’s no room for character development. When they’re never killed off or even hurt, there is no tension. This leads to stiff and boring characters that are ultimately unrelatable.
Beating Up the White Man is Played Out
While there will be plenty of soft chinned journalists angrily tweeting in coffee shops and skyscrapers about angry white men, the fact is, we aren’t sexist or racist. We don’t care so long as the story is good. I loved Black Panther’s villain, Killmonger. He’s one of the best in the Marvel series. And Valkyrie is a great addition to Marvel. But the writers of Marvel comics and Hollywood have become so obsessed with identity politics that they’ve allowed it to poison their writing. Toxic social justice is ruining many franchises with ham-fisted social points that feel more condescending than thought provoking.
************Spoilers for Star Wars in following paragraph************
When Star Wars killed off all the traditional masculine characters, they are saying that they are problematic. Han Solo shot first. In the Original Trilogy, Han was overly forward with Leia by today’s standards. Consent culture wants you to constantly ask for permission, but real women want you to be aware enough of social queues to be able to make a move with more body language and less dry talk of consent. These loonies think you need to fill out a TPS form before kissing a girl, taking out all the excitement, romanticism and fun.
Fuck that! Only the nice guys will listen to this advice and then when the girl gets bored, she’ll run off to Mr. Exciting. Obviously, you need consent, but read the social queues and this need not be a problem.
The only masculine character introduced to Star Wars, is Poe Dameron. And he’s basically a SJW punching bag whose only purpose is to be talked down to by aposematic SJW stand in, Holdo. Seriously, for all of Episode 8, he is constantly being scolded and chided by that post wall cat lady. In stark contrast, Rey is shown to be nearly perfect, though by episode 9 she begins to get so angry and conflicted, I honestly thought she might be turning to the dark side. She lacks a compelling character arc as she is nearly perfect in the beginning, besting Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel with no training other than playing with her stick on Jaku. Also, how did she learn to swim? See? She’s like literally perfect.
Marvel did intertextuality well with Avengers: Endgame. These moments serve a purpose. They further the plot. Lead to character development. And in the end of the movie, there is a big payoff.
*******Avengers Endgame Spoilers in Next Four Paragraphs********
Captain America sees his old love when he travels back in time and he then ends up staying in the past so that he can have his happy ending with Peggy. This feels like he earned it after all the sacrifices Captain made. And its warranted by all the moments in the franchise from watching her struggle with Alzheimer’s, her funeral, Scarlett Witch’s vision and finally running into her while seeking the infinity stone.
Thor seeks advice from his mother when he travels back to Asgard. This one isn’t quite as intertextual, but it is still a way to manipulate the viewers emotions as Asgard was recently destroyed and his mother was killed off. But the payoff is worth it as Thor, now fat and disappointed in himself for failing to stop Thanos, seeks counsel from his Mother, Frigga. And her quote might be the best in the entire movie, “Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are.” And then Thor calls for his hammer, Mjolnir, which may only be held by “whomever be worthy.” It takes a minute… but does return to Thor’s hand. These two moments restore Thor to his confident, yet still overweight self. A multi-movie hero’s journey.
Meanwhile, Tony is having an unexpected father son moment with the man who spent more time in the office than in the home. A man who inspired Tony to well… end up just like him. What would be so bad about that? “Let’s just say that the greater good has rarely outweighed my self-interest.” It is this little seed from the man Tony desperately sought to please that gave him the final push to be the guy to lay down on the wire and sacrifice himself.
These moments shape their actions in the climax of Endgame. Each one of these three are not only the core of the group fighting Thanos, but also the pinnacle of Marvel’s entire franchise. And when you build something so amazing as the Marvel franchise, maybe a little intertextuality fan service is acceptable. Many of you young bucks may not remember a world where comic books were for geeks. In fact, most people had never even heard of the Avengers until about ten years ago. The times, they are a changing.
Closing Thoughts
As the prospect of big riches from a Hollywood Blockbuster overshadow the pursuit of art, the pendulum will hopefully swing back. Right now, as just a typical white male, I’m disgusted with Hollywood and the message it sends to society. They mean to bash traditional masculinity in the name of progress, yet they can’t be bothered to progress past cheap remakes and retreads.
It’s easy to be dismissive of this if you’re an adult who’s made big strides in your own self-improvement. But remember, the young are heavily influenced by their childhood heroes, and many of their heroes are born in Hollywood. So, what are young men being told about masculinity? That its dangerous? Toxic? Has no place in this new world order? Maybe all men want is some acknowledgment that we aren’t all bad, many are struggling and claiming that all men are monsters is counterproductive to real progress.
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