Drama is about change
and consequence. We need stories to create this drama. There is
nothing truer than that.
But there are many
vectors of change. We are used to seeing stories where there is a
hero, with a flaw, whose experiences and mistakes cause her to suffer
clear consequences and change herself – her behaviour, her
personality – as a result. An individual who learns an individual
lesson.
There is another kind
of change – the change of creation. Not a unit that moves from
state A to state B, but a unit that is created where there was
nothing at all before. A unit that is created from the combination of
other units, perhaps.
Film Crit Hulk demands
to know: what is Avengers Infinity War about?
It's about teamwork.
How could it not be?
How can you not see it? Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron were
about teamwork too. So was the first Guardians of the Galaxy. When it
comes to telling stories in shared universes with lots of alpha
heroes, it's the only thing that really matters. We're primed for
this. We know this. And Infinity War does it better than anyone else
has ever done it.
Film Crit Hulk is wrong
to idolise the story of Prometheus. This is a fable for an ancient
time. Prometheus suffered for his actions – he experienced real
consequence, real change – but his actions were not ones he should
have suffered for. All he wanted was to help others. To give people a
warmth that could comfort them on a winter's night. To alleviate
suffering for the powerless masses by taking a tiny portion of what
was hoarded by the few. Whether the gods symbolise the powerful or
just “fate”, it's still a story told to keep people in line.
We no longer need to
tell stories about people suffering for dreaming big, and trying to
go beyond their “destiny” (especially when they're doing so to
help others). Pretty soon, in the real world, we will see
technologies that produce effects as big if not bigger than those in
our sci fi movies. When this happens, we don't need to punish the
perpetrators but figure out how to deal with the new world we create
– together. What the world needs more than anything in the coming
future is teamwork. That's why Marvel is telling the most important
stories it could be telling right now.
The drama of the MCU is
clear and exceptionally effective. A team is born that can do
extraordinary things – if it works together. Internal conflict
destroys that foundation in Civil War, breaking it into separate
parts. Atomised, these parts face a threat that is simply the
emotionless personification of destruction, one that intentionally
has no relatable psychology that can be reasoned with. Thanos is the
extinction of humanity that we will face if we don't work together.
And for two hours and forty minutes, that is exactly what the team
fails to do. They face the threat as separate parts, one after
another, and, as separate parts, it defeats them one by one.
It's a brutally clear
lesson. The ending could not be more of a gut punch. It's devastating
not just because death befalls beloved characters, but precisely
because these deaths are so futile and meaningless. They never got
the opportunity to achieve their potential. The film shows all of
these mighty heroes, all the things they can do, but while they are
together in the same story, they are not together as a real team.
Most crucially, of course, Cap and Tony are on separate planets. But
everywhere there is in-fighting. The Guardians split up, and are
useless without each other. Tony and Dr Strange can't overcome their
egos. Thor is in crisis because he is left alone – but there's a
reason the greatest and most triumphant moment of the film is when he
finally shows up to work alongside his real family in Wakanda –
it's the closest the heroes come to achieving unity. But vital pieces
are still missing, and so destruction prevails. And they pay the
price.
It's a real fucking
price. It's extremely disingenuous to game the ending with your meta
knowledge. I've seen the film three times with three different friend
groups, only one of which were uber-fans, and all of them were left
in stunned and stony silence. Don't fucking tell me that it's not a
real price they're paying, just because you know when Spider-man 2 is
scheduled.
Of course there will be
resurrections. But this is a stand-alone movie. There could be an
asteroid impact tomorrow, and the last Marvel film we ever see ends
with total, unequivocal victory for the bad guy. No blockbuster has
done this before. It's historic. This is the pure Prometheus ending
where the heroes are left to suffer. Prometheus that eschews the
third act. But unlike Prometheus, their suffering teaches us a
worthwhile lesson: we must come together or perish.
In the next movie, if
we see it, we can be sure that we will learn that same lesson again
with a more positive outcome. The heroes will finally form a unit and
defeat death. Here's the crunch: there will be real change and
consequence. Whether or not characters die – which is only one
among many, many ways to demonstrate consequence – the MCU will be
left in an entirely new state to how it was before Thanos came along:
it will be united. Just because the horrifying deaths are undone
doesn't mean their impact is gone, or that no price was paid. The
heroes will still have suffered super-duper intense trauma. They will
give everything to pull through and atone for their mistakes, and in
the end the trauma will never leave them. And they will have learned,
again, the lesson of teamwork. The lesson that can never be learned
too often, that must always be repeated.
The fact that Film Crit
Hulk doesn't mention teamwork in his piece – the thought doesn't
seem to have occurred to him – blows my tiny fucking mind.
Prometheus' story ends
with him being tortured for eternity for his selflessness and
courageous ambition. In the Disney version, you bet your ass there's
a sequel. In the sequel, Prometheus' team of friends, who initially
refused to help with the fire-stealing, would have an act three where
they decide to risk their own lives to save Prometheus, and having
done so, they would have a climactic battle with the gods in order to
protect humanity from their tyranny and stop them taking back the
fire. Prometheus would be nothing without his team, just as he is
nothing without humanity. That's the lesson we need to teach to
children. We should be telling them that they can steal fire
from the powerful – and yes, they can cheat fate, and that's
not something to be afraid of. But only if they believe in themselves, and believe in the team.
