Sweet Hubby and I are big Avengers fans. We own all of their films, both the individual stories and the stories of the team working together. We return to these films now and then with great enjoyment.
However, last night as we were watching "The Age of Ultron", I suddenly saw the Marvel world in a new light, and now I can't unsee this altered perspective.
The Avengers/Marvel films depict this world being attacked again and again by non-humans (Loki, Ultron, Thanos, etc.) with the utterly malignant intention either to dominate or destroy Earth's inhabitants. Our attackers always have outsized resources of weaponry and technology. They lead armies of robots or aliens that fight without mercy. For our heroes to win, to save us all, they have to have even more horrible weapons, and they have to fight even more savagely.
These films act out for us the primal fear all animals are subject to, of being attacked and either enslaved or killed. The films offer a modicum of catharsis because, of course, the Avengers always eventually overpower and destroy our enemies for us. But then along comes the next film, starring yet another insane, brutal, seemingly unstoppable enemy, with more cities destroyed, more humans terrorized, more weaponry, more killing, .
As much as I have enjoyed the many Avengers movies, I now have a sort of sick feeling about them. They tell us "Yes, you actually do have enemies who want to destroy you, so arm yourself. Look to those who promise to protect you, and accept their methods, no matter how heinous. And don't ever let down your guard." They play to our fears, our need for security, our desire for vengeance, our mistrust of what (and who) is strange to us - to the worst parts of our psyches.
It helps me to remember that we humans are animals, and just as subject to our limbic system as a crocodile or condor or lion is to his. The difference, though, is that we also have the rest of our great big brains, too, the parts which can process abstract ideas, can create, can tell stories. We are capable of sympathy and empathy, of understanding, of recognizing the humanness in others. We live on a perfect planet with all the resources we need to survive. Why can't we get along? Why can't we share? Maybe because, unlike other animals, we also understand that we will die someday; maybe that's where some of this underlying fear comes from. I don't know. All I know is that I can't watch the Avengers any more with the same thrill, the same enjoyment I used to have for them.
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