When I was a girl, I guess it was between the ages of about 8-12, I used to love comic books. I used to walk down to the five-and-dime at the end of our street and buy them (and candy) with whatever money I had. When I first started buying them, they were ten cents. I remember that the price went up to twelve cents the same week as the price of a Krystal hamburger.
I read any kind of comics in a pinch, but my favorites were DC Comics and the Justice League of America. In case you don't know who that was, it was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman, although I didn't care much for Aquaman. I could have told you anything you wanted to know about these guys. Back then, they didn't have identity crises or anything like that. They knew who they were and they knew what they had to do. And they didn't have any of these hard rubber sculptured suits. They just pulled on their tights and went out there and fought evil like real men, even Wonder Woman, except that she didn't wear tights.
I'm not positive but I think that it was the Silver Surfer that first introduced angst into the superhero world. By the time he came along, my comic book days were behind me, but I remember that I liked the way he looked and that he was a kind of cult hero when I was in college. Unfortunately I found angst rather appealing at the time.
But wherever it started, it managed to trickle it's way into the JLA, and the superheroes that I grew up with, instead of keeping their eyes on the evil villains they were supposed to be fighting, turned them inward and encountered their inner demons. Of course, they did still conquer evil, but they also had all this drama.
Now to get to the point of all this reverie, this afternoon after work, my husband and I went to see The Avengers. We had seen most of the earlier movies featuring these characters with my daughter on her trips home from college and I enjoyed them even though they weren't the best of films. The Avengers was great. It was exciting and the characters had personalities and there was a great deal of humor. But best of all, they knew who they were and they knew what they had to do.
The Avengers are trying to defeat Loki, who has come to rule the earth. He says he brings "...glad tidings of a world made free." From what? "Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie." I said to my husband, "Hmmm. This reminds me a bit of what the President is doing." When I went looking for the quote, which I eventually found here, one article I found was titled, "Did Obama or Loki Say That?" One thing I've noticed in these movies is that they aren't particularly PC, and while they aren't really strictly conservative, they do value tradition. I find that rather refreshing.
You may have noticed that The Avengers is getting good reviews in the Catholic Press. Here are two: Fr. Robert Barron and Steven D. Greydanus.
You may have noticed that The Avengers is getting good reviews in the Catholic Press. Here are two: Fr. Robert Barron and Steven D. Greydanus.
AMDG
Funny, you were way more into comic books than I was. I did read them when they came my way but I don't remember buying them. Maybe if I'd lived in town and had easy access I would have. But let us congratulate each other on our resistance to gender stereotyping.
ReplyDeleteI see from that page you linked to that this is a Joss Whedon production. So I'm not surprised that it was better than average for this kind of thing, but I am surprised that it was less angsty. (He's the Buffy and Firefly guy, as I guess you know.)
I was thinking last night after the Wagner, as I think every time I go to a theater, that I really ought to do it more often. Movies at home are fine, but there's nothing like the big screen and the big sound (well, often the latter is too big for my taste). And theaters have gotten so comfy.
Oddly enough, until you said that about gender stereotyping, it never crossed my mind that boys were more likely to read those comic books than girls. I can see now that this must be true.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know about Joss Whedon because my daughter keeps me informed about things like this. There's also Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Did you ever watch that?
You ought to hear my father's cousin describe why she likes going to the movies. After watching this 80-something year old woman with a glowing face give her joyous description of every aspect of the movie experience, you want to go.
AMDG
Oh, I thought you had that in mind with your title (which made me laugh). I think I looked at Dr. H but now I've forgotten. Does your father's cousin still go? I mean, is she talking about current experience or memories? Not that it matters, just wondering.
ReplyDeleteThe title referred to the fact that the last three posts had been pretty girly, but I thought that picture of the Hulk would dispel the feminine aura.
ReplyDeleteAMDG
Oh, and my aunt (cousin, but we call her aunt), she still goes. I love this woman. She's about 85 and has palsy, but everyday she dresses up (high heels), puts on her makeup (drives my mother crazy), fixes her black, black hair and does stuff.
ReplyDeleteAMDG