Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Laura's avatar

I think the other reason to object more than to a Marvel movie is that stupid ideas about heroic geniuses who are just better than the rest of us are inherent to superhero stories but they are the opposite of what makes artists, who are great because they are not "Great." Making genius seem inevitable takes the life out of it, which is what fan culture can also do.

I really loved the recent Joan Baez documentary, which was objectively not the greatest movie, because it was so clearly the story she wanted to tell - Bob and MLK were there briefly, but there was her difficult relationship with her sister and her parents, honest looks at her marriage and motherhood, her sorrow about losing some but not all of her vocal range. That wry smile when she says "I know I look good for my age, but there's a limit." Ends with her walking down a path listening to music on headphones, in her own world. The interior life of the artist that is everything and films like this can't ever really do.

Expand full comment
Russell Arben Fox's avatar

Note: the excellence of Mangold's "Logan" in my mind wiped clean the stink that was "The Wolverine," so I file a technical dissent from your friend's description of him as a "a comic book movie guy." Mangold is hardly a profound artist, but he's no Zack Snyder, thank goodness.

Expand full comment
6 more comments...

No posts