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Let me ask if you've read Homer, Aeschylus and the rest of the classics, because assuming that is the case, you really should know the answer to your question.

Let me ask if you've read Homer, Aeschylus and the rest of the classics, because assuming that is the case, you really should know the answer to your question. All the classic writers fundamentally write about the human condition. They are not concerned with anything other than that. They are masterpieces that capture essential truths and have the power to transform human thought and civilization. Which is whey their works have endured the test of time for thousands of years. Compared to the classics, modern superhero films are garbage. They are focus-grouped, market-tested, mass-produced filth aimed at "everybody" (a close approximation of Nietzsche's "last man" [1]) They possess no intelligence, do not want to make you think, rattle no cages and aim at nothing but pandering and exploitation. Do you see the difference? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_man

blacksmith_tb 7y ago
Not to offer a defense of Hollywood's throwaways, but I would say that enduring classics like The Illiad or The Bhagavad Gita were intended to reinforce the cultural norms of their times, which of course is an aspect of the human condition, but not about "making you think" in any sort of critical way. In that sense superhero movies are not so far afield...
- watwut 7y ago
  I would argue that Homer is more nuanced then Hollywood by a lot. And the Illiad does not make you feel so good about violence as Hollywood war movies either. When it comes to "making you think", they are miles better. I am not saying there is no other art (movie/literatture) that makes you think more then these. But like, superheroes and hollywood are not that.
  - blacksmith_tb 7y ago
    For a modern reader, I'd agree. I don't think the Greeks especially saw the message as being anti-violence, except in the sense that Achilles' rage goes too far, say. Their society was in a warlike stage, and their heroes died glorious deaths, that was what they expected from a good story. I'd like to think that at least some modern literature is thought-provoking; I'd even say that Hollywood sometimes makes films which are unexpectedly deep (though they tend to be smaller-budget than the superhero stuff). That said, given that billions of dollars go in, what comes out is... not very impressive.
    - watwut 7y ago
      I did not said the message is anti-violence. For that matter, Hollywood is not anti-violence either. These old stories portrait of violence is less glorifying then what Hollywood or superhero does. The tragedy of events is actually shown, unlike in superhero movie. I said "nuanced" and "better at making you think" which is something completely different. One big reason why it is better at making you think is that it is not having simplistic singular message I am supposed to learn so that I feel like the movie had proper message. If anything, I would compare it to Westworld or game of thrones, neither of which is Hollywood and neither of which is super simple message of "violence is bad".
C1sc0cat 7y ago
I did do classical studies, and are not super hero films about what it means to be human. And in terms of filth (your bias is showing) presumably that makes deadpool a satyr play.

blacksmith_tb 7y ago

Not to offer a defense of Hollywood's throwaways, but I would say that enduring classics like The Illiad or The Bhagavad Gita were intended to reinforce the cultural norms of their times, which of course is an aspect of the human condition, but not about "making you think" in any sort of critical way. In that sense superhero movies are not so far afield...

watwut 7y ago
I would argue that Homer is more nuanced then Hollywood by a lot. And the Illiad does not make you feel so good about violence as Hollywood war movies either. When it comes to "making you think", they are miles better. I am not saying there is no other art (movie/literatture) that makes you think more then these. But like, superheroes and hollywood are not that.
- blacksmith_tb 7y ago
  For a modern reader, I'd agree. I don't think the Greeks especially saw the message as being anti-violence, except in the sense that Achilles' rage goes too far, say. Their society was in a warlike stage, and their heroes died glorious deaths, that was what they expected from a good story. I'd like to think that at least some modern literature is thought-provoking; I'd even say that Hollywood sometimes makes films which are unexpectedly deep (though they tend to be smaller-budget than the superhero stuff). That said, given that billions of dollars go in, what comes out is... not very impressive.
  - watwut 7y ago
    I did not said the message is anti-violence. For that matter, Hollywood is not anti-violence either. These old stories portrait of violence is less glorifying then what Hollywood or superhero does. The tragedy of events is actually shown, unlike in superhero movie. I said "nuanced" and "better at making you think" which is something completely different. One big reason why it is better at making you think is that it is not having simplistic singular message I am supposed to learn so that I feel like the movie had proper message. If anything, I would compare it to Westworld or game of thrones, neither of which is Hollywood and neither of which is super simple message of "violence is bad".

C1sc0cat 7y ago

I did do classical studies, and are not super hero films about what it means to be human. And in terms of filth (your bias is showing) presumably that makes deadpool a satyr play.