Well, some recent awards ceremonies have given many people the opportunity to talk about the epidemic that is superhero movies, a hideous type of filmmaking that was responsible for four of the 692 movies released last year. In addition to last nights Oscars ceremony throwing a couple of barbs from the likes of Jack Black (who I was so happy to see in a prominent role in last night's ceremony. I love Jack Black and really hope this is the start of a comeback of sorts for him) and Liam Neeson at the medium of storytelling that is superhero films, Dan Gilroy, at another awards ceremony over the weekend, referred to the presence of these four 2014 features as a "tsunami of superhero films", which feels like the very definition of hyperbole. I'm saddened he said such a thing, not only because I loved his 2014 film Nightcrawler (it was easily one of my favorites movies from last year), but because it just reinforces this sort of victimhood that's reaching #notallmen levels of delusion.
So, to everyone out there, whether they be some ranty dude on Twitter or a high-profile filmmaker, let me say this to you: Superhero movies are not ruining your movies or Hollywood. Now, bad movies are a problem, for sure, but it's insulting honestly to say an entire way of telling a story is inherently terrible. Whether you're creating The Avengers 2 or Idea, it should only matter if the story, characters, tone, etc. are compelling or not. That's what should matter to those who are pointlessly complaining about the "tsunami" of superhero movies, and it's sad to see even filmmakers who created great stories (like Gilroy) succumb to this kind of mentality.
So, you might be inquiring at this point, who was it that was speaking out in favor of giving superhero films some respect? James Gun,, the director of Guardians Of The Galaxy. The filmmaker has a Facebook page full of interesting anecdotes about a wide variety of topics, but his thoughts on this particular matter were very interesting to me as you might imagine, given how strongly I feel about this topic. Here's his Facebook post:
