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Marvel's The Avengers: an exercise (pt.1)
May. 10th, 2012 12:17 am...In how much of a movie I can remember after having seen it twice in as many days. XD
That is, one of the odd things I noticed about this film is how much of it I retained afterward (I am not one of those people who have a movie quote ready for every occasion). It's well-paced, yes -- but also organized, like Whedon drew a picture and left the blue guide lines in. I find myself using the thing itself as a memory palace (which, again, not standard modus operandi at all), sticking Post-It note observations under the mental equivalent of an iMovie timeline.
What I meant when I said The Avengers succeeded qua comic book is pretty simple, actually: most superhero movies are origin stories, because you're introducing the character to a general audience. So you go for standard hero's quest archetype, bildungsroman. Statistically speaking, though, most comics aren't origin stories. ( Cut for length. )
All this is pretty much true of The Avengers. It is also a very carefully tuned movie, but it is fine-tuned to take the actual comic book formula and make it succeed in a different medium. And it does! There's a formula plot that carries you through, and then in each of the "single issues," character A matches up against character B - physical, psychological. Sometimes they don't fight! And sometimes it's a three-way!
( So I said I'd analyze the movie matchup by matchup. XD )
That is, one of the odd things I noticed about this film is how much of it I retained afterward (I am not one of those people who have a movie quote ready for every occasion). It's well-paced, yes -- but also organized, like Whedon drew a picture and left the blue guide lines in. I find myself using the thing itself as a memory palace (which, again, not standard modus operandi at all), sticking Post-It note observations under the mental equivalent of an iMovie timeline.
What I meant when I said The Avengers succeeded qua comic book is pretty simple, actually: most superhero movies are origin stories, because you're introducing the character to a general audience. So you go for standard hero's quest archetype, bildungsroman. Statistically speaking, though, most comics aren't origin stories. ( Cut for length. )
All this is pretty much true of The Avengers. It is also a very carefully tuned movie, but it is fine-tuned to take the actual comic book formula and make it succeed in a different medium. And it does! There's a formula plot that carries you through, and then in each of the "single issues," character A matches up against character B - physical, psychological. Sometimes they don't fight! And sometimes it's a three-way!
( So I said I'd analyze the movie matchup by matchup. XD )
