Smaller, and Smaller, and Smaller

With another Marvel movie release there are more naysayers that speak of the glut of Marvel and superhero films and the weariness some find in these movies. 

To me it’s silly because these are a subgenre now standing between action movies and sci-fi movies. They have proven themselves and they’re here. I get it, folks are tired of them but, well, don’t watch them then. There’s plenty of other entertainment out there so go watch that. 

If you’re mad that more indie stuff isn’t being heralded well, um, friend, I hate to break this to ya but it rarely is. When it IS heralded it’s because it has broken out of being JUST an indie darling and has gotten everyone’s attention. 

HOORAY!

But people go to the theater these days for spectacle.
The cost of it and the investment of time and effort make people want to see something that will thrill them. Movie geeks are going anyway and just love movies. 

I love movies too. 

I just happen to love Marvel movies along with everything else. 

I have to admit though that Marvel’s recent plan of big, bigger, and BIGGEST where they keep trying to top past efforts in size and scale is going to backfire. 

You have to change it up. 

They are realizing this but they need to probably do more about it. 

With Disney deciding that they are not making enough money – when every film you make has to be a blockbuster to turn a profit, well, that’s not sustainable – the purse strings are tightening. 

That’s going on with all the streamers. 

They all got fat during the pandemic and now that people can go out and do more and have more options they realize that, whoops, we shouldn’t have agreed to make a billion dollars worth of content on credit. 

Yeeeesh. 

Lessons. 

For Marvel though, I think they should focus on smaller, more nimble films that feel more intimate. There are TONS of characters and lots you can do that don’t take global conflicts and huge budgets. There’s a HUGE lesson to learn from the Netflix shows they had, which were all street level heroes fighting against baddies but not needing huge budgets. Imagine X-Men movies where it’s more about the politics they deal with, and less about fighting space bird-people? You can still build to the occasional big film, but you don’t need to keep one upping yourself. Smaller films can still be exciting and packed with action and thrills. 

And you can leave crumbs that lead to something big, you just don’t have to hinge eight films on those crumbs. 

By embracing their horror and weird sides they can also diversify without the need to make Blade fight Galactus or Kang fight Venom. It’s kinda like, I don’t know what’s happening in Brooklyn right now but I bet there’s something fun going on, but they don’t know what’s happening HERE and it too is fun. 

POW!

All of this goes for DC, too. 

You CAN have both things, big and intimate films, but you need to realize that the fatigue may be in every film seeming like it’s the end of the world. 

Jessica Jones showed that the stakes can be very small, very intimate, but still huge. 

Superheroes are here to stay, and that’s OK. 

So are a lot of things, but just because we don’t happen to like them doesn’t mean we have to decry them and complain about them. 

I get that we’re in a culture that thrives on clicks and likes and attention but shucks, we can like things and dislike things without it being the end of the world. 

We can, honest. 

We just need to take a breath and shrug and say ‘whatever’, to that stuff and focus more on the things that we DO love and crow about those, and not waste time complaining all the time. 

Let’s just take a moment and smile that we live in a time when there’s so much variety out there for us to enjoy, and so many platforms to enjoy it all on. 

…c…

While I am no superhero, I am an antihero and have books about cool and creepy stuff. Check it all out.